We Built This Citi (poorly)

Over the years, we have heard ad nauseum about the Cubs' plans to build the Triangle Building and improve the structure of Wrigley Field to make it viable going forward as a major league facility. One can only hope that the Cubs do not use the same people who built Citi Field for the Mets.

A story in the New York Post details a number of problems that the new ballpark has had before its first birthday. In addition to water leaks damaging luxury suites of Jerry Seinfeld and others, the laundry list of issues include:

"* A nonworking elevator last week that forced Mets owner Fred Wilpon to climb four flights to his office.

* An outfield section known as "Mo's Zone" flooding in a rainstorm three months ago because drains were clogged. The backup was caused by 20 feet of pipe collapsing in the bullpen.

* A 4-by-6-foot illuminated sign falling in the field-level promenade during an off day.

* Electricity in the kitchen above the ticket booths near the rotunda shorting out. One outage caused the refrigerators to fail and water to leak into the ticket booths.

* A piece of concrete breaking off; it's now sitting in a field crew's office.

* Air conditioning and heating in the maintenance crew's locker room that hasn't worked since Day 1.

* Improperly installed electrical outlets. There is only one socket in the team's laundry room, so a power strip is needed to plug in all the washing machines.

* A black granite capstone on the stadium's ground-level façade falling off. Yesterday, Mets workers were spotted fixing the broken tile.

* Soaked seats in another luxury suite caused by a leaky ceiling during a rainy Mets-Yankees game. Crews carrying buckets, mops and towels paraded into the suite all night to stem the tide."

Criticism of the new park's problems are overblown, say the Mets:

"Dave Howard, the Mets' executive vice president of business operations, acknowledged some of the problems, but called them minor and not unexpected.

'Any suggestion that Citi Field is less than an elite, world-class entertainment facility is flat-out inaccurate and unfounded,' he said."

I guess that's true in much the same way the Cubs are an elite, world-class baseball team.