08.23.11
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BANG goes BOOM!

As part of ongoing consolidation efforts, the disparate East Bay operation of San Jose-based Bay Area News Group (BANG) is effectively concentrating itself into two regional publications effective November 1:

  • The Contra Costa Times will take over all of the 680 corridor papers.
  • The rebranded East Bay Tribune will take the place of the Oakland Tribune, Alameda Times-Star, Argus, and others along the 880 corridor.

120 production and editorial jobs will be cut as part of the consolidation. In addition, the San Mateo County Times will now run under the Mercury News masthead. Separate local news sections will be inserted into “city editions” of each paper.

Of course, the big upshot is that Oakland will be one of the largest cities in the country without its own paper, which is tremendously sad. (The only other cities in the Top 50 with no city newspaper are Mesa, AZ and Arlington, TX.) There has already been criticism that with the previous consolidation push, whatever unique identity the Trib had was ebbing away. I wonder if Dave Newhouse will write about that?

A month ago, East Bay Citizen joked on Twitter that local newspapers may all meet their demise before the A’s ballpark issue is settled. He may be onto something.

Note: On Twitter there’s barely a peep about this. Maybe that says more about the change than anything else. RIP Oakland Tribune. You had a good 120 years.

08.22.11
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America’s Cup Draft EIR available

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This view where Harrison Street ends at The Embarcadero could be blocked by huge yachts or a marina if the project is developed as planned.

In fact, not only is the America’s Cup environmental impact report out, the initial 45-day comment period is almost over (last day for comments: Thursday). Somehow I missed this among all of the other stuff going on. Thanks to Chronicle architecture writer John King’s article in protest of some of the waterfront changes, I finally got a look at it. I’ll have more to write about it later.

The EIR was made available on July 11, only 7 months after the deal was made between the America’s Cup and the City of San Francisco. It goes to show what can happen when there’s a real deadline and a real partnership in place. Contrast that to what’s happening with the Victory Court EIR, which is at least for now, nothing publicly. The America’s Cup project is leaps and bounds more expansive and impactful than Victory Court, covering huge swaths of SF waterfront with the potential to significantly reshape the area much the same way post-Loma Prieta planning did 20+ years ago.

So why isn’t there anything yet about Victory Court? Maybe Oakland no longer feels it’s in a rush. Maybe Oakland isn’t prioritizing the project at the moment. Maybe Oakland doesn’t want to have that big discussion with its citizens just yet. No one can say that it’s a matter of due diligence, since the scope of the America’s Cup project is so much more vast. Victory Court has impacts beyond the 12-block project area, but everyone knew that going in. All I can give to the VC project right now is a big shrug.

08.22.11
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Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting

Actually, it isn’t.

Tim Kawakami, Gwen Knapp, and Scott Ostler have all written reaction pieces to the violence at the 49ers-Raiders game at the ‘Stick on Saturday night. They and national writers are waxing societal on the incident, yet they are all missing the forest for the trees in their analyses. It really all comes down to two things:

  • It was a Raiders-49ers game.
  • The game was played on Saturday night.

When the Raiders came back to Oakland, there would be occasional warnings about behavior and violence for Sunday or Monday night games, especially if they were “Broncos” or “Chiefs” week. Those 5 PM starts allow for full daydrinking sessions (which are hard work), which can lead to an unstable atmosphere once people are allowed into the stadium. A fully marinated jerk who can’t hold his liquor may be friendlier or more hostile. Everyone’s different. For Sunday and Monday night games, a guy has to think about the next day’s work. In my youth I’ve gone into work with a hangover a few times, but at least I had to consider the potential consequences. Usually it meant I held back on that extra beer or shot, and that was enough. Not everyone is going to have the conscience kick in at the right moment. Still, having that lingering in the back of one’s mind helps a lot of people.

