A’s to Fremont Dead
By Matt Artz
Tuesday, February 24th, 2009 at 11:06 am in A's, Uncategorized.
UPDATE: NOON: Here’s the three-page letter from the A’s. (pdf)
Statement by A’s Owner/Managing Partner Lew Wolff
Regarding Attached Letter Sent to Fremont Mayor & City Council:
“After much consideration, today we informed Mayor Wasserman and City Council members that the Oakland Athletics will cease efforts to relocate our franchise to the City of Fremont.
“I expressed my regrets and gratitude, especially to those people who shared our vision and spent endless hours in support of our proposal. However, it became increasingly clear that our ballpark project faced significant delays ahead and I could not, in good conscience, continue to lead our team down this path.
“My focus now is on baseball with Spring Training and the opening of the 2009 season. I am extremely excited about the team’s prospects this year.
My goal and desire for the organization is to determine a way to keep the team in Northern California. This goal has not changed.”
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February 24th, 2009 at 11:14 am
Let’s see if the chest-pumbing FCN members can run up the score by making people pay for their opinion.
I’m watching.
February 24th, 2009 at 11:22 am
Marty; WHO’S “chest-pumbing”?
February 24th, 2009 at 11:26 am
No chest pumping necessary. Let’s just get on with with the business of developing smart growth in our city, attracting business and knowing the difference between the two.
February 24th, 2009 at 11:26 am
Now Marty you know there’s no crying in baseball so stop. Don’t go away mad just go away like the A’s just did. Warblefly it looks like the tennis match is over and you lost.
February 24th, 2009 at 11:30 am
I agree, Doug.
And Worble, in case you haven’t been paying attention, I’ve been very vocal on this forum about my opposition to the A’s coming to Warm Srings. My issue has been with those who wanted to twist the dagger after they slayed the beast.
February 24th, 2009 at 11:38 am
Every once in a while, reason wins. It wasn’t guaranteed by any means but, with the help of a lot of intelligent, concerned citizens, we have dodged the bullet this time.
Don’t forget, this was our largest and most immediate problem. There are others.
We have a City Council that has no respect for the tax-paying residents of this town.
We have a Planning Commission that is staffed with political appointees who do not know the meaning of impartiality.
We have a City that is ripe fruit for other developers. What do we want to see here? We can’t freeze time, we have important decisions to make, and we have to make it clear to City management that we have a right to be and we expect to be involved.
Please attend the City Council meeting at 7 p.m. tonight at City Hall.
February 24th, 2009 at 11:41 am
Marty, all my sympathies that this pretty much takes the air out of your boycott balloon.
February 24th, 2009 at 11:42 am
I agree also Doug.
However, Marty, I’d say that the “beast” was in the lack of regard for a transparent public process.
That type of process will also be necessary to move forward with “smart growth.” In that sense – the beast still lurks on the “Council Dais” and with “Diaz”!
February 24th, 2009 at 11:45 am
This is the most beautiful headline I’ve seen since “Obama Wins”!
February 24th, 2009 at 11:48 am
My view is that A’s just used FCN and the local residents vocalization as an excuse to get out. Think about, they could have dumped so much money in this and just run through the residents.
It is my perspective that there are internal problems within the A’s and with the MLB’s. If Wolff had the undeniable support internally, he would not have backed out so easily and so quickly. This is unlike the practice of a determined and successful business man like him.
FCN and the local residents just gave a nudge. Why would Wolff be afraid of this. Keith Wolff has said in A’s meetings that he and his father sees this all the time, wherever they go. They are used to this. They still got their way in other places, why give up Fremont if it wasn’t for the fact that they are having internal issues.
February 24th, 2009 at 11:52 am
Brian; I wouldn’t be surprised if Wolff didn’t finally understand that the Council and Manager blew it! Blew it BIG TIME by not having a more thoughtful PUBLIC PROCESS and thereby opening up all sorts of legal and political liabilities.
February 24th, 2009 at 11:53 am
SF Business Times:
Oakland A’s Managing Partner Lew Wolff said that he “failed to properly anticipate the resistance that (he) has encountered” while trying to build a stadium in Fremont
In a pointed jab at the groups who were protesting the A’s move into the city, Wolff said “I am sorry that I have failed in my desire to ‘earn’ the right to have the A’s located in your great city.
http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/stories/2009/02/23/daily29.html
The above article says that Wolff sent a three page letter to Fremont and County officials. Where’s the rest of it?
