Now for the “fun” part. Last night I described the fate of redevelopment in a California where the concept no longer works within the budget framework. Today it’s time to discuss all of the great/terrible fates that await our favorite local sports franchises should RDA funding sources dry up. 49ers Bond Rush It all starts [...]

Generally there isn’t much that I and the people at Baseball Oakland agree about. However, when I saw their interview with long time broadcaster Amaury Pi-Gonzalez, I was furious. Pi-Gonzalez admitted that this as of now, there is no carriage for the A’s in Spanish for 2011. This comes two years after the A’s signed [...]

When Mark Purdy starts writing about the state of redevelopment, you know it’s serious. The truth is, whether by design or accident, Selig has dawdled so much that any Northern California ballpark plan could be imperiled by new Gov. Jerry Brown’s plan for the state to scarf up redevelopment funds. Oakland was counting on those [...]

The Save Caltrain Summit, held in San Carlos and sponsored by Friends of Caltrain, just wrapped up. I’d like to say I came out of it the session hopeful, but I can’t. Yes, this session and the many town halls to come were prompted by service cuts amidst the ongoing transit fiscal crunch. Moving forward, [...]

Okay, I can’t help it. This post is wildly off topic. I’ve been waiting for the alternate jersey design to be revealed, and today it was revealed at A’s Media Day. By now you’ve seen the initial pic from Jane Lee, which frankly, looked somewhat underwhelming. Billy Beane described the jersey’s color as “canary yellow,” [...]

In what will probably end up a footnote in this neverending saga, Cisco completed acquisition of the bulk of the Pacific Commons site (the Trib’s George Avalos reporting). 103 acres were purchased from Catellus (ProLogis) in December 2009, followed by another 41 acres last month. Judging from the sizes of the acquired parcels, they do [...]

On Ronn Owens’ second hour (MP3) today, former San Jose Mayor Tom McEnery likened the Giants’ hold of the South Bay’s territorial rights to assigning Eastern European buffer states per the Warsaw Pact. A bit over the top? A postwar version of Godwin’s Law? McEnery tried to appeal to Owens in terms of fairness for [...]

On Tuesday, San Jose’s City Council/Redevelopment Agency will hold a session (7 PM, Council Chambers) to approve the co-op agreement that was to be drafted after last Wednesday’s special meeting. At five pages, the co-op agreement (PDF) is short and is mostly concerned with setting aside funds for affordable housing projects. If the City Council [...]

A piece by The Bay Citizen’s Zusha Elinson suggests that Oakland may have a legal bullet at its disposal in its efforts to keep the A’s in Oakland. Elinson cites specific language in the original lease that may help Oakland: “Licensee [A's] shall not permit or cause to occur any event that may result in [...]

Silicon Valley Leadership Group may be full-throated in their support of a San Jose ballpark, but their key issue this year appears to be saving Caltrain. The transit agency is dealing with a $30 million deficit in the next fiscal year’s budget. As expected, the remedy comes in the form of service cutbacks. Service would [...]