This morning Mully seemed to be having trouble understanding why a community as represented by an alderman should have any input into zoning changes. His basic premise is, "It's their property! They should be able to do whatever they want!"

I wonder if he would feel the same if his next door neighbor in whatever suburb he lives in decided he wanted to build lot line to lot line and five stories high. As a matter of fact, I'd like to know how danny bernstein feels about the huge low income housing development Rahm and Pawar are pushing for the old Illinois Battery site.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Matthew, Tulsi, and Don

It'll be fun when the Score finally dumps VOICE OF THE CHICAGO SPORTS FAN campaign and just starts running spots where Mully endorses eminent domain and Bernstein says "you can't be upset about the price of those Oscar gift baskets--those are a great bargain for sponsors!!!"

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The Bulls haven't done anything wrong, and they're not going to do anything wrong.

I'm not sure if it's a result of guys being paid six figures to blab incessantly on various topics where they don't even know what the fuck they're talking about a good percentage of the time or what. But these guys on the Score- with the possible exception of Mac, and even he will throw in an "I'm sorry you're poor" type comment now and again- are so far removed from the regular guy they can't possibly understand where he's coming from. And so we're left with an editorial stance championing the very rich at the expense of everyone else that reaches across shows.

I care about the pocketbooks of George Loukas and Beth Murphy, et. al. as much as I do about the bank accounts of the Ricketts kids. But taking a position that a very rich guy should just say "fuck you" to some moderately rich guys because he has more money and better lawyers doesn't strike me as a particularly populist viewpoint.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Matthew, Tulsi, and Don

This entire process was so poorly handled from all aspects. The rooftop owners, the alderman, CrainKen, The Neighbors, etc.

Somehow the Cubs are responsible for more police patrols, when the issues are not from the Cubs. Very few people leave Wrigley so drink they cant walk and commit misdemeanor crimes. Lotsa people leave the bars drunk at 2 AM (game or no game) and commit such acts. Is that the Cubs issue too.

The Bars are just as much a part of the congestion, Crime, Garbage issues as anyone in the area and they walk away doing nothing, while the Cubs are responsible for the logistics and safety of the area?

The Alderman focused so hard on the rooftop owners, he had a poor plan for everything else and the "Neighbors" who represent maybe 2% of the view of the neighborhood, cry about things that dont matter. The alderman has no opinion on anything, except those issues that will get him reelected and keep his friends.

If you bought a rooftop empire for $2M plus and didnt see this issue in the future, SORRY! You lose! Bad deal by you!

I looked at a rooftop building in 1989! I thought about the issue back then! Still should have bought the building for $350K, but didnt have the $$$ and couldnt convince the parents it was a good deal!

This issue cost everyone nothing but time and it is far from a good plan!

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

The best part is that this editorial stance trickles down from Bernstein and Mulligan down to guys like Joe Ostrowski and Mike Esposito and whoever else makes like $20,000 a year to board-op or do updates between times being allowed to sit at the adults' table. I bet The Steven Berger thinks the Cubs should be able to do whatever the fuck they want.

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Yeah, it's like a microcosm of larger society where the college dropout earning $62,500 a year with a net worth of $200,000 thinks his interests are more closely aligned with those of Warren Buffet than those of the young mother he sneers at at 7-Eleven because she is using her LINK card to buy Lunchables.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Matthew, Tulsi, and Don

The Cubs got the best of the bad situation, but it just could have been much much better!

1. Shut down Sheffield and Waveland. City still owns them, but game days they become like Yawkey Bourban way. They are already like that anyways, may as well monetize it.

2. Ricketts get all the Scoreboards they want, blocking rooftop views, but Rooftops now becomes valuable retail space. Basically moving the rooftop club to the ground level.

3. Waveland/Sheffield assoc responsible for full maintenance and improvements of the area, alleviates city cost.

4. Bar/Cubs/Rooftop/Neighborhood security force. A Real one, not TSA like! Paid for by Cubs, Bars and Roofies!

5. Major Fest to pay for these expenses. Similar to the 3 or 4 Rooftop "Fundraisers" for Alderman Tunney each year. Redirect the money to the neighborhood.

6. Now Cubs can build whatever they want!

7. Crazier Idea, Cubs buy Cemetery on Clark and put parking garage OVER the cemetery. Not sure if this is Crazy, if they have indoor cemeteries? etc, but I do know the reason that nobody has bought the cemetery is that you cant move the bodies/caskets, so this way you are not moving them. CEMEDOME!

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

Some day it will come out that JORR has a financial interest in one of the Rooftops. It's really the only logical explanation.

The "rooftop business" wouldn't be in business without the Cubs. Not quite sure what the argument is.

What I'd like to see is the Rooftop owners release a copy of their sacred "contract" that they keep yapping about. At least from what you hear out of the sports yappers and read in some of the articles, as long as the City approves the changes the Cubs can do whatever the hell they want. The agreement sounds more like "you will pay us 17% for the Cubs and MLB to not sue your ass to kingdom come for Copyright infringement" Not "we have to let you have a clear view of our product"

The rooftop relationship should not have to be this contentious. I've always thought of the rooftops as less of a competitor than a supplement, selling an analogue to the luxury suite experience (don't watch the game, just be taken care of in the vicinity of a game!) that the Cubs, with a lack of suites in the grandstand, can't meet a demand for. There should be a strategic, symbiotic relationship here. I'm surprised the Cubs themselves haven't bought any of the properties. A brownstone on Waveland probably costs as much as a shitty free agent #5 pitcher, and God knows we've signed our share of those.

Yes, the rooftop owners should be paying the Cubs more. No one can argue this. Why, then, are we jumping right past compromise and into "the Cubs should put up spite fences and jumbotrons and implode their buildings under cover of night and fuck everyone because money!"?

