"At that time we said this is work that will take six to eightmonths to do," James Rooney, the mayor's chief of staff, tellsGlobeSt.com. "We said it will be the spring before we have enoughinformation to make an informed decision. They knew the work wasn'tdone yet."

Rooney acknowledges that the council is raising legitimatequestions such as costs to the city, absorption of constructioncost overruns and how many streets will be created by the ballparkbut he insists that the city and the Red Sox need time to get theiranswers ready. As to councillor Maura Hennigan's financial analysisstating that the new ballpark would cost the city $22 million peryear, Rooney says that the analysis assumes interest rates will behigher than what the city will be able to negotiate.

"Financial analysis is all assumption driven," he says. "You canchange the assumptions a little if you want to get an answer you'relooking for."