Chicago Cubs president of business operations Crane Kenney said that the team will seek permission from 44th Ward Ald. Tom Tunney to begin around-the-clock construction on the Wrigley Field bleachers and scoreboards in an attempt to complete as much work as possible by opening day on April 5.
Despite the urgency and workload required to complete the bleacher construction project, the mayor's office has decided that the Cubs should not be allowed to work 24 hours a day because of the negative impact all that commotion will have on the neighborhood.
Consider what a 24/7 construction project would entail:
Loud noises at night: Can you imagine the kind of noise pollution night construction would cause? Between workers yelling back and forth with each other and construction equipment making thunderous noises as it operates, around-the-clock construction at the stadium would raise the noise to decibel levels the likes of which Wrigleyville has never heard.
Bright lights: In order for workers to see what they are doing at night, construction companies will need to bring in artificial lighting to illuminate the area in and around the stadium. Given that the Cubs were the last team in the league to install permanent stadium lighting in their stadium back in 1988 and the city sets a hard cap on the number of night games they can have, we can see how bringing this newfangled "electricity" to Wrigley for construction might come as a shock for some residents in the area.
Increased foot traffic: As stadium construction progresses, the number of people coming in and out of the construction site will start to increase. There's going to be all kinds of strange people who don't even live in Wrigleyville walking around the neighborhood at all hours of night, causing a ruckus and acting like they own the place. Simple things like walking around the neighborhood, trying to drive and park your car and lead a quiet lifestyle would be disrupted by this unique circumstance.
Wrigleyville residents are not used to the kinds of disturbances outlined in this article, and bringing such disruption to the neighborhood would bring about a jarring change to the otherwise peaceful lifestyle they're used to.