Ouch! Cut off at the knees it looks like here. While the A's have other options, and time due to te extension on the lease, it's becoming harder and harder for the A's to get a break in Oakland. - TBGR

A's expected to be cut out of downtown talks
City Council is likely to exclude the organization from its negotiations
with a housing developer
By Guy Ashley
CONTRA COSTA TIMES

OAKLAND - In what may be a staggering blow to prospects for a new Oakland
A's ballpark, city officials are advising against a plan to let the team
into talks over a downtown parcel deemed ideal for a stadium.

The City Council appears ready tonight to leave the A's out of discussions
over the site near Telegraph Avenue and 20th Street. Instead, the council
will likely stick with a pact that gives exclusive negotiating rights to a
developer proposing more than 800 housing units on the 13-acre parcel.

"It makes it much more difficult to build a ballpark on the site,"
Councilwoman Jane Brunner said of the deal giving exclusive negotiation
rights over the next year to Forest City Developers Inc.

Michael Crowley, president of the A's, said any move that would lock the A's
out of negotiations would be "a shame."

"That is the only downtown site that has been seriously looked at for a
ballpark," Crowley said.

In anticipation of the move, City Council President Ignacio De La Fuente has
canceled a planned presentation tonight on the initiative to build a
downtown A's ballpark.

De La Fuente said "it makes no sense" to hold an open discussion on plans
for a ballpark on the site when the city is moving in another direction.

The land near Oakland's downtown Sears store topped the list in a recent
analysis of seven East Bay sites by the nation's leading designer of
baseball-only ballparks.

Not only did the site come in with the least expensive ballpark price tag --
$352 million -- it was the only site that drew the enthusiasm of Oakland
officials seeking to spark renewal in the city's downtown.

But the council last month inked the pact to negotiate exclusively with
Forest City, which has been working with the city on a downtown housing
project for more than two years.

July 9, when the A's announced an agreement extending their lease at Network
Associates Coliseum for the next five years, pro-baseball forces at City
Hall renewed a downtown stadium push.

A City Council subcommittee proposed amending the pact with Forest City to
let the A's participate in talks on the future of the parcel.

But the amendment proposed by Councilman Richard Spees appears to be going
nowhere. Critics of that plan say an "exclusive negotiating agreement" is
not exclusive if a third party is allowed to negotiate.

William Claggett, executive director of Oakland's Community and Economic
Development Agency, says bringing the A's into the talks could more than
double the cost of the project's environmental review -- estimated at
$200,000 for the housing project alone -- and kill the Forest City project
altogether.

City Manager Robert Bobb said earlier this month that the city is examining
the possibility of building a stadium on two sites near the Forest City
parcel.

Building on either site, however, would require the removal of several
existing housing units, a scenario that may be unlikely when Mayor Jerry
Brown is pushing housing as the way to revive downtown.

Brunner, another ballpark proponent, said she believes Spees' amendment will
be rejected by the same 5-3 margin that voted to give Forest City exclusive
rights to negotiate over the land.

De La Fuente said locking the A's out doesn't kill the prospect of a
downtown ballpark, but that the team now will likely have to join with
Forest City on a joint stadium-housing plan.

Crowley declined comment on such a scenario.

Brunner said she believes Forest City wants to move quickly on its plan to
build housing alone on the site.

Forest City officials could not be reached for comment.

"Once you enter into exclusive negotiations with Forest City, then you
really have to look for another site" for a ballpark, Brunner said. "And I
haven't seen one yet that I can get excited about."

A man has to have goals- for a day, for a lifetime- that was mine, to have people say, "There goes Ted Williams, the greatest hitter who ever lived."
- Ted Williams

First the city says no to the best waterfront site, now takes the best downtown site off the board. Does Oakland sound like a city that wants to keep its team?

I can't help but wonder if Peter McGowan is involved in this somehow. McGowan made it perfectly he doesn't want to share the Bay Areas with the A's, and I think he's using some $$'s to accomplish his goal. I wonder if Selig knows anything about this.

Numbers don't lie. People do.
Beware of the Silver & Black attack

The last paragraph in this is interesting. Seems the A's have an extended lease on the Coliseum with an escape clause. It's probably designed so that the A's can move in the county at a minimal penalty, but the option of getting out of the lease is in place should they decide to move outside the county. - TBGR

Oakland gives developer ballpark site
The city, in the hopes of keeping the A's for the long-term, suggests that nearby locations could serve for a stadium
By Barry Witt
SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS

OAKLAND - Oakland's City Council turned over a prime potential downtown ballpark site to a housing developer Tuesday night but also tried to keep alive hopes of retaining the A's for the long-term by suggesting adjacent properties could be cleared for a new baseball stadium.

The so-called "uptown" site -- 8.5 acres bounded by 18th and 20th streets, Telegraph Avenue and Martin Luther King Jr. Way -- had become the focus of ballpark talks in recent weeks.

Baseball boosters say it's the best location for a stadium because it would maximize opportunities for ancillary economic development. But critics, including Mayor Jerry Brown, have been trying to get a major housing project built on the same property for several years.

A unanimous vote by the council Tuesday gave Cleveland-based Forest City Development the exclusive right to negotiate with the city on a housing project for the property. Before that, the ballpark's most enthusiastic supporter, City Manager Robert Bobb, had capitulated and suggested for the first time that other nearby properties could be used for a stadium.

But such an option would come at a steep price. Unlike the existing uptown site, which is mostly owned by the city, the adjacent properties are
privately owned and would be costly to acquire. Architectural consultants who last year identified the uptown site as the best choice for a ballpark included its low cost as one of its primary benefits and estimated a total cost of $385.1 million if the stadium were constructed there.

Bobb hadn't offered any idea of how the financially strapped city would pay for the ballpark, saying a plan would be released in a matter of weeks. But he dropped such talk uesday, saying he would do nothing more until the A's step forward with specifics on what the team wants to do.

"The door is open," Bobb said, adding he and his staff have "concluded our work until such time as we hear from the Oakland Athletics."

The A's have not said how much the team is willing to invest in a stadium or whether the team would agree to the uptown location.

The A's were in serious discussions with the city of Santa Clara in 2001 about a possible move to the South Bay. But those talks collapsed amid
concerns over whether the team will be sold and over public subsidies for a new stadium.

Before Tuesday's meeting, A's President Mike Crowley said he hoped the council would keep the uptown property available.

"It would be a shame to eliminate any site at this point," he said. "The more options you have, the better chance you have of reaching some situation that works for both parties."

Also Tuesday, the council approved a lease extension that will allow the A's to play at Network Associates Coliseum for the next eight years. The lease, which is expected to be approved next week by the Alameda County Board of
Supervisors, includes an escape clause that would allow the team to leave at any time by paying a modest penalty.

A man has to have goals- for a day, for a lifetime- that was mine, to have people say, "There goes Ted Williams, the greatest hitter who ever lived."
- Ted Williams