By putting the game on Saturday night, the teams and the NFL gave the jerks carte blanche to act however they pleased. A full day of tailgating or partying (one assailant may have come on a party bus) with no consequences to think about for the next day is exactly the kind of atmosphere needed to set off what occurred at the ‘Stick. Maybe there was a gang-related factor. Or maybe it’s because both teams are mediocre. Whatever the case, there’s no doubt in my mind that a few assholes having a few extra beverages turned an already tense (even though it shouldn’t be) game into a powderkeg.

In the Midwest and on the East Coast, this problem doesn’t occur nearly as often. It could be because they can hold their liquor better. I’d like to think it has to do with the start times of the games. We are so used to 10 AM and 1 PM starts here that a 5 PM (or later) start is too much for the system to take. In Chicago or Dallas, the late game means a 3 PM start. In Philadelphia or New York, SNF/MNF starts after 8 PM locally. They’re used to it. They pace themselves. We in the Bay Area may have access to some of the greatest beer and wine on the face of the earth, but we sure can’t handle it correctly if this incident is any indicator.

Because of the actions a few there’s a good chance that the NFL, in its reactionary turn towards safety this season, will disallow future 49er-Raider preseason games. Why risk another PR nightmare? However, they can’t stop the two teams from playing each other once every four years during the regular season. They might be able to put in metal detectors in at the stadium gates, but they’re not going to be able to search every car for weapons. Police state measures are impractical, especially at the emergency management nightmare that is Candlestick Point (poor access).

Now let’s assume that the 49ers and Raiders share a Santa Clara stadium. This incident will only confirm misgivings by many locals in the immediate area – especially about Raiders fans even though it may be unfair. It’s likely that the tailgating scene will be limited due to a lack of space and facilities. That won’t stop an incident from occurring at the Bennigan’s down the road from the stadium, where idiots in party buses could come into conflict. A 1 PM start just might rein things in enough that the potential for a conflict is significantly less. The crazy thing to me is that both teams’ management should have seen this coming a mile away and didn’t adjust accordingly. Did they schedule the 5 PM start just to sell as many tickets as possible for a preseason game? The place was half-full. Whatever the motivation, both teams and the league have a lot of explaining to do, have had plenty of precedent to plan accordingly. No amount of defending fans against stereotyping is going to help. It happened. Fix it or it will happen again, and much sooner than can be imagined.

08.20.11
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News for 8/20/11

Though this August may be unseasonably cool, there’s no doubt that it’s the dog days – for a team mired in third place and those of us looking for ballpark news. Nevertheless, there is plenty to discuss that happened this week.

First up is a very good assessment of where various football stadium efforts stand, courtesy of the Merc and Trib (BANG). Naturally, Santa Clara has emerged in the race due to its diligence in getting a deal done, despite the highly questionable finances of the plan. Oakland lags well behind, and potential funding sources has been identified in the process: $105 million in county transit funding, a Chinese investment group. Transit funding for the Raiders? Yikes.

You may have noticed some upheaval around Hegenberger Road this week when going to/from an A’s game. That’s because the infamous Oakland Airport Connector project started construction this week! The $484 million people mover will shuttle riders between the Coliseum/Airport BART station and Oakland International Airport, all for a more-than-reasonable $6 each way. That’s more expensive than it costs to ride from Coliseum/Airport to Millbrae. (To be fair, the enormous cost of the SFO BART extension has caused Millbrae-to-SFO to cost $4 each way thanks to a surcharge.) And it appears that the only reasons the project kept going all this time are that $95 million has already been spent and up to $250 million has already been committed, making it nearly as much of a boondoggle even if it were cancelled. Initially, the only two stations on the OAC will be the terminals at the airport and BART station. A third station could be built at Doolittle and Hegenberger if the funding surfaces. Double yikes.

Former Rangers owner Tom Hicks is being sued over allegations that he took tens of millions from the team to acquire parking lots around Rangers Ballpark. The lawsuit foreshadows future legal wrangling between MLB and Frank McCourt, who reorganized the Dodgers into so many holding companies and dummy corporations that it’s impossible to say how Dodger Stadium and its land could be extricated from McCourt at this point.