February 24th, 2009 at 11:58 am
It is all about the money. The stadium financing plan was premised upon the housing units of the ballpark village. With the crashing of the housing market, the credit and financing scarcity, and the overall economic decline, times are simply not good for a massive development like this.
That being said, the residents of Fremont could just sit idly and let the process wind down on its own, but had to try and take their own destiny into their hands.
At worst, the corporate and resident opposition provided an excuse for dropping the project. At best, it was one of the significant factors. But given Wolff’s past efforts, it would not surprise me if the former rather than the latter was the case.
February 24th, 2009 at 11:59 am
Sorry –
Correction: That being said, the residents of Fremont could NOT just sit idly and let the process wind down on its own, but had to try and take their own destiny into their hands.
Posting before proofing is a bad thing
February 24th, 2009 at 12:06 pm
From the Merc:
“Wolff said the team has spent more than $80 million on the move to Fremont, including real estate purchases. Of that $24 million is “not recoverable” and that could increase if real estate values keep declining, he said.”
http://www.mercurynews.com/southbaybaseball/ci_11774221
What about all of the time and worry that this project has taken from the residents of this town? The Saturdays you couldn’t spend at your kid’s game because you were distributing flyers? The sleepless nights of homeowners who were anticipating kleig lights and gridlock in their quiet neighborhoods?
For that matter, what about all the time wasted by A’s fans on this site trying to tell us that we were dopes if we didn’t want this abomination?
I am tempted to wonder how much of that “not recoverable” $24 million went to grease the wheels with local officials, but they’d never do that, would they?
Enough of the boo-hoo, Wolfe. Think of it as a life lesson; don’t propose stupid ideas that have the potential to up-end people’s lives, and don’t try to go where you’re not wanted.
Karma’s a b&%ch.
February 24th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
Chalk one up for the band geeks
February 24th, 2009 at 1:09 pm
Although the real reason for Mr Wolff’s decision is the economy and the possibility of San Jose, Fremont residents are glad to be the catalyst of the “Dear John letter.”
Here is a story you might enjoy: “An Inconvenient Truth” (http://noasws.blogspot.com/2008/12/inconvenient-truth.html). It was inspired by many great posts in Tri-City Beat and Marine Layer’s blog, although the ending is a little bit different.
I’m still surprised why many people living within one mile of Pacific Commons still don’t know about the ballpark proposal (for two years)!
February 24th, 2009 at 1:10 pm
Sorry Smalls, chalk one up to the lack of a transparent PUBLIC PROCESS!
February 24th, 2009 at 1:51 pm
Having sat on the other side of numerous issues over the years, in Fremont and on regional bodies, I remain convinced that reason and common sense usually win in the end. Anyone looking at the original plan for the Pacific Commons site for longer than a few minutes could see that it was a house of cards, doomed to fail at some point. Everyone, pro and con alike, admitted there was a traffic problem, but no traffic study was done before the process started. Everyone could see there was no effective transit solution and the shuttle idea was full of holes.
There was a parking problem, which no one from the A’s had an answer to. And there was the uncontroversial impact on sales at the major stores in PC and the fatal impact on any effort to build a downtown at any time.
I actually met with Lew Wolff very early, at his request, and I suggested he perform a fatal flaws analysis, where you looked for things which could kill the project regardless of what you did to mitigate the problem. This might cost a little more up front, but could save millions in the long run. He didn’t want to do that, preferring to wait for the data and then get a vote up or down on his project.
I know a major project going through the EIR process right now where the applicant has already done every study in the EIR before it started. He wanted no surprises or unanticipated problems. It costs more, but it is what experienced developers do. Two years after the PC application was filed, with everyone knowing there would be traffic problems, there still is no public traffic study.
I was convinced the project would fail when all the facts were in, when logical minds would have to decide based on the facts. Smart people will, generally, vote right and ignore the emotion in the end.
So this adventure has come to an end. We will never know all of the facts which would have been in the EIR, but I think we have build community through this effort. People are now going to pay attention and maybe some will volunteer somewhere or apply to serve on a commission. There is much to do and this is a great place to do it. If you are not happy with things, work to change them. It isn’t hard to do.
