The Port of Oakland’s Board of Commissioners has held off from approving a deal with SSA to give up Howard Terminal for nearly two weeks. In that time, opposition to the plan has only getting more fierce. First was the ILWU (longshoremen) objecting to the deal on the grounds that it would cost jobs. Now it’s another terminal operator at the Port named Ports America (PAOHT) who is not on board, claiming that the deal would give SSA an unfair, sweetheart deal over PAOHT. Ports America is threatening to sue the Port of Oakland if SSA’s deal to close Howard Terminal and consolidate operations for SSA is approved.
Remember that the Port was motivated to make the deal in order to settle an existing lawsuit by SSA. So we have a situation where settling one lawsuit brings on one or two more? Brilliant.
Obviously, all of the parties are acting in their own self-interest. Ports America wants to preserve its own sweetheart deal relative to SSA, and SSA’s new lease either matches or leapfrogs PAOHT depending on how you look at it. The union is trying to save jobs, even if it means having the Port run in an arguably less efficient, less competitive way.
Yesterday, a group of ILWU workers picketed outside the APL terminal at the Port’s Middle Harbor, protesting the settlement in the process.
You know what I’d like to see? A summit involving the Port, Clorox CEO Don Knauss plus the good folks at Baseball Oakland and Save Oakland Sports, and the ILWU, SSA and Ports America. I’m sure that if you just got them all in a room they could easily hash out their differences and resolve everything quickly. Because Oakland is the epitome of efficient, well-run government, right?
Frankly, the Port should approve the deal tomorrow and move forward. They can’t bow to one ransom demand after another. It needs to stop at some point. The issue for the Port and City is that this happens not infrequently, and legal structures are in place to let it continue. And if there is a lawsuit by Ports America or the ILWU, no one from San Jose should gloat. South Bay fans have seen what it’s like to have a frivolous lawsuit act as a guise for anticompetitive behavior. No one, whether from San Jose or Oakland, should be happy about that, whenever or however it happens. If you are, well then screw you.
newballpark.org 
Nope, I’m hoping for several lawsuits to put Oakland to rest. San Jose deserves a major league team, period. We have the land, plans and gumption to make it happen. The only reasoning Oakland can provide is, “Ohhh, we have Black people.”
Just my opinion, but you can’t compare a (possible) lawsuit when folks feel they’re getting screwed (union workers) to a lawsuit acting as a guise to anti-competitive behavior (S4SF). FWIW, don’t feel legal action on the port of Oakland front will have any bearing on the A’s pursuit of a new ballpark (see that word “viable” again..).
@steven,
I want a SJ ballpark just as bad as the next guy, but don’t go there..
@tony
It’s Oakland supporters playing the race card.
Evidence:
http://www.mercurynews.com/opinion/ci_22929776/randy-shandobil-oakland-belong-oakland-not-san-jose
Oakland supporters keep making the argument MLB needs to attract more Black people; therefore – according to those supporters – A’s should stay in Oakland because of race alone.
@ Steven – You’re a f*cking idiot. SJ would never support a major league team the way Oakland has. I was at game 5 last year and for 3 hours straight, all you could here was “Let’s go OAKLAND,” not let’s go A’s. The Warriors just announced they sold more tickets this year than ever before. The A’s have the fifth highest increase in sales from last year.
http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/blog/2013/06/oakland-as-enjoying-attendance-upswing.html?page=all
Both examples prove…. put a good product on the field and people will come to OAKLAND to support their teams. Take you ignorant, bigoted comments and shove them up your ass.
BTW: I am a white guy
Oakland’s long history of poor support of the A’s – in the bottom half of attendance 38 of 45 years despite 16 playoff seasons – is well-documented. Right now, our first-place A’s are ranked 23rd in attendance out of 30 teams. Nothing to brag about. San Jose’s only venture into major pro sports so far, the Sharks, has proven w2idly successful. The team consistently sells out every year despite never winning anything.
@pjk
OT response.
I would not say 6 division titles in 21 years “not winning anything”. Playoff hockey is a different beast compared to the other sports. SJ just has a bad habit of losing to that year’s eventual SC finalists in the playoffs.
@Jeff – If Oakland supporters are writing racist articles about how Oakland is a better location because MLB needs to attract more Black people and thus stay in Oakland on race alone… now that is racist, let alone “ignorant and bigoted.” I will callout their bullshit reasoning!
Article:
Randy Shandobil: The Oakland A’s Belong in Oakland, Not San Jose
http://www.mercurynews.com/opinion/ci_22929776/randy-shandobil-oakland-belong-oakland-not-san-jose
This racist crap is wrong, calling those who point out it’s playing the race card and IS racist as “ignorant and bigoted” is daftly dumb and/or delusional.
@Steven: A loss for Oakland isn’t a win for San Jose. If Oakland can’t provide a ballpark project for the A’s, San Jose’s chance of landing them does not increase, nor does it make them more deserving. To deserve something implys there’s some ethical system at play here. There isn’t.
By the same token, a loss for San Jose is not a win for Oakland. If MLB continues to block San Jose from ever acquiring an MLB team, this does nothing as far as Oakland’s lack of $$ or a suitable site for a ballpark.
@Steven – The racist crap you refer to is the opinion of one writer, not the majority feeling of Oakland A’s fans that want the team to stay. Using the opinion of one person to generalize an entire population is not even ignorant – it is outright stupid. Congratulations, you have proven how much of a jack-ass you are.
I’m a white guy that lives in Walnut Creek and am a huge supporter of the A’s staying in Oakland. Can you really sit there and tell me that the reason I want the A’s to stay is race related? What a fool. Most asinine argument ever posted here.