This will be my only post on today’s event.
Oakland Mayor Jean Quan hands out rally cards at City Center during lunch
In which they hand out cards
newballpark.org
"If your stadium search is old enough to have its bar mitzvah, it's gone on too long." – Bill Shaikin
newballpark.org 
Translation: Once again, Oakland really wants the teams to stay but simply can’t pay for new stadiums. The teams, meanwhile, also don’t want to pay for new stadiums in Oakland, particularly when their revenues have been on the low side to begin with. No desire to privately fund stadiums + no public money available + a desperate need for new facilities = one big mess.
No Warriors love i see…….interesting.
sad
I don’t think this is a priority for Oakland residents, but then again, I’m not sure it ever has been. This is totally fine, I mean Oakland has big fish to fry such as redevelopment, public safety, education, city deficit, etc.
How could this fail?
Wow.
The generic team logos on the rally cards are hilarious. The typeface between the “Oakland” and “our teams” is inconsistent too.
Seems as it was courtesy of the Mayor’s “marketing” dept….here’s the original:
Click to access oak037626.pdf
Probably can do better with Word and Photoshop….
Instead of standing out there trying to look good by handing out cheer cards, Mayor Quan would be better off somewhere inside trying to actually find a way to build something in Oakland to keep the A’s around.
a bit funny really–reminds me of when Gonzales and Stone stood outside spring training with a sign for MLB–they looked like country bumpkins just as JQ does in this photo–
Huh. I wasn’t aware the Mayor’s marketing dept. was all handled by unpaid interns. It all makes sense now.
Hmm, at least they got the team colors right.
i’m glad to see the Mayor of Oakland out there supporting the teams. Dellums and Brown would never have done that for our favorite MLB franchise.
As a supporter of the A’s staying in Oakland, and building somewhere they’re allowed to do so my MLB, I’m pleased to see local support coming from their home city, however small. This is more than can be said for previous administrations in Oakland.
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Its just too bad that this forum quickly devolves into name-calling and petty insults, which add nothing substantive to the discussion about getting the A’s a new stadium.
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I’ll see you all out at the games this weekend against Baltimore. Go A’s!
ML – We all know your feelings on Quan and the Oakland government officials. Posting this is obviously supposed to be demeaning is just feeding the fire for the Oakland bashers on this board. Unnecessary.
@jgmj – There’s plenty of opportunity for Oakland supporters to defend the event and the Mayor, as evidenced by some of the comments. I had to show something for my three hours wasted going to and from Oakland to see an info table.
@JH510 – I’d rather my officials actually be working toward a solution instead of ‘look at me, I’m DOING SOMETHING’.
@LS Could it be possible they are doing both? None of us know the exact circumstances of this situation. We know Oakland is meeting with the Raiders on a regular basis and they met with MLB. We know Wolff is placing his hopes on SJ and MLB is still “working that all out.” The dirty details are anyone’s guess.
@LoneStranger: I didn’t mean my comment to imply that simply making signs is an adequate way to work towards a solution. Rather, I’m glad to see a public official showing support for local teams. I think substantive work is happening on different channels, especially the ongoing discussions with the Port of Oakland and local boosters about the Howard Terminal site.
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Completely separate from that, I also was just trying to express my frustration at the lack of substance in this forum by posting comments that call Mayor Quan a “bumpkin” or make fun of the typeface of a particular sign.
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Criticism is fine, but I for one would rather it be centered on things worth criticizing, and not just taking cheap shots for the sake of degrading a city you see as “competition.”
@jh510,
So how is yet another pep rally adding to the discussion of getting the A’s (and Raiders) a new stadium? Serious question.
“Substantive work is happening on different channels…” Please!
@Tony D.:
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A rally like that isn’t adding to the “discussion” of geting new stadiums in Oakland. In my view, the point of a “rally” is to show public support for a cause, whatever it might be. You don’t hold a rally to discuss the minutiae of building a stadium, which requires detailed focus on economic, transportation, and land-use planning issues, among many others. In this case, the Mayor is simply showing the support her administration has for the A’s and Raiders to the people who live and work in Oakland. If that results in even a small fraction of Oakland residents, businesses or visitors becoming more aware of the issues facing our local teams, however “pathetic” some on here think today’s particular effort was, then the rally has achieved its goal. Obviously the details and substantive work that needs to be done by the City of Oakland to have a realistic shot at getting one, let alone two, new stadiums built in the city must happen in greater depth and with more energy and enthusiasm through other mechanisms. But we all know that wasn’t the goal of today’s rally.
Was that it? This is their big support the teams week?
