CHICAGO - After at least six years of trying, Chicago city aldermen have once again failed to enact a ban on hand-held cell phone use while driving.

Earlier this month, a city council committee overwhelming approved the proposed ban and moved the proposal along to the full council. Forty-two of the 50-member council signed on as co-sponsors.

But, as has happened in the past, there was last-minute wrangling over the merits of the proposal, resulting in another delay. It could be reconsidered next month but in the past delays have oft-times resulted in erosion of support.

Those opposing the proposal offer up a variety reasons for shunning the idea. One alderman from a ward on the city's edge said his border ward would become "a zone where coppers sit and give tickets" as residents run errands between their homes and nearby suburbs.

Another alderman said that any cell phone ban should be statewide.

A third alderman said the ban was "well intentioned, but another example of overregulation by a municipality."

Finally, another alderman introduced a measure that would forbid not only the use of hand-held phones in vehicles but a host of other activities as well, including "performing personal grooming," reading and eating.

Only one other city, Washington, D.C., prohibits talking on a hand-held cell phone while driving. New York and New Jersey have statewide bans on the practice.

At the same council meeting, other items of interest to the motorcoach industry were on the agenda. For example, the council cleared the way for the expansion of Wrigley Field, and Mayor Richard Daley voiced an openness to a sales tax increase to bail out the Chicago Transit Authority while he tried to downplay the importance of a Chicago casino in the face of opposition from Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

The council's action on Wrigley Field ended four years of controversy and debate. By a 47-0 vote, the council approved a plan calling for the Cubs to pay the city $3.1 million for land that will permit the team to build a 1,790-seat bleachers expansion--down from more than 2,000 in early proposals that encountered heavy community opposition--and develop a five-story commercial building adjacent to the ballpark.