Chicago's Best Ballpark Waffles
Tribune softball pitcher and waffle vendor Fred Mitchell waffles in today's paper about crime at the two ballparks. Mitchell doesn't come to much of a conclusion, except to suggest that while perceptions are slippery things, they do keep new restaurants from opening near U.S. Cellular Field. He omits the fact that perceptions are manufactured by daily newspapers, like the Cubs-owning newspaper that he writes for.
In fact, U.S. Cellular Field is not surrounded by restaurants because U.S. Cellular Field is surrounded by parking lots, and the White Sox own vending rights to a vast area around the stadium, which prevent anyone from opening a restaurant that might compete with sales inside the stadium. It's an unfortunate arrangement that prevents development immediately adjacent to the ballpark and consigns most Sox fans to the highway after a game.
As for crimes, Mitchell does mention one of two murders that have taken the lives of spectators following Cubs games in the last two seasons, while extracting a statement from Cubs-friendly Alderman Tom Tunney that the murder in front of the Cubby Bear at Clark and Addison after a Cubs game last year was not "significant to Wrigley Field." That's one of those statements that makes you go hmm.
When he gets to the Cell, Mitchell has to mention Tribune-favorite William Ligue, of course, even though that on-field assault really has nothing to do with his stated topic: fan safety outside the ballpark after games. He also raises the beating of talk-show host Bill Simonson in 2000, an incident that made an enormous media splash precisely because Simonson is a talk-show host. How many brawls, we wonder, occur in the two neighborhoods that do not involve talk-show hosts?
And if a murder outside Wrigley 90 minutes after a Cubs game is not "significant to Wrigley," it's hard to see how Simonson's beating more than three hours after a Sox game could be "significant" to the Cell. But Mitchell doesn't seek out any ameliorating comments from South Side aldermen.
Mitchell just succeeds in illustrating once again how unfortunate incidents that occur in Bridgeport are portrayed in local media as threats to the safety of Sox fans, but much more serious incidents in Wrigleyville are portrayed as insignificant to the safety of Cubs fans. Why is that?
In fact, U.S. Cellular Field is not surrounded by restaurants because U.S. Cellular Field is surrounded by parking lots, and the White Sox own vending rights to a vast area around the stadium, which prevent anyone from opening a restaurant that might compete with sales inside the stadium. It's an unfortunate arrangement that prevents development immediately adjacent to the ballpark and consigns most Sox fans to the highway after a game.
As for crimes, Mitchell does mention one of two murders that have taken the lives of spectators following Cubs games in the last two seasons, while extracting a statement from Cubs-friendly Alderman Tom Tunney that the murder in front of the Cubby Bear at Clark and Addison after a Cubs game last year was not "significant to Wrigley Field." That's one of those statements that makes you go hmm.
When he gets to the Cell, Mitchell has to mention Tribune-favorite William Ligue, of course, even though that on-field assault really has nothing to do with his stated topic: fan safety outside the ballpark after games. He also raises the beating of talk-show host Bill Simonson in 2000, an incident that made an enormous media splash precisely because Simonson is a talk-show host. How many brawls, we wonder, occur in the two neighborhoods that do not involve talk-show hosts?
And if a murder outside Wrigley 90 minutes after a Cubs game is not "significant to Wrigley," it's hard to see how Simonson's beating more than three hours after a Sox game could be "significant" to the Cell. But Mitchell doesn't seek out any ameliorating comments from South Side aldermen.
Mitchell just succeeds in illustrating once again how unfortunate incidents that occur in Bridgeport are portrayed in local media as threats to the safety of Sox fans, but much more serious incidents in Wrigleyville are portrayed as insignificant to the safety of Cubs fans. Why is that?
posted by Chicago Cubune Watch permalink