@Dan – The fundraiser at Ricky’s should have a much larger turnout tomorrow. I will not be on hand for that. Also – today’s event wasn’t a Save Oakland Sports gig.
I agree with David. At the very least she’s paying lip service, which is a huge improvement over the previous two administrations. No, handing out these signs isn’t going to get anything done, but she is at least making an effort to show the city cares. And it is possible that she is driving lots of important behind-the-scenes work (not saying she is or isn’t, just that it’s possible). Either way, do we really need to bash every single thing she does?
@dude- I think MLB is far more interested in the mayor putting dollars into an EIR for HT than a public display of affection that’s meaningless-who was the “rally” for as it doesn’t appear to have a lot of participants? looks like another photo op for JQ- my guess is that most logical Oakland supporters have bags over their heads right now-
This is the problem when your primary weapon has been PR, it sometimes backfires. This event was billed as a rally… No one is there. It is clearly a problem. When you are trying to shape perception by hosting a rally, you just might shape perception in a way opposite of what you intended.
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I am pretty sure the sign font and such can be explained. Perhaps the city didn’t have permission to use copyrighted logos? I don’t see that as a big deal.
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It’d be nice if Oakland started the process of environmental review at Howard Terminal. Contrary to what you guys think, we would know if that had started because it is a public process. That is way more important than kabuki theatre around meetings with MLB (especially since San Jose had the same type of meeting at the same time).
@Jeffrey, it would not be a prudent decision to start an EIR on a site over which there is pending litigation. From what we know, the parties are in the process of resolving that litigation. Once a resolution is approved by the parties, the City/Port would be free to start that process.
That may be Stanley, but the City could start the bidding process. It’s not like they have to follow through (cough, cough Victory Court cough, cough)
@Stanley Stanson / Jeffrey – My understanding is that a good deal of money has been spent on supporting study work, including traffic. Presumably that work was for both HT and VC since they’re in close proximity. That work could help shorten the EIR process if/when that officially begins.
Meh, There have been Baseball San Jose events that have drawn less. I was there and so were many other people jammin to the California Honeydrops. The whole concept of these rallies on both sides is somewhat pointless.
What do the Honeydrops play?
@DJr,
Trust me: once San Jose is free and Cisco Field given the green light, well…PACKED events will be an understatement. Take the chains off MLB!
SJ doesn’t really need to have rallies at this point, do they? It’s already been shown that the required corporate support is there to build a stadium. However, in Oakland, haven’t been able to show that and have to rely on showing how the fans and *cough* city support the team.
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The best way for the City of Oakland to show that it supports it’s teams is to offer up public money to build, and that isn’t going to happen.
There have been dozens of new stadium deals done with cities all over the country in the past 20 years. I can’t think of any reason for the mayor to be out doing this unless Oakland simply can’t get a deal done with either team and has to have these PR events in an attempt to mask that reality. Urging the teams to build their own facilities with their own money when they don’t want to hasn’t proven to be a solution.
Can we stop saying the same things over and over?
the same things over and over.
The only thing missing from the rally is someone pushing for building a stadium over a certain stretch of a local freeway.
Just want to give the Coliseum a shout out for being a poorly designed and maintained POS. Just got back from the game in Anaheim this afternoon and as usual I’m always left in awe of how far superior a venue it is for being the Coliseum’s identically aged contemporary. Not just its superior design, but the fact it has been well maintained by both the team and tthe city over its 46 years.
@ Dan – well, that and having had their football add-on removed over a decade ago helps too. Anaheim was initially purpose built as a baseball stadium, not a multisport facility like the Coli.
I still get a kick out of seeing the Coliseum each and every time I’m there, maybe even more so now that it’s the final shared football-baseball stadium. There’s going to be future generations of ballpark geeks that’ll wish they could take in a game at a multipurpose stadium. The era of modular, spaceage optimism was a neat moment in world history. As baseball often does with history, those stadia are reflective of that era. I know the Coliseum isn’t as significant as the Astrodome, but it’s unfortunate that one day, it’ll be gone.
Sierra, that was the point. Anaheim was smart and built their venue sport specific, like Kansas City. But that’s only half the equation. They’ve also maintained their venue quite well. I mean Angel Stadium is in far better shape than many stadiums less than half it’s age such as Turner Field. To say nothing of the Coliseum which constantly looks like the OACC just doesn’t give a shit anymore.
So nothing of substance happening? Mayor Quan hands out some signs at City Center during lunch one day. Some defend, some make fun. Meanwhile nothing important seems to be happening. Come winter the rumor mill will crank back up and assure us this is going to be resolved “soon”. Oakland and SJ boosters will wet themselves and then nothing will happen. Lather, rinse, repeat.