Tunney said his reservations on the plan are based on quality of life issues for Wrigleyville residents (in the case of the street closures), and he's looking out for the investments of the rooftop clubs, who coincidentally have raised some serious money for Tunney's campaign fund over the years. more ›

The current fine for residents who sell their parking permits is set at $500. Tunney's proposal seeks to establish a tiered fine system for repeat offenders. Second-time offenders would be fined increase the fines to $750, a $1,000 fine would be imposed for a third offense, and multiple offenders would be fined $1,500. more ›

Visitors to Wrigley Field may soon see a Jumbotron in right field, enter the ballpark by passing through "Wrigleyville: Home of the Cubs" arches sponsored by advertisers and see Sheffield and Waveland Avenues closed to street fairs on game days under a plan proposed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel to help the Cubs raise money to renovate the Friendly Confines without placing the burden on taxpayers. more ›

The city could use existing wireless technology to ticket home and business owners for not shoveling their sidewalks. more ›

Anyone who thinks moving the start time to 10 a.m. sorely underestimates the willingness of gays to throw a party and most everyone else to have an excuse to start drinking early. more ›

Food truck enthusiasts find themselves in good company these days. If you count yourself among them, check out this petition to allow food trucks to cook on-board after you finish that empanada. more ›

Last night's Boystown CAPS meeting was a tense affair, while 44th Ward Ald. Tom Tunney suggested a special police unit be formed to add police to the streets in his ward. more ›

Alderman Tom Tunney (owner of Ann Sather's) is objecting to the new proposal to legalize and regulate food trucks. more ›

The man behind the anti-Lakeview Wal-Mart facebook page said keeping it up would be a "waste of time." We're surprised it took him this long, and it isn't all Wal-Mart's fault. more ›

So how did Wal-Mart's meeting with concerned Lakeview residents Monday night go? About as well as can be expected. more ›

WalMart representatives are taking their pitch for a Lakeview location directly to the people who don't want one at tonight's meeting of the South East Lake View Neighbors general meeting. The SELVN is also expected to vote on a measure supporting or rejecting a move by 44th Ward Ald. Tom Tunney to downzone the building at Broadway and Surf that has been suspected for months of being a possible location for a WalMart in the neighborhood. Bruce Alan Beal, founder of the Stop the Lakeview Lincoln Park WalMart Facebook page, wrote to members of that group, "This meeting will be your first and probably only chance to directly express your concerns to Walmart corporate reps, assuming they show up." more ›

46th Ward Ald. Helen Shiller is a lame duck alderman. The candidates to succeed her in the runoff election, James Cappleman and Molly Phelan, are running as much against Shiller's record as each other. Shiller is (wisely) not endorsing either of them, and a Shiller endorsement may be seen by the candidates and some voters in the 46th Ward as an albatross they don't want around their necks. But Shiller is co-moderating (with 44th Ward Ald. Tom Tunney) a forum between Cappleman and Phelan March 28 at Truman College that we're going to make a note to attend, and we don't even live in the 46th. This forum has the possibility to show the ugly side of democracy. (h/t Uptown Update) more ›

Wal-Mart executives reached out to 44th Ward Alderman Tom Tunney to ensure him that they have not signed a intent to lease space in the Broadway on Surf building for a smaller neighborhood box-store concept. more ›

As the Cubs continue their tradition of losing, it’s the businesses centered around them that are hurting the most with this year’s dismal record. Wrigley attendance is down 3.6 percent from last year and the rooftop clubs are slashing prices for the first time trying to make ends meet. “There’s a lot of money going out and only some coming in,” the managing partner of Skybox rooftop told the Tribune. more ›

Courtesy People Against the "Malling of Wrigleyville" more ›

The path to getting the lighted Toyota sign put up in the left field stands at Wrigley Field has cleared another hurdle, getting the green light from the City Council’s Buildings Committee. Perhaps more important, though, is the reversal by Ald. Tom Tunney who had, until now, opposed the sign. Tunney has agreed to support it so long as the Cubs issue a moratorium on similar sign for the next four years. Estimates for total revenue generated by the sign stand at around $2.5 million a year. more ›

Opposition is heating up against a plan that would turn the southeast corner of Addison and Clark across from Wrigley Field into a new hotel-apartment-retail space. Leading the charge is the iO Theater, which has called its space on Clark just south of the intersection home since 1995. The Facebook group started by an iO instructor opposing the development, "People Against the 'Malling of Wrigleyville," has grown to more than 8,000 members (and counting) since last week. Additionally, 100 people showed up to a meeting at iO on Sunday to learn more about the development. Theater owner and directer Charna Halpern says the development threatens the character of the neighborhood and the future of her theater. more ›

The Ricketts Family versus Tom Tunney about advertising. Immigrants rights activists fighting against the Arizona Immigration bill and protesting the Cubs' spring training home. Citizens up in arms against a developer intent on tearing down businesses across the street from Wrigley Field. How did Wrigleyville, which is usually just drunken and pee-soaked, get so angry? more ›

The City's Landmarks Commission gave Cubs owner Tom Ricketts the OK for that proposed Toyota sign to go up in left field at Wrigley Field. Ricketts had pulled out the big guns for the presentation, bringing along Cubs legend Ernie Banks to appeal to the Commission in favor of the sign. Said Mr. Cub, "It is important to have this sign to keep this wonderful place alive . . . for another 100 years." By "keep this...place alive," Banks meant provide a few million dollars in extra revenue for the team. Because even though they have some of the best attendance numbers along with the most expensive tickets in baseball, signing players like Alfonso Soriano and Milton Bradley to bloated, awful contracts is no way to balance the checkbook. more ›

