Wells Street bridge fully open

For the first time in months, everyone could cross the Wells Street bridge Thursday morning.

The Cubs got the go-ahead Thursday to take another 10 feet of street and sidewalk — and sell advertising on a “branding arch” over Clark Street — over the objections of residents who live around 99-year-old Wrigley Field.

Area residents were so angry about the Chicago Plan Commission’s decision to enlarge the stadium footprint at their expense to accommodate wider aisles, more concessions and a larger Budweiser deck, they branded Mayor Rahm Emanuel the team’s “most valuable player” for 2013.

Jim Spencer, who lives a block away from Wrigley, said the total amount of land now “given” to the billionaire Ricketts family that owns the Cubs now totals 41,397 square feet on Waveland and on Sheffield. Fifty-six parking spaces will be lost.

“The mayor has proven to be the Cubs’ most valuable player for 2013 as he has trampled our rights, tram- pled our neighborhood — all for the good of the Cubs,” Spencer said.

Area resident David Dalka urged the Plan Commission to take a stand against what he called the Cubs’ “ever-evolving, not-ending change in plans.” It now includes an unprecedented, revenue-generating gateway arch.

“It’s going to destroy traffic flow in a neighborhood that already has dysfunctional traffic,” Dalka said.

Local Ald. Tom Tunney (44th) acknowledged that the “Sheffield ex- perience will be different,” thanks to the revised stadium renovation plan approved Thursday. But he said, the Cubs are prepared to offer parking in team lots on non-game days to residents whose street spaces will be lost.

Cubs Vice-President and General Counsel Mike Lufrano argued that the ad-bearing branding arch over Clark is a fair trade-off for the pedestrian bridge scrapped at Tunney’s behest. There’s a similar bridge bearing the White Sox logo over 35th Street near U.S. Cellular Field.

As for the claim that Emanuel has been the Cubs’ 2013 MVP, Lufrano said, “Remember, this is $300 million of private investment in the ballpark — $500 million overall in the community. It’s really unprecedented in our industry to have a project like this entirely privately funded.”