Too bad Ricketts is soft and won't move to the suburbs. He really should have found some land, had some type of deal drawn up and went to the city with a give-in or we leave offer. Instead they deal with this garbage. Pathetic.



By Hal Dardick
Clout Street

7:22 p.m. CST, March 7, 2013

With progress stalled in the effort to seal a deal for the $300 million rehab of Wrigley Field, the alderman who represents the area is talking tough about his terms of agreement.

Ald. Thomas Tunney, 44th, said Thursday that he would not sign off on a deal unless it included more parking, better police protection and “aesthetic” assurances sought by Wrigleyville residents and businesses — all issues that have yet to be settled.

Reminded that Mayor Rahm Emanuel is pushing for an agreement, in part because the Ricketts family that owns the Cubs is not asking for any government funding, Tunney replied,

“Yeah, but it’s not going to be on the backs of my community, sorry.”

The Rickettses have maintained that a deal needs to get done by Opening Day in early April so they can line up the contractors and materials needed to fix up their aging ballpark, but Tunney dismissed that concern.

“You’re talking about one of the wealthiest families in America,” the alderman told a throng of City Hall reporters pressing him on the issue. “End of statement.”

Family patriarch Joe Ricketts founded TD Ameritrade, one of the country’s biggest online discount brokerages. His son, Tom Ricketts, runs the team, which was purchased for $800 million through a family trust. Dennis Culloton, a family spokesman, declined comment.

At stake is a $500 million investment: $300 million to fix up Wrigley and another $200 million for nearby development, including a plaza and hotel. The Rickettses say all of that will create nearly 1,200 new permanent jobs and generate $19 million in new yearly tax revenue for the city, county and state.

In late January, Emanuel urged the Ricketts and owners of buildings across the street who sell rooftop seating on game days to reach an agreement on signage that is key to paying for the rehab.

The rooftop owners, who give 17 percent of their annual revenue to the Cubs under a 20-year deal brokered by Tunney, fear their lucrative birds-eye views will be blocked if the Cubs put up signs in the outfield. They also say it would violate their deal with the Cubs.

Owners of the 16 rooftop clubs proposed a plan to place signs on their buildings and give all the resulting revenue to the Cubs. In exchange, they asked for a nine-year extension on their contract.

The Cubs, however, say revenue from signs on the building would not be as great as the amount of money they could make on advertising inside the ballpark. No deal has been reached, despite ongoing talks that include Tunney, who over the years has accepted tens of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from the rooftop owners.

Hopes to reach an agreement by early last month, in time to propose additional night games for the upcoming season, never materialized. Both Emanuel and Tunney said they wanted a comprehensive deal that addressed signage, night games, additional concerts, parking, security, aesthetics and closing off nearby streets for game-day street festivals.

With none of that done, the Ricketts appeared to step up the pressure this week when they announced that they had an agreement for a 40,000-square-foot athletic club inside a planned Sheraton hotel across the street from Wrigley.

“My family is prepared to invest $500 million into Wrigley Field and the Wrigleyville neighborhood,” Tom Ricketts said in a statement. “All of this can happen if we can reach a common sense solution that allows us to run our business.”

Although Tunney, as alderman, traditionally would have to green light the needed zoning change, the mayor does have the political power to override him.

Tunney said that point hasn’t escaped him. “Of course, I worry about everything,” Tunney said when asked about the mayor. “But you know what? I sleep well every night. You know why? (Because) I commit a hundred percent to my community.”

_________________

I don't object to anything he's saying. Lake View is a living, breathing neighborhood. It's not the Chicago Cubs' studio backlot.

_________________

Hey, do you have a link for this? I was going to post it on another site. Thanks for posting.

_________________
1926-1931-1934-1942-1944-1946-1964-1967-1982-2006-2011

What is it w/ all you assholes wanting the Cubs to move to your shitty little suburbs? Nobody gives a flying fuck about Forest Park, Oak Park, Oak Forest, River Forest, Forest Park or Oak Park.

_________________

Why should the Cubs continue to play in that dump?

_________________

Don't fuck with Tunney. He's a bigshot and needs those campaign contributions.

Fuck the Cubs, fuck Wrigleyville. It's all about bigshot Tunney.