Openly gay Ald.Tom Tunney announced this week he may consider a mayoral run should Mayor Daley not seek re-election. His announcement - joining the ranks of Mike Quigley and Rahm Emanuel as other potential successors to the crown - begs the question if Chicago could join the ranks of cities like Berlin, Paris and, weirdly enough, Houston by electing a gay mayor. more ›

Don't look for that Toyota sign to be towering above Wrigley Field anytime soon. The city's Department of Zoning has come back to the Cubs with some demands they want met before they clear the way for the lighted sign to go up. The move confirms that the sign won't be in place before the Cubs' home opener on April 12. Among the demands is moving the sign closer to home plate, meaning it will rise from inside the stadium behind bleacher seats as opposed to Wrigley's exterior wall. In addition, according to the Sun-Times: more ›

The 2010 Wrigley Field concerts have been announced and there are some familiar faces. Elton John and Billy Joel, who brought their piano pop to Wrigley last year for a pair of shows, are coming back while, much to the joy of Wrigleyville's frat boy/broseph population, Dave Matthews Band will bring their bland brand of pop-rock to the historic stadium. The John & Joel show will happen on Wednesday July 7 (during a Cubs' West Coast road trip) while DMB will play two shows: a Friday and Saturday night in September (either the 10th and 11th or 17th and 18th). Ald. Tom Tunney (44th) is expected to introduce an "exception" to the Cubs' night game ordinance to the council to allow for the three shows; it's not known whether or not the Cubs will have to give up one of their night games in exchange for holding the shows. more ›

Later Tunney acknowledged that there isn’t a consensus in the LGBT community whether to pursue a special category as a qualified minority. He told the Sun-Times: more ›

An alderman who says one thing in private and something else in public? Considered us floored. Ald. Tom Tunney is the latest political figure to come under a bit of scrutiny over perception versus reality. To hear him talk about his proposal of shutting down vendors within a certain radius of Wrigley Field, it's all about safety. Last month, Tunney told the Trib, "It's a public safety issue. You can't walk to the park." Behind closed doors is another matter though. more ›

Anyone who's ever gone to a Cubs game knows the clusterfuck that occurs around Wrigley Field right before game time. Now, Ald. Tom Tunney (44th) wants to try to clear that congestion a bit by making it illegal for street vendors to set up shot within a certain radius around the stadium. The proposal, introduced today, would make it illegal for vendors to, as the Tribune explains, "sell food or merchandise from a cart, table or other temporary stand." more ›

44th Ward Alderman Tom Tunney suspended "indefinitely" aide Zodak Yonan, whom the Tribune busted on Monday for parking around the ward with a homemade placard. Yonan displayed the placard, which reads "44th Ward Official Business" next to a City of Chicago seal to avoid feeding the meters. "Nobody gave it to me. I made it," he told the Tribune. "I've worked for the alderman's office for 25 years. We're so busy in the office, sometimes you forget to put the money in. The sign is there for the meter maids to know. There's no problem with that." Tunney told the Tribune that "we don't have any official 44th Ward business signs. I don't even have one." more ›

In spite of opposition from the Southport Neighbors Association, the Chicago City Council gave the Chicago Cubs permission today to hold three concerts at Wrigley Field this July. Neighborhood Ald. Tom Tunney (44th) signed the plan and promised to “minimize the concerns of the community at large.” Pop legends Billy Joel and Elton John are slated to play a pair of shows together at the stadium (July 16 and 21) and country group Rascal Flatts will squeeze a date in between (July 18). Part of the protest from the Southport Neighbors Association centered on the fact that the Rascal Flatts show is during the same weekend as their annual Summer on Southport festival. The concerts come during an 11-day stretch during which the Cubs will be off for the All-Star break and then on the east coast. [Tribune] more ›

If Ald. Tom Tunney (44th) gets his wish, Wrigley Field rooftop owners will be allowed to sell tickets to the upcoming Winter Classic between the Blackhawks and rival Detroit Red Wings. While the rooftops are limited to only being open for Cubs' home games, Tunney has introduced an ordinance that would allow the rooftops to be open for the game, saying, "It's a fierce rivalry. Interest is very high and ticket prices are very high. There's an opportunity for the rooftops to do some business. For the concerts [by Jimmy Buffett and the Police], the rooftops were not that good a seat. We let them be open, but they didn't benefit financially. This time, the rooftops will have a saleable seat. Center ice is around second base." We think it's a grand idea that makes sense. And at least those rooftop clubs have indoor areas where you can actually warm up. With ticket prices for the game ranging from $75 to $325, it'll be interesting to see what prices owners put on packages. One owner, Tom Gramatis, has lowered his price to $200 per person thanks to the economy. more ›

City Hall's response to cell-phone-yapping motorists is simple: get a hands-free device or put a sock in it. While that's still the case, a new plan working its way through city council would scale back the punishment for offenders of the cell phone ban, which now includes text messaging and internet surfing. Under the current ordinance, talkative drivers have their license taken away by the police department and can only get it back after they pay a fine or go to court. But during Wednesday's full council meeting, Mayor Daley introduced a proposal that allows offenders to keep their license. The proposal also allows violators the opportunity to contest their ticket by mail or through an administrative hearing. more ›

Following up on yesterday's story regarding the city asking bars and restaurants around Wrigley Field to voluntarily honor a ban on alcohol sales after the seventh-inning stretch during post-season "clinch" games (definition for some readers/"Cubs Fans": "a game in which the Cubs can end a series with a win, facilitating their continued participation in the postseason"). How do you think Mayor Daley reacted to the protests of business owners who said that the proposed ban lacked common sense? Rationally? more ›