A preliminary report on Kings arena funding indicates that much of the burden will be addressed by user fees on everything from tickets to hot dogs. These fees could generate anywhere from $5 million to $20 million per year. While not fan-friendly, it is more general taxpayer-friendly than sales or parcel taxes. A more fleshed out proposal is due September 8.

Silicon Valley Sports & Entertainment, the parent company of the Sharks, announced 19 layoffs from the business side of the company. Included in the layoffs was longtime director of communications Ken Arnold. Executive VP of business ops Malcolm Bordelon characterized this as “pruning for future growth”. He can’t just be talking about the parking garage the team will construct north of the arena as growth. There’s something else to this. That something may be related to former CEO Greg Jamison, who left a year ago and was never formally replaced, perhaps going after the Phoenix Coyotes as early as next week. Should Jamison pursue the Coyotes, he will have to sell his share of the Sharks. It’s not difficult to see Jamison bringing with him trusted lieutenants such as Arnold and sales/marketing head Kent Russell. It would also provide an opening for the A’s, if they were to be extended the opportunity. Lew Wolff (or a surrogate) could potentially get a stake in SVSE and reciprocate by providing a stake in the A’s/Quakes, making the two ownership groups virtually joined at the hip – and more importantly, fully aligned. That would be important in planning for the next 20-30 years around Diridon, as the two parties would be expected to have a major influence on how the area is planned and developed even if those plans are well down the road.

In tangentially related news, HP announced on Thursday that it will cease development of webOS devices such as the recently launched TouchPad tablet line and Pre smartphones. It may also spin off its Personal Systems Group, which includes webOS (Palm) and its industry market share leading computers operation. Should HP spin off PSG or divest it, there would be an interesting sports-related ripple effect down the line: what would happen to HP Pavilion at San Jose? The naming rights deal at the former San Jose Arena expires in 2016, and not coincidentally, the name reflects a line of personal computers HP makes. In between those two names, the name for a year or so was Compaq Center at San Jose. That deal was done by the final Compaq CEO, Michael Capellas, prior to the HP-Compaq merger (done by Carly Fiorina). It’s possible that HP will keep the name, given that enterprise competitor Oracle has the name on Oakland Arena. Then again, Oracle has a similar choice to make that same year because its naming rights deal ran only a decade. Chances are that both companies will drop the naming rights deals for different reasons: HP because it will no longer have the consumer focus to justify the deal, and Oracle because Larry Ellison lost out on owning the Warriors. Often naming rights deals are reflections of companies’ CEOs, and this is no different.

Capping off corporate talk is billionaire Carl Icahn threatening to perform a coup at Clorox (again). Icahn, who is worth $12.5 billion and has his tentacles seemingly everywhere, is the largest shareholder of CLX stock with a 9.4% stake in the company. Earlier in the summer, Icahn attempted a $10.2 billion buyout of Clorox, all in the name of achieving greater shareholder value (his M.O. for everything). Rebuffed in that attempt, Icahn is now trying to replace the company’s entire board of directors with himself and 11 of his own hand-picked people. Something on this front may happen in November, when the annual shareholders meeting will be held. Icahn doesn’t always win, but it is thought in some corners that his power influenced the sale of Motorola to Google for $12.5 billion (coincidence), which was reported on Monday. Why is this important? If Icahn gets his way, it’s likely that Clorox will eventually be sold to the highest bidder, perhaps one of its competitors such as Proctor and Gamble. P&G would be interesting in that they were forced to divest Clorox due to antitrust concerns around the time the A’s moved to Oakland. And if Clorox is bought and/or sold, CEO Donald Knauss, the former Coca-Cola exec who has shown interest in East Bay/Oakland sports to the extent that there are rumors of a possible naming rights deal, is also not long for Clorox either. If Knauss goes, so does that deal. Naming rights deals often reflect companies’ CEOs, remember?

08.16.11
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Sprucing up the girl

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A blank wall fronting one of the restrooms on the Coliseum's lower concourse

If you’ve visited the Coliseum so far this (highly unsuccessful) homestand, you may have noticed a series of new signs on the lower concourse which resemble the directionals used at airports. Apparently these were installed prior to the first Raiders preseason game, which was played last Thursday. Though the signs could stand to be larger, they should prove effective at directing fans to the right locations, as opposed to the disparate signage used until now.

