Maritime Business vs the A's Busyness

by Evey Hwang, Ocean Committee

There was more drama for the A’s when the City of Oakland filed a lawsuit against County of Alameda to halt the sale of their portion of the old coliseum to the As organization.   The City’s action illustrates their split with Mayor Schaaf over the plans for Oakland’s future.   City Council President Rebecca Kaplan cited the suit as “the right thing to do to protect the interest of the taxpayers over these public lands” and to “protect the long term credibility of the project”.   Wow!   Given the costly infrastructure needed to support the ballpark and related traffic, the City Council put on the brakes to the hard-ball game the A’s were playing—the A’s were hoping to replicate the success had in getting two important bills on a “fast track” through the legislature in Sacramento:  AB 1191 (authorizes Oakland to acquire reclaimed tidelands around Howard Terminal) and SB 293 (new tax authority to finance infrastructure near proposed stadium site).  Oakland should be a pushover, right?  Maybe not.
 
Bottom of the month, October 30^th, the East Oakland Stadium Alliance met with Oakland Councilman Noel Gallo.   Updates exposed that doubts persist about the A stadium plan, despite threats by the Major League Baseball Commissioner that the A’s would re-locate to Las Vegas.  The A’s publicly stated that they would offer same deal to City of Oakland as offered to Alameda.  But with no formal, written offer on the table, members of the City Council are doubting the As’ sincerity.   Some Oakland City Council members are rightfully concerned about the burden that the taxpayers will bear for infrastructure improvements.  And, many in Oakland agree with the coalition that the A’s should stay in East Oakland.   The Mayor likes to speak of the obstacles as “minor” but given the City is still in debt from the deal financing the old stadium and coliseum refurbishments, how realistic is it for Oakland to spend even millions more to support a new stadium/condo complex for the A’s??

On November 7^th, the Oakland Port Commissioners will host a Seaport Compatibility Measures Conference.   As users of the Port, brokers' and forwarders' businesses depend on the future and sustainability of our home Port of Oakland.  Stay tuned for more updates from CBFANC!