The headline may be a bit too sensationalistic, but we may find that in a year it’s right on target. The Contra Costa Times editorial page acknowledged the interest by Fremont and San Jose, even Sacramento and Las Vegas. Wolff’s Oakland plan has both merit and challenges. Should Opening Day 2006 pass with little progress [...]

Update (10/26, 3:05 PM): Today I pitched the idea to Ignacio De La Fuente and Nancy Nadel. Councilwoman Nadel, in whose district the site resides, has been receptive so far. She’s passing the idea along to Redevelopment. We’ll see what happens from there. According to an article in Sunday’s Trib, some of the dealerships on [...]

Barry Witt’s report in today’s Merc covers San Jose’s efforts to get PG&E to study moving a substation located on the Diridon South site. The substation could either be reconfigured or moved. A potential site is the fire training center on the other side of Park Avenue. The substation is wedged between the old Stephens [...]

San Jose has, for lack of a better term, found itself in a bit of a pickle. The city’s oft-forgotten Class A San Jose Giants play in the historically rich but otherwise decrepit Municipal Stadium. An article in this week’s San Jose Business Journal reports on the Giants’ parent team, the San Francisco Giants, giving [...]

I remember this routine I had as a child. As a typical latchkey kid, I’d come home with my twin brother to an empty house. During baseball season, my brother and I would have time to watch the dynamic duo of G.I. Joe and Transformers. After the cartoons ended, my brother would head to a [...]

Below is a table showing seasonal attendance totals for the 2000-2005 seasons. By representing the data in this manner, certain conclusions can be drawn about the nature of baseball attendance. But before I get to that, here’s the table: First, I should point out the reasoning behind picking the selected five teams. All are California [...]

A newly penned editorial in today’s Contra Costa Times welcomes Fremont’s attempts to get the A’s. Since it’s early in the game, there are no detailed specifics to criticize, such as public funding. The editorial qualifies the notion by emphasizing that the paper doesn’t necessarily want the A’s to leave Oakland, but if this is [...]

Local evening newscasts all have reported a seven alarm fire tonight burning at the old HomeBase (Coliseum South) site immediately to the south of the Coliseum complex. I took pictures of the site several months ago and compiled them into an overview (PDF format). The site has been vacant for several years and though it [...]

Some good reading from other cities where ballparks are in various planning stages: Backers of a downtown Kansas City ballpark launched a new website yesterday promoting the concept. A Powerpoint presentation in PDF format is available on the site. The presentation goes over downtown resurgence in other cities: San Francisco, Cleveland, Denver, and Pittsburgh. Obviously, [...]

The preliminary feasibility study was unanimously approved (5-0) tonight in what could be viewed as a formality. City Manager Fred Diaz plans to spend $30-50,000 on the study, which will cover land use, transportation, and costs for future services for the planned development. The study will take 90 days or more to complete, and there [...]