Remember, as he himself said, "I sleep well every night".

Ald. Thomas Tunney: Tom Tunney (AldTomTunney) on Twitterhttps://twitter.com/AldTomTunneyCached

The latest from Tom Tunney (@AldTomTunney). 44th Ward Alderman. Elected on February 25, 2003 as Chicago's first openly gay alderman. Chicago, IL.

I bet the prestigious Ald. would prefer it if Ricketts was rock hard....

_________________

They should take a page out of Godfather II and get some compromising pics of this guy in action and then see how fast he toes the line.

Yeah, if people find out he has sex with men, he might never get elected in Lake View.

_________________

_________________

That was excellent.

_________________
1926-1931-1934-1942-1944-1946-1964-1967-1982-2006-2011

Enough of this shit...MOVE!

viewtopic.php?f=32&t=70315

_________________
favrefan said:"Chris Coghlan isn't gonna pay your rent, Jimmy."

Cubs fan David Eagan of Chicago Heights has Ron Santo's autograph and number tattooed on his head. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune / January 20, 2013)

_________________
favrefan said:"Chris Coghlan isn't gonna pay your rent, Jimmy."

Just as Obama has done a poor job of being a leader and brokering a deal, so has Tunney.

He has ignored tons of other issues, but when it comes to his financiers being pushed out, he is not going to stand for that!

It isn't just about money, as he gets enough money from the rooftop owners right now and even though the Cubs could easily replace that fianancial support, Tunney lives in the neighborhood, he owns Anne Sathers. He basically doesnt want to become the sell out, isolated Alderman.

Note: Tunney was mugged about 2 years ago walking sown Seminary, just off Belmont. That stretch of Seminary now has brand new, really bright lights. They stop basically at his house.

So we have learned in order for something to get done in Wrigleyville, either it needs to effect Tunney directly, or piss me off enough to get a bar shut down and closed. RIP WILD HARE

_________________
"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.’”

Because they like money.

_________________
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

They would make more money in a modern stadium.

_________________

Post of the year candidate.

_________________

I've got a feeling Emmanuel doesn't have the juice to override him. That would essentially take the alderman all cutting their own throats...for a guy who doesn't control an army of workers to unseat you and who might be gone in a couple of years.

The Ricketts are astoundingly naive on this whole thing. Great projects get shut down all the time for any number of reasons in this city. The Cub plan is a decent project in comparison. Not great, but decent.

I wonder which won of the "really smart people" that they hired to advise them thought a health club was going to be a game changer on this? Really, because you just cannot find a health club anywhere in the neighborhood and there just isn't any open space in which to exercise/recreat.

_________________
O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

What are you basing that speculation- and it is pure speculation- upon?

_________________
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

Skyboxes
Parking
PSLs
Expanded seating

You do realize they no longer get a full house when they are 20 games under in August anymore? Those days are over. The amount of money they can make in selling sky boxes alone makes it worth it.

_________________

Fucking Rickettses I swear to God. I just can't add anything else to this; I'm that stultified.

_________________

If I'm a businessman based downtown, why am I going to chase out to Arlington Heights for a skybox when there is a perfectly good one on 35th Street? Are you really suggesting the attraction for companies is a particular losing team rather than a cute and special park that out-of-towners "must see"?

_________________
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

That Dennis Culloton who is their spokesman in this story has had a few big jobs in the past and I assume that they have hired some name people. However, they keep coming up with these ideas and basically saying "checkmate!" through the media only to be ignored by the decision makers.

Why is it so difficult for Ricketts to understand that they've got you by the balls with the landmark designation. Negotiate, then five years from now, negotiate a little further.

Take those signs on the rooftop today if it lets the deal go through. Then, with public perception starting to swing in your favor you can make a power move like getting your guy in the alderman's office or having a mayor who cares about your plight.

_________________
O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Biggie what the hell does Obama have to do with this. Honestly did he fuck your sister or something? You've got as big a hard on for him as Jimmy does.

what the Ricketts need is a spine. Invite Alderman Tunney in and ask him if he likes the Cubs being in his Ward. If he says yes then he needs to get on board. Otherwise threaten to move. Somewhere. Anywhere. Just to show him they will do it. He and the rooftop owners now have been big enough babies to give Ricketts all the cover in the world to now come out and say "look. I said we would never leave, but this is rediculous. We are going to explore all options available to us and do what is best for the Cubs."

