Tunney wants MORE cars in Lakeview...

For those of us who live in Lakeview or end up there pretty often, the amount of car traffic there can be pretty awful. This was sent to me, and it seems like it's a pretty crappy deal by an alderman that I thought would be more in favor of reducing traffic in his turf:

Alderman Tom Tunney is negotiating with the Cubs, and he wants more parking -- as much as 20 percent of Wrigley Field's capacity.*  Many of us feel Lakeview has enough cars on our streets already, and we would rather see investments in bicycling, transit, shuttles and sidewalks instead to serve residents and visitors.  Do you agree?
Please sign the petition TODAY and send this message to Alderman Tunney and the Cubs.  The Cubs have set a deadline of Monday, April 1 for an agreement around renovations, parking, and more.  They need to hear our voice.

Thanks!

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Permalink Reply by Mike Zumwalt on April 8, 2013 at 3:30pm

I rode through Wrigleyville this morning and it was already getting crazy at 9:30ish.

It is a major tourist draw and a money pit for local bars and restaraunts much like Navy Pier/Oak Street/North ave. beach in the summer.

And this is the year!!!!! LOL.

Tricolor said:

  Having driven and biked around Wrigley during games I can't say I'd want to do either one if I could avoid it.

Permalink Reply by Mike Zumwalt on April 8, 2013 at 3:33pm

Mine...? Broken beer bottles, Swisher Sweet wrappers, people throwing McD's/trash out the car window, gun shells on the sidewalk...then they end up on channel 7 crying about their dead child and asking what "the city" is going to do about it.

Duppie 13.5185km said:

I wonder how you would describe the "fabric of the neighborhood" that you live in.

Jason said:

The "fabric of the neighborhood" is a drunken shit show with tourists everywhere.

Permalink Reply by David Barish on April 9, 2013 at 3:28am

"neighborhood" does not mean the circus that envelops Clark Street on game days. it encompasses the side streets a mile or so in all directions from the park.  The circus does not intrude on those streets other than cars trying to find a space on the already crowded sidestreets and a handful of folks walking to and from the game to either public transportation, home or their more remotely parked vehicles.  The character of the gameday throng on Clark has degenerated over the years. I used to live at 1060 Cornelia eons ago and it was not such a big deal.  It is a culture shock now. Last Summer some friends and I met for dinner at El Jardin in the early evening after an afternoon game that we had not attended. Clark St. was like an extended fraternity party. However, that is not the fabric of the neighborhood. That fabric has been pretty constant over the past 30 years. It has evolved from lower income locals to more economically stable and upawardly mobile locals.  The gentrification happened a while ago.  That is a separate social issue.  Either way, painting a picture of the neighborhood as seen through the posts on this thread does little for reality and does not reflect the fabric of the real neighborhood.  If I still lived there I would be offended.  I just take them for what they are- rhetorical flourishes.

Tunny, either the first or one of the first, openly gay elected officials in the city, represents the fabric of his ward. His ward has a lot of gay residents many of whom are employed and in a good economic place.  His ward has a number of small businesses that thrive. The rooftop trolls are just a small part of the ward.  He takes a beating for representing his ward.  We all know he owns a business, Ann Sather in the neighborhood.  The clientele of that restaurant pretty much sums up the constituency of the alderrman.  The ward and the neighborhood are generally good places to ride a bike, live and  shop.  The alderrman's desire for a garage in the face of Wrigley expansion and in the face of more intruders coming to the area from afar. 

The garage is likely to be an aesthetic disaster and may represent the "suburbanization" of the neighborhood but it is a reasonable addition.  I thought Michelle's attempt to persuade me was well stated and made many good points.  I still cannot sign the petition.

Permalink Reply by Liz on April 9, 2013 at 3:53am

If a garage is built and all of the side street parking within 1 mile becomes zoned for game days, it would greatly reduce the spread of drivers roaming back and forth searching for a space.  I lived on Aldine for several years and dreaded game days even being so far south of the stadium.  It meant out of towners circling for parking because there's no dedicated parking by the stadium.  

Having a lot that people can be fed into coming off of lake shore drive on Irving Park and not circling around would reduce impact on the larger area. As long obtaining game day zone stickers is easy, there's no reason that residents wouldn't be able to get them (in my opinion too much of the street parking isn't zoned and there's way too many cars parking on the street that aren't driven for weeks on end.). 

For the traffic coming off of the Kennedy, it needs to be filtered onto Addison and straight into the remote lot.  Right now the signs direct people to get off at Irving Park and finding the remote lot is confusing.  Having staff flagging people into the lot and making it clear on the website that the lot offers a free shuttle would reduce the cars trying to park next to the field. 

In terms of neighborhood change, I think it has changes significantly, even in the time I was there (2006-2010) it changed.  It became fewer families (a lot headed west to Roscoe) and more young transplants to the city.  The bars aren't crazy just on game days, they're crazy year round from the local crowd. 

Permalink Reply by Jason W on April 9, 2013 at 6:10am

If it's only on game days why is it a drunken shit show October through March? The cubs don't play then.

