“Mayor Rahm Emanuel upped the ante Friday in his beef with the Cubs about security around Wrigley Field, calling the team out for making further investments inside the park while leaving some safety responsibilities unmet.
Emanuel wasn’t asked at a brief news conference about the latest episode in the increasingly acrimonious public tiff over security near the historic ballpark. But he brought it up unprompted, saying city Office of Emergency Management and Communications chief Alicia Tate-Nadeau has requested a meeting with team officials “in short order” to talk about the lack of an updated safety plan.
The mayor referenced the team’s recent announcement that it plans to build high-end clubs for season ticket holders inside the stadium, contending the Cubs first need to come up with a security framework in the tight neighborhood adjacent to it.
“If we’re going to invest in skyboxes and the enhancements around skyboxes, we need to make sure that we have the enhancements around the security around Wrigley Field,” he said after cutting the ribbon for an expansion at an addiction treatment center on the West Side.
“You have a new plaza, you need a new plan for security,” Emanuel added. “And it’s time now, with all the type of economic development that’s happening, we need a comprehensive, thorough security plan and all the infrastructure investments along with that security plan, to meet a new facility that you’ve invested in.”
In a statement Friday, Cubs spokesman Julian Green said the city approved the team’s “security plan and plan of operations” for the plaza in April. “We’re happy to provide another copy if they lost it,” he said. “We’ve been raising security concerns well before the Ricketts family privately invested $850 million into the project. We’re happy the city is hyper interested in the subject now and look forward to the meeting instead of responding through the media.”
