LAKEVIEW — Wrigley Field talks are headed back to the neighborhood next week.
As closed door City Hall meetings continue, the Cubs and Ald. Tom Tunney (44th) will be brainstorming with neighborhood representatives on Tuesday — also behind closed doors — about more potential solutions to Wrigley Field-related concerns such as parking and security.
Board members of the Lake View Citizens' Council, an umbrella organization for 10 neighborhood groups, and members of the Community Directed Development Council, a group of business owners, developers and neighbors, decided to hold a combined meeting to get more feedback on Wrigley Field negotation developments, said LVCC president Will DeMille.
Many people are members of both.
CDDC met just last week to talk about ideas to improve parking, traffic and security — all issues Tunney has said must be addressed before he will ease restrictions the Cubs want to help fund a $300 million renovation of the stadium. The group usually only gathers every other month.
At the last meeting, the Cubs' Mike Lufrano presented an updated plan for the planned hotel, rendered to be 91 feet, seven stories and have a bridge over Clark, according to several people present. They also discussed parking ideas such as finding ways to collaborate with more existing remote parking lots and incentivizing people to park there, such as making it free or developing express bus lanes, DeMille said.
A big focus of this gathering will be continuing the parking conversation, said Tunney staffer Erin Duffy. But Duffy said that after Tuesday's meeting, the Cubs will still have to present plans in public to neighborhood groups before Tunney signs off on a final plan.
"We're working through some of the details," she said.
Meanwhile, the rooftops association has still not sat at the table with the Cubs — the assumption being that Tunney would fight for their interests in City Hall. But Beth Murphy of Murphy's Rooftop, who is allowed to attend Tuesday's meeting, said at an East Lake View Neighbors board meeting this week that she does not think the alderman can represent the rooftops.
"The alderman cannot negotiate on behalf of the rooftops," she said. "He has a myriad of interests to represent."
