April 06--Portable toilets will be installed at Wrigley Field for the next two months after some fans waited in line more than an hour to use restrooms during the team's home opener Sunday night.
The problem started when two of the four restrooms on the upper deck, a men's and a women's, were shut down by flooding because of a "problem with our plumbing," according to Cubs spokesman Julian Green.
That sent many fans to the lower level, where there were two regular restrooms and two "smaller, temporary" restrooms in the left field concourse and three restrooms -- one men's, two women's -- in the right field concourse, Green said.
"There were already long lines on the lower level," he said. The plumbing problems were cleared up but, by then, the lines had grown to waits of more than an hour, Green said.
"We could've provided additional portable units and we didn't," he said.
But they will be provided for Tuesday night's game and will continue to be used until work is done on the lower level and more restrooms are available by late May, he said.
"Once we finish the work in the lower-level concourse, we will have a total of four women and four men restrooms -- increasing by one restroom," Green said. "The full complement of restrooms will be available by late May."
The Cubs apologized for the long lines. "Opening Day at Wrigley Field has always brought challenges with wait times and tonight was particularly extreme," Green said in the statement after the game.
Many fans took to social media to complain about the situation.
"I'm all for renovating, but I've now missed two innings trying to get into the bathroom," James Hillebrand said in a Tweet, directing it toward the Cubs' official Twitter page. "Get your act together."
Another Cubs fan, Tim Powers, encouraged people to "lay off the beer (and) avoid the restrooms."
Green acknowledged that "with 35,000 fans showing up in the ballpark tonight, we were simply not prepared to handle guests during peak periods. We have high standards for service, and we missed the mark tonight.
"We want to apologize to our fans for the inconvenience," he said.
The bathroom problems even found their way onto the mayoral campaign trail Monday morning when a diner at Ann Sather restaurant in Lake View mentioned the situation to Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who was there to have breakfast with volunteers.
As Emanuel was shaking hands with people in the restaurant, diner Jeff Miller, who said he attended the Cubs opening game, told the mayor that the Wrigley Field bathrooms had been a mess Sunday night.
Emanuel responded that Miller was not the first person to mention that. "I texted Tom and I said, 'You've got some work to do,' " said Emanuel, laughing, referring to Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts.
"With the team, as well," Miller quipped.