I bring this up because it was one of the first things mentioned by Bryan Cauwels when I ran into him on the lower concourse on Sunday. He mentioned that it was not only effective signage, it helped provide a little extra color in a place that so badly needs it. Later, when I hung out with Bryan, Nina, and Mark in 206 after the A’s tied the game, we talked a little about what could be done to improve things at the Coliseum. Bryan suggested a massive paint job, similar to what was done to Tropicana Field a few years ago. Nina remarked that it might be difficult to accomplish due to potential bureaucratic and union-related issues.

Yet this is a place that, despite its obvious structural deficiencies, is absolutely begging for makeover of some sort. So what if it’s a Target makeover instead of a Nordstrom makeover? It can still be good. And yes, I’ve used the term “lipstick on a pig” before, but here’s the thing: she’s our pig. She’s all we have for at least the next three seasons, maybe more. Why not make the most of it? And when it does come time to tear the girl down, we’ll have a ton of really awesome souvenirs to commemorate our years at the venerable Coliseum.

Here’s the catch. We can’t expect the A’s to do it. We can’t expect the Raiders to lift a finger. Not even the Coliseum Authority will do it due to a lack of funds (plus the labor stuff). If you looked up their Relationship statuses on Facebook they’d all say, “It’s complicated.” I get that. Knowing that, why can’t we do it? It’s not just their place. It’s our place, our second home. If these organizations won’t do it, we’ll have to take it up ourselves. Now that will take a large volunteer effort and some fundraising for supplies. It doesn’t have to carry a huge price tag. All it needs is some will and skill, a vision (probably crowdsourced), and someone to coordinate the effort.

First up is the picture at the top of this post. It’s a big, blank, white wall. Wouldn’t that be a great place for a mural, similar to the other murals we’ve seen in the past? Here’s one at Gate B.

Correct me if I'm wrong - this mural came with the 1995 renovations.

Wouldn’t more murals that celebrate the teams, fans, and yes, employees at the Coliseum be better than gray or white concrete? And here’s another idea. You know when you’re walking along the lower concourse, you look up and see a bunch of pipes and conduits along the cinder block wall? Why not cover that up with something colorful, like vinyl banners? Or painted canvas or plywood? To make it work, metal frames would have to be constructed that would pop out of the wall, leaving the conduits unaffected.

Conduits on the upper walls can be covered with something more aesthetically pleasing. Rollup doors could be painted green.

Then you’d have a few touches here and there, such as:

  • Painted signs or vinyl banners hanging down from the supports
  • Painted rollup doors for the concession stands.
  • LED lighting to brighten the concourses.

The thing is, for this to happen we collectively have to get past this constant blame game of why doesn’t ownership or the authority do it. The answer as to why is simple – there is no money in it. It’s not going to cause a significant increase in attendance for either team, and the costs to contract it out professionally make it a poor value proposition. For those of us who make the effort to watch the team game in, game out, a volunteer effort would be akin to citizens taking their neighborhood back. If the man won’t do it, why not us? Rally the resources, sign a few waiver forms, and raise some bucks. No one ever displayed will by whining. They did it by doing. We can do this, A’s fans.

Got ideas on how to do this? You know where the comments section is.

08.15.11
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News for 8/15/11

Maury Brown highlights two important actions this week by MLB: approval of the Astros sale to Jim Crane, and another Dodgers bankruptcy hearing. Crickets for the A’s. Update: Now we have word that the Crane approval has been delayed pending further “due diligence.” Yeah, heard that one before.

Santa Clara is paying redevelopment ransom to the state, which will allow it to move forward with initial funding of the 49ers stadium. Field of Schemes has the big picture.

The Giants’ AA affiliate in Richmond, VA, won’t be able to get a replacement for the dated Diamond until 2015 because of a paucity of public funds. I’m crying a river for them.

It’s time for another installment of Dave Newhouse potshots and vitriol. I wonder why he rarely mentions Victory Court?

