Ever since he took office in 1989, I’ve been under the impression that Mayor Daley was the most powerful man in Chicago.
Muzikowski worked out an agreement with David Livingston, then the president of the commission, and recruited some friends to clear the lot, remove the rubble, put in sod, install a pitcher’s mound and an infield, and build a dugout. They got Bill Lavicka, the well-known preservationist and artist, to build a sculpture for the field–a mitt at the end of an arm, reaching up about 15 feet to catch a fly ball. Muzikowski estimates he and his supporters spent $200,000 on the field.
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As Muzikowski sees it, the commission has other options. The district covers roughly 560 acres bounded by Congress, 15th Street, Ashland, and Oakley, including dozens, if not hundreds, of vacant lots, many of them created after the commission used its power of eminent domain to force out poor black residents. There are several vacant, weed-filled commission-owned lots just across the street from the baseball field. Why not build the research center there?
Pruett says the commission has offered to let the Little League build a field on another vacant lot at Taylor and Seeley. “We have nothing against baseball or Little League,” says Pruett. “We’re not doing this to be mean.”
The mayor’s been a longtime supporter of the Little League, throwing out the ceremonial first pitch at 12 of 13 season openers. At the start of this season in June, Daley signed a petition calling on the commissioner to “save our Near West Side Little League Field.”
Albecker and Muzikowski don’t have a bad word to say about Mayor Daley, whom they consider a valuable ally. Neither does Solis, one of the mayor’s closest City Council loyalists. “The mayor has been very busy,” Solis says. “But I’m sure he will address this issue.”
Big surprise.
