Guess we should’ve seen this coming. The Oakland Tribune’s Editorial page criticized Oakland’s approach towards retaining the A’s, in effect saying that the effort is too little and perhaps too late. The argument is summed up in a simple two sentence paragraph.
With so much at stake, the city should have jumped into the fray with San Jose much earlier and fought much harder to keep the A’s. Having monthly meetings doesn’t cut it.
Those of you who read this here blog frequently know that the writers here feel exactly the same way. Since December, we’ve been looking for something substantive, something that could approach in effort the work that has been done in San Jose and even Fremont. Sadly, the only report we’ve seen is basically a sales pitch to move the A’s to JLS in order to boost the city’s tax revenues and make area development more lucrative.
Don’t believe that last part? In the report, JLS and surrounding neighborhoods are divided into seven areas to gauge potential spillover effects from a ballpark. Area 7 is the Oak-to-Ninth (O29) site, still waiting for development by Signature Properties (the Ghielmettis). On page 57, a table shows that Area 7 would be 100% built out with a ballpark, 85% without. When I read that, I did some quick math and estimated that the difference has to be some $100-200 million. You can guess which business interests helped bankroll the report.
newballpark.org 
I have a couple (mostly rhetorical) questions:
Until the MLB committee completes their report, can’t any city come out stating their case for why it’d be great to snag the A’s?
Let’s Go Oakland picked up the bill for the GG+A report and not the City of Oakland?
The A’s have attempted to work with the City of Oakland on a new ballpark a handful of other times including an attempt that would’ve used redevelopment funds very similar to the approach currently taken by San Jose?
Is it possible that Oakland’s elected officials know it’s a losing effort to attempting to retain the A’s?
If the GG+A report was funded by Let’s Go Oakland and the A’s relocation process is frozen until MLB reports, what does the City of Oakland have to lose from publicly stating that they support the GG+A report?
Until recently, it seems as though Oakland and Alameda County’s approach was designed to drive the A’s out instead of accommodating them.
* A’s ask for baseball-only improvements to the Coliseum and get Mt. Davis instead.
* City Manager Robert Bobb comes up with a plan to accommodate a downtown ballpark and housing; he is fired shortly thereafter by Mayor Jerry Brown.
Off topic: SJ will most likely certify the supplemental EIR for the ballpark this week. Let the games begin?
What’s refreshing about this article is that it puts the blame squarely where it belongs–with the city of Oakland and not with LW as so many pro-Oakland’ers on this site want to claim
You’re so right GoA’s…but don’t tell that to Monte Poole.
…Yes, Lew Wolff is supposed to be the big bad capitalist who wants to strip Oakland of its team. It’s all a bunch of junk. He tried to find sites in Oakland and has gotten little to no help from the city.
Why do people believe the private investor (Wolff) must be the villain and not incompetent, arrogant government officials? I guess the people who elected these losers can only claim victimhood if they blame Wolff and not the politicians.
Two things:
1. Oakland Tribune is owned by the same group that owns SJ Merc. It’s not surprising then that their ed board is towing the corporate line about A’s to SJ.
2. What the heck to LW do to keep the A’s in Oakland? Seriously, what did he do? Announce his intention b/f he had purchased any land to move to an area north of the coliseum? Did he ever buy land in Oakland for his effort? Did he ever ask the City to put together a parcel? What there ever any effort? Do you guys know that? (And stop citing the Uptown (Telegraph x 17th) site — that deal was signed, sealed and delivered as housing BEFORE Wollf bought the team).
Keep drinking the Kool Aid guys, I’m sure it tastes good.
db
The blame for this debacle belongs to the elected leadership of Oakland. Brown gave up the downtown stadium. Dellums has absolutely no interest in doing anything that is right for Oakland. And our city council gave the city unions a golden parachute with that retroactive bump in retirement benefits. They have given away nearly $1M to a company that is about to go out of business. The idea of elected officials doing something right by the residents of Oakland is just not something that is going to happen. And if it were to happen, the only person(s) to benefit are the morticians in neighboring cities, because you can bet your bottom dollar that all Oaklanders will drop dead from the shock.
Exactly. I actually laughed when LetsGoOakland came out with their report. Sure you found a few sites a ballpark could go in Oakland and it’ll benefit the city… and…? Who do they expect to pay for the ballpark? Wolff? Why would Wolff possibly want to sink his and his fellow investors money into building a ballpark in Oakland and be stuck working with the same inept morons who’ve been running Oakland for the last two decades? He’d be an idiot to even consider it…
If Oakland wants the A’s to stay they’re going to have to pay, be it for part of the stadium, for the land, something. It’s as simple as that. Anything less than that and Oakland is admitting by omission they don’t want the A’s anymore. And so far they’ve not indicated they’re willing to anything of the sort.
@SS–maybe you could outline exactly what the city of Oakland has done over the past 15 years to secure a new site for the ballpark–ever since they ruined the Coli….and then you could answer your own question–the Koolaide is being offered by the pro-Oakland folks who wont hold their city leaders accountable
15. What happened to the Coliseum North plan?
Coliseum North was Lew Wolff’s trial balloon for a development similar to what eventually was planned for Fremont. It would have included a ballpark, retail, and residential development on over 100 acres north of the existing Coliseum. The plan would have utilized some of the existing parking at the Coliseum complex. The ballpark site was anywhere from 1/2 mile to 1 mile from the existing Coliseum BART station, which Wolff felt merited a new station (cost: $75 million). The plan fell apart when area landowners, many of whom had active businesses on their parcels, balked at selling, especially at lowball prices.
…It seems as though some in Oakland expect Lew Wollf to be Santa Claus – spend a half-billion of his money or more to gift Oakland with a brand new ballpark despite the disregard Oakland and Alamedia officials have shown for the A’s (see: Mount Davis, etc) and the dismal attendance over the last 40 years.
Stanley Stanson wrote:
Wolff was involved in searching for a new ballpark since 2003 as “VP of Venue Development.” That deal was not finalised till some time in 2005 if I remember correctly.
This article pretty much sums up my feelings exactly…it’s the reason why I’ve been pessimistic…Oakland can blame Wolff and Co all they want, and even if they deserve it, Oakland has to start looking in the mirror and ask themself…”did I do the best job at trying to keep the A’s?”…
The answer my friend…is blowing in the wind…
If the A’s are given the green light on San Jose, I wonder if it’ll be a post-script on the Moneyball movie when it hits theaters.