I have always been proud of Fremont, and proud of its people. There are a few examples over the years of people working together toward a common purpose, the first hill inititive, the HARB referendum, school bond measures, and more. I would have to add the effort of the Fremont Citizen’s Network to those efforts. I worked against this project for two years and I thought I knew more about the A’s plans than anyone, but last week I attended an FCN presentation and I learned things. A great piece of work by all involved. Nice job.
And, I cannot close without a tip of my hat to all the those who have commented on this blog (including SMALLS) for their healthy, thoughtful debate. Every once in a while it got testy, but in the end we all learned together and the issues got raised.
And, in the end, reason and logic prevailed. What doesn’t make sense usually doesn’t happen. Now I need to figure out how to collect all the bets I made over the last two years.
February 24th, 2009 at 2:02 pm
Gus,
About your statement: “I remain convinced that reason and common sense usually win in the end.”
I would like to change that!
Let reason and common sense win in the beginning! Why waste all the time trying to make sense of something that doesn’t in the first place.
February 24th, 2009 at 2:09 pm
Gus, your optimisim, generosity and sunny disposition are great.
Being of a more pessimistic nature, I feel that this process has moved many of the residents of Fremont to question whether we have “logical minds” or “smart people” running our town.
First you identify the problem, then you work to fix it, right?
But a win is a win, so let’s party!
February 24th, 2009 at 2:12 pm
Worble see you at the Rack Wed!!!!
February 24th, 2009 at 2:20 pm
D Alur, keep in mind those who wanted the A’s to move here thought it was a plus for Fremont. It was common sense to them even if not to others.
If it had been a nuclear waste disposal site instead it might have been a no brainer from the start for all concerned.
There will always be positives and negatives to any suggested change. It takes dialogue to bring forth the reason and logic as Gus mentioned.
February 24th, 2009 at 2:57 pm
Gus your optimisim, generosity and sunny dispostion are great that is why you have all these idiots in your corner. Your fingerprints will always be linked to helping the city fail.
You may have these people fooled that were not living here when you last were in office but the ones who did showed up on election day. The A’s pulling out of the deal with the city and you beating the drum that led the charge is not a “WIN” like Fremont Lifer suggested in #21.
The real victory for the COF is that you lost the election. I guess you can be MAYOR OF THE BLOG!!!!
February 24th, 2009 at 3:07 pm
Smalls stop your crying. Now you and Warblehigh can move with the A’s to San Jose or Sacramento.
February 24th, 2009 at 3:08 pm
Doug,
point taken.
February 24th, 2009 at 3:09 pm
The A’s and the City of Fremont should be sticking to the original plan of building the ballpark at Pacific Commons. From what I understand, is that most of the small businesses in the Pac Commons area want the A’s to move there. They only opposition has been from Costco, Lowes, and Kohl’s. I don’t understand what Costco and Lowes problems are; since their businesses would benefit from the A’s being located near them. Fans attending game will purchase supplies like food, beverages and other tail gating equipment. If they are worried about traffic, then the city can help with controlling their respective parking areas for Costco or Lowes use only. Bringing the A’s to Pac Commons will stimulate job growth in the area and would bring added revenue as a whole. I personally think Costco, Lowes and Kohl’s would like a bigger piece of the pie so to speak if the A’s move to Pacific Commons to go along with sponsorships within the ballpark.
There is plenty of land there to add parking areas and or garages to negate any potential parking problems. Other jobs that would be created would the addition of BART shuttle services from the upcoming Irvington and Warm Springs BART stations where the city can also designate Ballpark shuttle only lanes with pickup and drop off points. Yes it may add more traffic to the 880 in that particular section of the 880, but perhaps there is a solution that needs to be explored so that more people can see the BIG picture.
There is currently a truck weigh station that sits in between the Auto mall Southbound off ramp and the Fremont Blvd off ramp that is hardly in use.
That weigh station may be state run, but perhaps the City of Fremont and A’s can have some open dialogue with the state about perhaps converting that barely operative weigh station to a Ballpark off ramp which would then create three separate off ramps for fans driving from Northbound 880 to the ballpark. This new ballpark off ramp would allow drivers to exit on that particular off ramp directly to the ballpark.