David Barish said:

"neighborhood" does not mean the circus that envelops Clark Street on game days. it encompasses the side streets a mile or so in all directions from the park.  The circus does not intrude on those streets other than cars trying to find a space on the already crowded sidestreets and a handful of folks walking to and from the game to either public transportation, home or their more remotely parked vehicles.  The character of the gameday throng on Clark has degenerated over the years. I used to live at 1060 Cornelia eons ago and it was not such a big deal.  It is a culture shock now. Last Summer some friends and I met for dinner at El Jardin in the early evening after an afternoon game that we had not attended. Clark St. was like an extended fraternity party. However, that is not the fabric of the neighborhood. That fabric has been pretty constant over the past 30 years. It has evolved from lower income locals to more economically stable and upawardly mobile locals.  The gentrification happened a while ago.  That is a separate social issue.  Either way, painting a picture of the neighborhood as seen through the posts on this thread does little for reality and does not reflect the fabric of the real neighborhood.  If I still lived there I would be offended.  I just take them for what they are- rhetorical flourishes.

Tunny, either the first or one of the first, openly gay elected officials in the city, represents the fabric of his ward. His ward has a lot of gay residents many of whom are employed and in a good economic place.  His ward has a number of small businesses that thrive. The rooftop trolls are just a small part of the ward.  He takes a beating for representing his ward.  We all know he owns a business, Ann Sather in the neighborhood.  The clientele of that restaurant pretty much sums up the constituency of the alderrman.  The ward and the neighborhood are generally good places to ride a bike, live and  shop.  The alderrman's desire for a garage in the face of Wrigley expansion and in the face of more intruders coming to the area from afar. 

The garage is likely to be an aesthetic disaster and may represent the "suburbanization" of the neighborhood but it is a reasonable addition.  I thought Michelle's attempt to persuade me was well stated and made many good points.  I still cannot sign the petition.

Permalink Reply by Crazy David 84 Furlongs on April 9, 2013 at 6:16am

Its all part of the mind set and the massive PR efforts over the years by the Cubs and the Beer companies.  The same subset of Cub fans that come to Wrigley, the bar/party place are the same subset that also come to Wrigleyville, the prime bar/club area in Chicago.   Those couple of blocks on Clark, simply put, have more clubs and bars in a fewer number of blocks than anywhere else in the rest of the city. 

The baseball fans who come to Wrigley, the barely adequate ball park, are not the ones causing trouble in the neighborhood.  But they are also not the desired fan who will spend $60 or more per person on food, beer and memorabilia.  And they are also not the ones that come to the Wrigleyville bars.



Jason said:

If it's only on game days why is it a drunken shit show October through March? The cubs don't play then.

Permalink Reply by Lisa Curcio on April 15, 2013 at 12:28am

At the risk of sticking my neck out and having one of you guys step on it, that sounds not too bad if it is actually executed as written.

Permalink Reply by Alex Z on April 15, 2013 at 1:43am

I agree. While the "character" of Wrigley Field will change, it has already changed a lot already in recent years with things like the existing Captain Morgan club and this is just another step in that direction.

 

Someone in the Crain's comments also makes the good point that Ricketts was asking for a lot of public money for this project but received zero.

Permalink Reply by Adam Herstein on April 15, 2013 at 1:48am
Except for the free remote parking, I agree. The parking should not be free.

Lisa Curcio 4.0 mi said:

At the risk of sticking my neck out and having one of you guys step on it, that sounds not too bad if it is actually executed as written.

Permalink Reply by Kevin C Dormant on April 15, 2013 at 2:01am

Excerpts from the Chicago Tribune article:

Tunney had announced that the Cubs were considering a two-story parking structure on what is now a gravel lot near Clark and Grace streets to create up to 500 additional spaces, but that resulted in an online petition opposing the move.

The deal announced Sunday instead envisions the end of $6 fees for remote parking at DeVry University, which has about 1,000 spaces. It also calls for reconstructing a lot on the 1100 block of Eddy Street, south of Addison, which would create about 100 additional parking spaces, partly for overflow from the hotel. The hotel would have 75 spaces.

The city also would develop a "marketing and awareness campaign" to encourage people going to games to use remote parking or other transportation, like CTA trains and buses or bicycles. That is something sought by the petition signers who opposed the Clark and Grace parking garage.

Permalink Reply by Adam Herstein on April 15, 2013 at 2:38am
Wait, you mean our complaining online actually accomplished something?!

Kevin C said:

Excerpts from the Chicago Tribune article:

Tunney had announced that the Cubs were considering a two-story parking structure on what is now a gravel lot near Clark and Grace streets to create up to 500 additional spaces, but that resulted in an online petition opposing the move.

Permalink Reply by Duppie on April 15, 2013 at 3:19am

So 200 busy bodies did get to decide how a neighborhood of 40,000 deals with their parking issues?

Adam Herstein (5.5 mi) said:

Wait, you mean our complaining online actually accomplished something?!

Kevin C said:

Excerpts from the Chicago Tribune article:

Tunney had announced that the Cubs were considering a two-story parking structure on what is now a gravel lot near Clark and Grace streets to create up to 500 additional spaces, but that resulted in an online petition opposing the move.

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