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Yeah, right. I tell you guys everything else. You really think i wouldn't tell you if one of my friends or I owned a rooftop? You've got it all wrong. I don't give a fuck about some douchebag who charges me eight bucks for a Budweiser and doubles the price of his hamburger on game day when he serves it in foil rather than on a plate. That isn't the point. I enjoy Wrigley Field even though I'm a Sox fan and I like all the weird things that make it special. It's no different than Tuman's. The sound system is better than it used to be but the experience is far worse. I never go there anymore. It isn't special.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Matthew, Tulsi, and Don

The Ricketts have made offers to the rooftop owners.

Compromise left the room last year! While I can spread the blame around, this is the Aldermans fault and the Rooftops to never actually work out a deal and think that some contract, which was a kickback deal was going to save them.

FYI, last week the rooftop owners decided to have "Neighbors Day" in the first week. All those neighbors who are on the Lakeview citizens council were invited to a free rooftop. Too little too late Douchebags!

George Loukas will be fine. Cubby Bear, Sports Corner and about 50 other buildings. Life will go on. Occasionally you make a bad deal and this was his. The guy is 112-1 now.

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

Biggie,

If you bought a building in 1989 you would be fit to be tied over this.

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Who moves into Wrigleyville expecting peace and quiet?

You knew what you were moving in next to, so shut up already.

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That's pretty much how I feel. Anyone who bitches about any consequences of this needs to just move. How hard would it be to re-sell that shit? Fuck anyone who has a problem with this. Wrigleyville will never have a problem real estate wise.

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

I don't think anyone does move into Wrigleyville expecting peace and quiet. I do think they'd appreciate strangers not pissing in their yards. Is that fair?

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I'd put 95% of the blame on the bars for that.

People pissed all over yards at the south side Irish parade. Was that Wrigley's fault too?

Besides, what does putting up a jumbotron and signage have to do with public urination?

Why aren't the bar and rooftop owners being strong armed into paying for extra police and security?

The neighborhood bitched about cars parking everywhere. The Cubs offer to build a garage. Now the neighborhood wants no cars in the neighborhood. Maybe the Cubs should pay to upgrade the CTA too?

It's ri-god-damn-diculous.

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Poor little JORR - I get that your most formative and transformative experiences have occurred at the Wrigley Field troughs, but you're beyond a tard on this issue.

Cubs fans are pissed off that their stadium is a shithole. They want it renovated so that they can have a stadium that is modern and comfortable. In order to fund the renovation, the Ricketts want to put up signs to get money from advertisements. And the fatass piece of garbage rooftop faghats are standing in the way of this, and therefore hindering the stadium's not being dirtier than a Stone Park prostitute. That's why 90+% of Score listeners want the rooftop owners to be raped, murdered and fed to Karen Lewis.

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I love Terry Boers. I hate Tim Tebow. The fact that the former will die before the latter show what a cruel, unjust world we live in.

But doesn't that cut both ways? Who buys a ballpark that has rooftops looking down into it and then whines like a bitch? You knew what you were buying and you knew you had a contract, so shut up already.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Matthew, Tulsi, and Don

You're a fucking idiot. How can Cub fans be pissed off that their stadium is a shithole when they win the attendance championship each year? Cubs fans talk out of both sides of their mouths. They don't want to lose the happiest place on earth, the green cathedral, the friendly confines, the shrine, but they also don't want to piss in a trough or be shoved down a skinny concourse. Guess what? You can't have it both ways. Either you have the special park and can commiserate with Bostonians over how special you both are to have great old parks rather than HOK replicas or you get a new park and you're the same as everyone else. So shut the fuck up.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Matthew, Tulsi, and Don

I agree with most of your viewpoints on the matter.

I'm certainly not carrying water for the rooftop owners. Most of them are jag-offs. In one conversation they want to tell you how smart they are for building their little empires. In the next they're some poor, put-upon small businessmen under attack from the evil Ricketts family. They're full of shit too.

And George Loukas is a smart guy, a good businessman. But if he's going to tell you he saw "Wrigleyville" coming and knew to buy all that property, he's a liar. George was a hustling bar operator. If he hadn't gotten lucky with the way things went over there, he'd be like a million other Greek restauranteurs, hustling to get by, begging for rents in his borderline slum properties, and trying to figure out how to squeeze a few bucks out of those bars on the 284 days that the Cubs aren't playing. But he got lucky. I'm pretty sure he knows that. "Hey, Angelo, this shit really went our way, didn't it? " Now the idiot Murphy kids, they may be another story. I believe they think they're geniuses because their dad bought a shitty bar before the neighborhood changed.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Matthew, Tulsi, and Don

Exactly, like these homeowners by ohare bitching about the aircraft noise.

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Exactly, like these owners that buy a ballpark with many landmark designations and sign restrictions and then bitch about them.

By the way, it appears li'l danny was as wrong as could be about the Cubs just steamrolling the rooftops owners and his idiotic idea that the Cubs had no obligations under the contract.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/1931 ... tinue.html

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Matthew, Tulsi, and Don

Yeah, no shit. Who would draft a contract like that? Certainly not Really Smrt People.

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Not at all. Things like that can be changed.

You voluntarily move into a neighborhood known for its rowdiness. You have no fucking right to complain about the noise.

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Exactly, like these owners that buy a ballpark with many landmark designations and sign restrictions and then bitch about them.

the Cubs made the neighborhood. Without the Cubs, the neighborhood is junk. Everyone in that area is married to the Cubs and are at the mercy of the Cubs.

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Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.

The Cubs "made the neighborhood" because there was a neighborhood to make. Neither one is at the other's mercy. Don't be dumb.

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what business is there to be done in the neighborhood if the Cubs actually had some gravitas and left?

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Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.