City To Cubs On 24/7 Work: "No!" -- But That's Not The Whole Story

During a media tour at Wrigley Field Monday, Cubs President of Business Operations Crane Kenney told reporters the Cubs would like to work "24/7" on the project in order to get things done more quickly.

Screaming tweet!

.@RahmEmanuel says flat no to Cubs' request to do around the clock construction to make up for lost time at Wrigley Field.

— Fran Spielman (@fspielman) March 3, 2015

Screaming headline from the Sun-Times!

So what's the real story? Here's Fran Spielman's Sun-Times article, which states:

The mayor said there will be no exceptions to the city ordinance limiting work to the hours of 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Fine and dandy, but that's followed by this quote from Mayor Rahm Emanuel:

“You know the city ordinance is clear. You can’t have 24-hour building. That’s number one. Number two, they haven’t even proposed anything. The only people they’ve proposed it to are the newspapers. So I have nothing to respond to,” Emanuel said Tuesday.

He also said he wanted to talk to Ald. Tom Tunney about the situation.

Well then. That doesn't sound like an absolute refusal to allow the Cubs to work beyond those 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. hours. It sounds like the mayor was reacting to what was reported from yesterday's tour, not from any negotiations between the team and the city -- the mayor says he hasn't even been asked yet.

All things like this require negotiations, and it seems to me that the Cubs threw out that "24/7" thing Monday likely knowing they wouldn't get it, and that further negotiations between the city, Ald. Tunney and the Cubs might allow the Cubs to have some extended work hours, especially on the interior concourse where such work is covered by tarps and lights and noise wouldn't likely bother neighbors too much.

The Cubs won't be working 24/7 -- so that part of the story is correct. But the tweet and headline to the article are, in my view, somewhat misleading. As always, we await further developments.