Apple’s planned space colony-styled headquarters in Cupertino is so large that you could fit a complex of four pro baseball fields in the donut hole that is its interior greenspace. My guess is that the 2.8 million square-foot campus will cost $2 billion to build, and with Cupertino only happy to rubber stamp the plans, the 2015 opening date is a real possibility. Before an A’s ballpark? Quite possibly.

Activist hacker group Anonymous broke into the myBART website and leaked a database of user information. This was in retaliation for BART shutting down cell phone service in tunnel sections to prevent protests. Now a real protest will occur today at 5 near the Civic Center station. Taking the Richmond train from Fremont yesterday, the train had to switch to the opposite due to another disabled train on the right side of the tracks or something. I’d prefer that hackers fix that.

Grantland’s Peter Richmond rips the three new New York stadia (Yankee Stadium, Citi Field, New Meadowlands Stadium) to shreds.

The Sharks are hosting an event called “Spirit of Silicon Valley: Come Out and Play” at the Fourth Street Summit Center (above the 4th St Garage) on September 6. Reps from the Sharks, Quakes, 49ers, and A’s will be on hand. (thanks steve)

Added: $200 million has been approved for various South Bay transit projects, including $40 million for the BART-to-Silicon Valley extension and $71.6 million for new carpool lanes to I-880. The latter may be more important initially, especially for weeknight games in San Jose. Only a decade ago, 880 in the stretch between Montague Expressway and 101 was only two lanes in each direction. It was expanded to three lanes each way, with over and underpasses left wide enough for eventual carpool lane additions. While it doesn’t solve the transit problem between the East and South Bay, it should make travel down the corridor a good deal easier. 

Shannon Stone, the Brownwood, Texas firefighter who died from a fall after attempting to catch a ball thrown in the stands at a Rangers-A’s game in Arlington, will get a bronze statue of himself and his son outside Rangers Ballpark.

08.12.11
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C.J. Wilson Appreciation Night

I’m at the yard early. As you would expect, the field is pretty torn up after last night’s Raiders game. Here’s the evidence.

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Hopefully the crowd is large and lustfully booing our not-so-new nemesis, Texas Rangers hurler C.J. Wilson. I’ll do my part. It’s good to have the boys back. It’s good to be back.

For this homestand, I’ve decided the official song for the blog is “Oh Sherrie” by Steve Perry. Dig into the lyrics, and you might find a metaphor for our Athletics, ownership, and us fans. Enjoy the game. (Yes, I know that Perry is a Giants fan who sold out for the White Sox in ’05. It’s a freaking pop song. Lighten up Francis.)

08.12.11
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94 South Montgomery

When San Jose started on its quest to assemble land for a downtown ballpark, its plans were ambitious. Initially, the City’s project area included the ballpark site you see in the rendering above, plus the “triangle” on the other side of Park Avenue and the strip between Los Gatos Creek and Autumn Street. Dwindling funds forced San Jose Redevelopment Agency to scale back its acquisitions to the point of being roughly two-thirds the size of the original project area. One parcel was acquired early on, and despite the fact that it can’t be part of the ballpark, it could play a key role in planning for the future district anchored by Cisco Field and HP Pavilion.

The parcel in question is the former 94 South Montgomery Street, on the northeast corner of West San Fernando and South Montgomery. A small multi-family housing unit once stood there, before it was demolished when SJRA acquired it. At a mere 6,780 square feet, it’s not much good for anything other than a a retail building. Currently, the land is fenced off. There don’t appear to be any plans to pave it, as the Stephens Meat lot was paved over post-demolition.