Baby McNown, you're one of the board's best men of the people. What's up with cheerleading for billionaires here?

I'm sure Tom Tunney likes the Cubs being in his ward just fine. And the Cubs really like being on Chicago's north side, where they have a charming ballpark idiosyncratically located in a well-off and thriving urban neighborhood. The Cubs may be Lake View's biggest business, but that doesn't mean the neighborhood has to roll over and let them do whatever they want. The ideal solution here is simply for the rooftops to kick more money to the Cubs, as they are indeed selling tickets to a show they're not putting on. If advertising is absolutely necessary, let the rooftops deal with it and come to a revenue-sharing agreement on it with the team. Hell no, the Cubs shouldn't be allowed to block the rooftops with billboards, and as small businesses in the neighborhood, Tunney absolutely should be standing up for their existence, at the very least, if not necessarily their 83% of their ill-gotten pie. If you want to be part of an urban fabric and enjoy the benefits that that has reaped for your team, then you have to get along with everyone and take some losses in exchange for gains elsewhere. If you want to build your own theme park away from where people live and work, do it at your own peril.

_________________

I'm not so much sticking up for the Ricketts family as I am fed up with the political games that they are being forced to play. They own the Cubs. They own the building. No other team in MLB has to deal with the restrictions that they have to. Tom R put it really well when he said they are a business, not a museum.

I'm not saying I want the Cubs to leave Wrigley. Far from it (faaaaaaar from it). But the Alderman and his precious rooftop owners need to wake up and at least see the threat of the Cubs leaving or they will just continue to push the Cubs around. The rooftops were cute when it was 2 guys with a BBQ and lawn chairs or a girl and her dog (I have family members who did that back in the day). Now they are a multimillion dollar industry based completely off the, let's call it what it is, theft of somebody else's product. They don't have a leg to stand on other than the Alderman and his zoning laws. The fact that their latest offer was "here. We'll pay to put up advertising on our businesses and you can keep all the profits" shows that they know it and are scared. If at least the threat of leaving, like the Chariman did back in 1989, is out there I think there would be a quantum shift of attitude from Tunney and the rooftoop owners. If the Cubs left, the rooftops go belly up and Wrigleyville becomes Uptown. Biggie would be the expert on this side but I would bet property values in the area take a nosedive. Nobody wants to see the Cubs leave. But nobody is gonna let them run their business how they want until the threat is there.

The thing is everyone who isnt braindead knows that whats best for the Cubs is to stay exactly where theyre at. And stop with the "no other major league team" crap. No other major league team has the built in advsntages of Wrigley snd its neighborhood.

_________________
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

How many businesses in major cities are allowed to run their businesses fully as they please, though? And as for other major league teams, most of them are shadowy, elaborate corporate welfare schemes that exist virtually above all laws and jurisdictions--there's one just a few stops down the line--and so I guess all you can do is concede that you're not one of them and settle for the moral high ground of not being part of a big American problem.

Are the rooftops theft? In a sense, yes, more or less on the same level of scalping -- a practice which the Cubs engage in with themselves, let's not forget. So of course the Cubs are entitled to more than 17% of that. But they're part of the package now, like it or not, and the Cubs don't get to run roughshod over them any more than they do the stores that sell Cubs shirts or the restaurants that sell hot dogs and hamburgers, no matter how much Tommy Boy stamps his feet and says he's a real business and he should be the only one within eyesight of Wrigley Field.

I don't think there's any point in threatening anymore. It's an empty threat. It's always been an empty threat. Of all the baseball teams that have shaken down their cities by threatening to move, we've had one relocation in over forty years, and that was less a direct response to Montreal calling the Expos' bluff as it was good old Jeff Loria letting the team die a slow, disemboweled death. I mean, who'd pay them to build their billion-dollar Dan Bernstein wet dream of monopolistic baseball commerce, anyway? Not the state, not a city, and God knows they themselves don't have the money.

_________________

Ok. Then any other BUSINESS. What other business is told what they can and can't do based off of the will of another group of business owners who's entire existence is based off of the theft of their product?