Imagine soaring through the air to get to Opening Day 2023 at the Howard Terminal ballpark. 🚠https://t.co/mzCUVysa6r pic.twitter.com/B3cdwFjKG3
— Oakland Athletics 🌳🐘⚾️ (@Athletics) January 26, 2019
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newballpark.org 
Not sure if you’re aware or not but Disney just is finishing a huge gondola project at Disneyworld that will have many miles and multiple stations. Only taking a few years to do. Seems easy.
Disney can do that because they own nearly all of the land there and the gondolas are fairly small. The A’s are looking to build a bigger type of gondola on public land.
Yes it always has to be the hard way with the A’s…
Doesn’t this have to go over the highway, where any breakdowns (which are bound to happen) will wreak absolute havoc? It looks like pie-in-the-sky. This whole idea shows the A’s are trying, trying, trying to make things work in Oakland but haven’t been given much to work with here. Kaval seems like a very nice guy but perhaps a bit overoptimistic?
The Portland Aerial Tram travels a similar distance, going over two highways including I-5.
If the A’s were truly sincere in trying to make it work in Oakland, then they should at least not have given up so easily on the proposed Laney/Lake Merritt ballpark site.
@ IIpec
“If the A’s were truly sincere in trying to make work in Oakland”
Not sincere?
To this point, the A’s have spent a lot of time, money (up to 10 million and more to come by some estimates), as well as political capital to try to make HT work, its probably a sincere effort.
As a matter of fact one could argue it’s the most sincere effort made to date in Oakland by this owner, especially when considering that if it dosen’t work MLB will probably conclude a reasonable effort had to be made at the coliseum site before looking outside of Oakland again.
The use of the word “sincere” may have not been the best choice of words, but “risky” would have been more appropriate. If I had to build an edifice with only private resources and with relatively limited government assistance, I would make sure this facility would be be built on the site with the best potential for its success, both in terms of its completion and its full operation.
@ IIpec
I would have to say that it seemed like the A’s folded up their tents rather quickly when it came to the Perlta/Laney site. I was a bit surprised, perhaps it was because they received little to no support from local politicians, or perhaps they knew (at some point) even if got the political support there was too much NIMBY activity to ultimately get it done at that site.
I wanted the Perlta/Laney site to work out, if for no other reason than it was the A’s first choice within Oakland city limits, however I am rather excited about the possibility of Howard Terminal (if it can be built on), I believe with 50 acers it offers a game changing opportunity for the team and the city.
I am aware that lots of people don’t support that sit, and I believe I recall you voicing your concerns about it as well, which is fine I get it.
The biggest challenge I can imagine with the Gondola is actually putting a giant tower in Old Oakland (which I think is what is show in the video simulation) followed by paying the $120M plus it will take to build the thing. I know the team is thinking of the Gondola as a “sponsorable asset” but I don’t think anyone is paying that amount of money for naming rights to a gondola, I could be wrong.
If I am right, that means they need ot find other money to pay for the thing and transportation projects are generally paid for with tax revenues. No transit agency in their right mind or with the public’s interest at heart would spend a dime on such a half measure when that money could be used to fund part of something that is valuable to a much larger segment of the population, like a light rail system with stops in more neighborhoods.
If you mean the tall tower with the circle at the top, that looks like it is on the far side of 880 from Old Town.
I am surprised that the take off point is just one level up from the ground and right at the corner of Washington and 10th. It also looks like they want to make 10th a pedestrian street for that block between Broadway and Washington.
Both of those would help a lot in making this a realistic option. I feared you would have to make your way all the way to the top of the convention center, which would require several escalator/elevator rides. And I don’t believe that block gets much traffic, so pedestrianizing it should be OK. On the other hand, now you are talking about giving public space to a private entity and that is always cause for concern.
I still think they should just arrange a shuttle down Broadway for those who can’t walk and build a high-capacity pedestrian passage across the tracks. The gondola just seems like a superfluous and inefficient solution looking for a problem. But I must say, this does address one of my main concerns.
Yeah, you are right. I agree on the whole project in general. It is very expensive for a very limited use. If the A’s are paying for it all, Bob’s your uncle.
@ Jeffreyaugust
I would love the idea of a street car (key system type) from 12th & Broadway to JLS, if the idea of a BART extension from that location to JLS is not feasible.
I understand that a future transbay tube is an option seriously being considered (I believe we have talked about before) from that location on to Alameda, and perhaps on to mission bay. (SF)
It’s all hypothetical of course, but even if HT did work out for the A’s, and that path/route was chosen by bay area transient agencies and BART for a second tube, we are realistically talking about what???
15-20 years before BART would extent to JLS, and that’s if the plan was approved today and they chose to start the project with that work being the first thing they had in mind. If everything went perfectly (of course it never dose), the A’s would still be in their new park 10-15 years before BART would get to them.
Long story, long… there would have to be alternatives for some time before the A’s would realize the benefits of full BART access.
There is some good stuff right here https://www.emeryville.org/944/Emeryville-Berkeley-Oakland-Transit-Stud
Thanks, I will dig in.
The building of the Javits Convention Center in NYC in of itself did not spur development of the far westside of midtown Manhattan until the #7 subway line was extended to that area. With that fact in mind, neither JLS nor a ballpark at HT would spur sufficient area development until the area gets access to high volume mass transit. A gondola transit system is a costly gimmick, and is not the answer to spur development to any area, even one that is marked for entertainment purposes such as JLS and a HT ballpark.
For all that.. and the gondola doesn’t even take you all way to the ballpark???
Aerial trams have a hard time turning corners.
Perhaps, but it is possible. The one at Sterling Vineyards makes about a 95 degree turn.