As part of the ongoing redevelopment of the largely light industrial area, several things are likely to occur in the distant future:

  • Some landowners between West San Fernando and The Alameda/Santa Clara Street are likely to cash out when the time is right.
  • Others who see the ballpark as potentially beneficial to their operations may choose to stay. An example is Poor House Bistro, which is located behind the 94 S. Montgomery parcel in the picture above.
  • Streets will be dug up and repaved, with utilities headed underground.
  • If the A’s get to working with the City, the Sharks, and VTA/Caltrain/Amtrak on planning, it’s likely that they’ll figure out a way to remake the area as a very pedestrian-friendly staging area for pre and post-game festivities, and even a Yawkey Way-like in-game area for fans. For instance, if you’ve gone to downtown San Jose for Christmas in the Park, you’ll see how Park Avenue is repurposed for carnival rides and booths. I would expect that kind of set up to happen on West San Fernando every homestand, which would take care of having additional family-oriented attractions adjacent to the space-challenged ballpark. I’d rather have that than *cough* a Coke bottle.

What about the parcel? Within the new staging context, it would appear that the parcel is a key piece to the future of Diridon area. Chances are that it’ll attract significant attention from developers, whether it’s the Wolff family or other developers. It wouldn’t surprise me if a major restauranteur were interested. Personally, I’d like to have an A’s museum there on a new structure. If not that, then a public plaza that honors A’s history. Coupled with the small parking lot next door, there are numerous opportunities. It’s not anything that can make Wolff/Fisher serious money, but it can significantly increase the attractiveness of the district. Anything that brings in fans, visitors, tourists – it’s all good for San Jose.

08.11.11
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Redevelopment agencies granted stay until January

CORRECTION: Apparently I misinterpreted the news wrong. From the LA Times:

The court issued an order delaying enforcement of most provisions of the new law until a ruling on the merits of the case, but said redevelopment agencies could not incur new debt, transfer assets, buy property or enter into new contracts in the meantime.

So that means that neither SJRA or ORA could make the land purchases. Ah, but San Jose created a new joint powers authority, SJDDA. Sounds like a truck-sized loophole.

It looks like the gambit being played by RDA lobbyists, San Jose and Union City has paid off, at least for a few months. The California Supreme Court ruled today that redevelopment agencies have been granted a stay, delaying their dismantling until as late as January 15, 2012, when the court is expected to make a final ruling on the constitutionality of Governor Brown’s plan (Chron/Merc).

That doesn’t mean that RDAs are dancing in the streets. Yesterday, Los Angeles committed to a $97 million payment to the state so that the agency could stay operational. In doing so, that means the top two RDAs (LA, San Diego) have chosen to pony up. That leaves Oakland, which hasn’t said much about its plans, and San Jose, which is a plaintiff in the lawsuit, looking to either continue activities as planned or negotiate a different payment schedule.

For San Jose, this probably means they can move forward with the final land acquisitions at Diridon, which were supposed to be wrapped up by the end of June. In Oakland, this probably means they can go ahead with the Coliseum/Raiders redevelopment plan, and if other expenditures were required for Victory Court (such as extra EIR work), those could get the green light too.

All right, cities. You’ve got up to five months to crank out some results. Get to it!

OT – On A’s Talk, Chris Townsend may have revealed that the Sharks may not be on The Game this upcoming season.

One more thing – Cisco rose 16% today on a better-than-expected earnings report.

08.10.11
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No chance for a SJ vote until MLB decides

Saw this tweet come across the internets:

No surprise here. Ever since Mayor Chuck Reed’s failed bluff, the City has had this stance regarding the referendum. What this means is a potential June 2012 vote, now that the state legislature has pushed back the upcoming primary from its previous February date. In all likelihood, that’s the last possible date for a ballpark vote in order to afford enough prep time for a Winter 2012/2013 groundbreaking and an April 2015 Opening Day. November 2012 could also be a possibility, but only if every other step such as demolition were either completed or well underway.

Of course, there’s the remote possibility that no referendum will be required. If the A’s were to buy all of Diridon land and pay for the Autumn Parkway project, I suspect that the city attorney will rule that no referendum is necessary. If the A’s don’t pay for Autumn Parkway, chances are that a referendum will be needed – even though the project would impact more than just the ballpark. Call it a hunch.

Keep in mind that we still haven’t heard what the status is of the remaining land buys. By not acting on a referendum now, the City can wait up to a full year to do the remaining acquisitions, even if they require eminent domain.