Could it be a marriage made in heaven? Or at least Santa Clara? Matier and Ross revealed in this morning’s column that 49er officials met with their Raider counterparts “in a casual setting in the latter half of the football season about the possibility of teaming up.” Later in the afternoon, the 49ers issued a [...]

In the past month we’ve heard a lot about costs associated with the ballpark village. The $500 million figure for the ballpark itself is quite fuzzy, and depending on the final scope of “A’s Town” the final value of the project could be well over $2 billion. It could be very easy to lose sight [...]

Don’t say you didn’t see this coming. At a luncheon in San Jose sponsored by the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, Lew Wolff downplayed the importance of BART when he said, “If BART was as effective as we thought they would be, the parking lots wouldn’t be as crowded.” At face value it’s pretty poor logic. [...]

Not to be outdone in the technology department, the Giants have fired a preemptive shot across the Cisco/A’s bow Tuesday, when they announced the construction of a new high definition video/scoreboard. The Mitsubishi-made, 28-ton behemoth will replace the old monochrome scoreboard and Panasonic video board combo in centerfield. They’re also adding 220 feet of color [...]

Well, if you were expecting anything significant from tonight’s session, you probably came away disappointed. Lew didn’t give details. There were no fire-breathing opponents. And while the chambers was packed, the tone was predictably civil, if not downright subdued. Press coverage: Merc / Argus / Chron Still, there were some important things to come out [...]

According to the posted agenda, the ballpark presentation is the only item planned for discussion. Note the approximate time shown for the presentation: 5:30-6:45 p.m. JANUARY 16, 2007 AGENDA FREMONT CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING AND WORK SESSIONCITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS3300 CAPITOL AVENUE, FREMONT5:30 P.M. (Please Note Time Change) 1. PRELIMINARY1.1 Call to Order1.2 Salute to the [...]

Before I forget, Chris De Benedetti’s Argus article on Lew’s meeting with Fremont is worth a read. I didn’t transcribe everything from the hour, but there were some choice exchanges. Here are a few: Wolff: We’re going to do the smallest ballpark in Major League Baseball.Owens: Which is how many people?Wolff: About 32,000 peopleOwens: That [...]

I wasn’t able to give Lew’s appearance on Ronn Owens’ show my full attention, but it sounded like good radio. It even got testy, as Lew got into a heated debate with a Fremont resident about the ballpark village development. Owens played moderator while jabbing Wolff about the “____ A’s of/at Fremont” name. I’m blocked [...]

At 11 a.m. on Thursday morning, Lew Wolff will drop by the KGO radio studio to visit with Ronn Owens. He’ll probably give a small update on the ballpark. I don’t expect much information in terms of the financing plan, but perhaps he’ll reveal his vision for the parking/shuttle system. I wonder if they’ll take [...]

It only took a few weeks, but the details of State Senator Carole Migden’s (D-SF) anti-relocation bill, SB 49, have come to light. Text of the bill is available from the Legislature’s website in either HTML or PDF. Migden’s bill was initially reported as being relevant to NFL teams, but I want to see it [...]