The A’s search for a new stadium keeps on pushing through possible roadblocks.
Following a lengthy Oakland City Council meeting that stretched more than 11 hours on Tuesday night, the council voted 5-2 with one abstention against an advisory measure to let the public potentially decide the fate of the A’s proposed waterfront ballpark district at Howard Terminal during the upcoming elections in November.
If you’re a bit confused by this latest political movement, you’re not alone. Even the councilmembers found the wording of the proposed measure to be vague.
Noel Gallo and Carroll Fife have emerged as the City Council’s staunchest opponents to the A’s proposed ballpark district and were the only two councilmembers to vote in favor of putting this decision to a public vote. Vice Mayor Rebecca Kaplan conspicuously abstained from voting Tuesday, though it could be viewed as a political play as she gears up for a county supervisor election run this fall and might not want to show her cards.
Tuesday night’s decision by the City Council was celebrated by Oakland mayor Libby Schaaf, who outlined why she felt a potential public vote could hinder the project.
Oakland assistant city administrator Betsy Lake also outlined why city staff felt the idea of a public vote on the issue would be a bad idea.
“It is advisory, which means it’s non-binding, and therefore does amount to what we would consider a fairly expensive survey that would create delay and doubt for the project, which is still under negotiation,” Lake said. “Which means there isn’t even a project to vote on – to agree or disagree with. In a nutshell, staff is concerned that this proposed measure would undermine what this council voted for and directed us to do.”
So, this move could be viewed as a potential stall or disruption tactic by the A’s opposition. Lake said staff deemed the ballot measure language “vague” and also said pursuing tax-increment financing are “essential development tools” that the city has used for decades.
The push to get the proposed public vote was funded in part by the A’s organized opposition to the Howard Terminal project, spearheaded by the East Oakland Stadium Alliance. In mid-June the organization set up a table at the Temescal Street Fair in North Oakland that could be viewed as deceiving, given that they used the A’s logo and pleaded with fans to keep the team in the city. EOSA, of course, is trying hard to stop the A’s from putting any shovels in the ground in West Oakland, as the organization is backed by third-party business interests with the Port of Oakland, like Schnitzer Steel, Harbor Trucking Association and ILWU - local 10.
You could also argue that Gallo and Fife are trying to absolve themselves of the duties for which they were elected – to make tough civic decisions as city council members. Both Gallo and Fife defended their logic for requesting a public vote.
“The request is very clear – your neighbors, my neighbors, the ones that elected us – they’re asking us to be able to have this information on the ballot,” Gallo said. “At the end of the day, we have to recognize this is business. The Fisher family’s billionaire isn’t about Oakland, it’s a business, ‘How do we generate dollars for my account.’ That’s pretty much the way I see this developing into. This action is not taken so much about baseball, it’s based on what’s the best interests for the city of Oakland.”
“People in the streets, they’re all telling me the same thing: ‘Let me have a say,’” Fife said. “It doesn’t mean you support it or you don’t support. They just want to have a say. What’s the fear in letting people voice their decision through an advisory vote? It’s not going to delay a project that doesn’t exist. They just want to have a say. If their funds are gonna be used, then they should get to tell us what they want to see.”
Councilmembers like Dan Kalb and Sheng Thao said they’d be open to the idea of the public participating in a special election in a few months if necessary, but that they want to see a concrete proposal before ceding the decision to the public.
“I hope it doesn’t come into play, but there’s a possible scenario that when the deal does come to us and doesn’t have certain things that I need to see in it, at that point I would support it. If that’s a special election on this measure, like in January, so be it,” Kalb said. “But I want them to understand we need to see certain things – I think all of us on the council will recall the things we asked for, and there’s still negotiations underway.
“One of the key things that is outstanding, is that I want to see – and this is the money question that people have been asking – I want to see ironclad, legally-binding financial backstops in the proposal – whatever comes before us, development agreement or what have you – that says if the infrastructure financing district falls short of projections, if there are cost overruns in the infrastructure that the city is agreeing to pay for – that the city’s general fund and city’s dedicated ongoing funding sources that we already have coming to us, general fund or not, that those are protected.”
Oakland doesn’t wanna get burned like it did with the Raiders. Lake also echoed Kalb’s comments and said striking a deal that doesn’t require Oakland to dip into its existing funds is the “north star” the city is seeking.
For now, the A’s odyssey continues. Last week, the franchise also received good news from the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission, which voted 25-2 in favor of removing the Port Priority Use (PPU) designation from Howard Terminal, clearing the way for future commercial/residential development on the site – aka the A’s proposed ballpark district.
Momentum keeps building, and the A’s have made more progress at Howard Terminal than any other possible new stadium site since 2000, but there are still plenty of hurdles remaining. As Lake outlined in Tuesday’s meeting, the A’s need to get project approval from the City Council, Port of Oakland, the SF BCDC, the Department of Toxic Substances Control and the State Lands Commission.
It’s a slog, but the A’s fight for a new home in Oakland has never been closer to the finish line.