There are many ways to make the A’s to Pacific Commons work….but it just seems the effort to make it work has been minimal at best. It’s too bad short sighted people have derailed the whole ballpark in Pacific Commons plan. It would have been an amazing ballpark which would have been needed in this particular part of the East Bay.
Please forward to whom may be involved in this frustrating process.
Thanks for listening,
February 24th, 2009 at 3:24 pm
I take back my nice words about smalls. I may have lost an election, but the winner got the lowest vote total of any elected mayor since the election was moved to coincide with the presidential election and the lowest percentage since we have had an elected mayor (1978). There was no mandate.
February 24th, 2009 at 3:28 pm
Brian: I had very similar thoughts about why Lew quit so easily. My last experience at organizing taught me that organizing itself creates within it unexplained energies such the seed of sucess is not just the planting. You need to plant at the right time,water, sun….. It was all of the stars aligning that made this happen. Not possible to definately know why.
Enjoy!
February 24th, 2009 at 3:31 pm
Not only was there no mandate, the Wasserman campaign was deceptive at best. Lew Wolff did not make the warm springs location primary until the election was over because he did not want the Mayor to deal with it until after he won.
Many keep trying to make the case that because Wasserman won, the stadium has more support. That is not true. He got only 42% of the vote and the other 58% got split between Cho (who never publicly stated his position on the stadium, and was permanently on the fence) and Gus.
If only Cho did not run, then we know where the mandate would be.
Similar deception from Sue Chan as well? For example, many citizens talked to Sue Chan to get her position about the stadium and she said she was against it. And once the election was over, she switched her story.
So equating the election results to a Stadium support is plain wrong. Let’s put it to vote and settle it once and for all.
February 24th, 2009 at 3:58 pm
Gus at least I called you the Mayor of the BLOG!!!!!!!!!!!
February 24th, 2009 at 5:30 pm
I wish I could agree and say that common sense wins in the end, it doesn’t always. As Doug stated it depends on whom you talk to. Was it common sense to change school boundaries 8 years ago? Yes, to the Fremont School Members because they wanted to raise test scores at IHS. They had their own agenda. No, to me and others because we have lived here for many years and felt there was a better solution and it was wrong. I’m sure there are plenty of other examples.
I thought Cho wanted to put the stadium issue up to a city wide vote? I remember reading that somewhere. Am I correct in thinking this about Cho?
February 24th, 2009 at 5:49 pm
Worble how is you and your partners adobtion process going?
February 24th, 2009 at 7:51 pm
I believe your right Annie.
February 24th, 2009 at 7:58 pm
Shortly after the invasion of Pearl Harbor began, Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto is quoted as saying, “I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.”
Like Japan, Mayor Wasserman, the city council and planning commissioners have awakened Fremont residents from a deep sleep who have now resolved to free Fremont from the developers hooks in our city leaders.
February 24th, 2009 at 8:10 pm
I hope your right Greenroom!
February 24th, 2009 at 9:16 pm
I don’t think A’s will give up the site this easy (just one protest?). There must be other internal matters going on in order to cease this site. Owner will not be this stupid to give up previous capital investment without a ROI.
February 24th, 2009 at 9:47 pm
No matter what outcome of any debate is, I am grateful that our voices are heard here in this A’s Stadium matter. This is a smaller city (220,000) when compared to other cities in the North Bay, and I feel that any voice (pro or con) would be totally lost in the shuffle if we are dealing with larger cities with populations over 900,000 or more (like San Jose).
I agree with Gus Morrison too, we have to look at what’s best for Fremont.
I was opposed to this from the start at Auto Mall because I felt it would be detrimental to the retailers there, as well as the nearby residents trying to go there to shop.
When the A’s decided to bring this into my backyard (I live appromitely 5 blocks from the new preferred location in WS), of course people such as myself would have a voice in this!
Our city has a small town feel to it and as such, I feel that people are attracted to move here for that reason! The City Council needs to understand that while it is important to address financial needs of the city, it is also important to remember our citizens (who pay taxes) and make sure we (the citizens)are included up front with any changes to the infrastructure
February 24th, 2009 at 10:22 pm
how about the A’s to NEWARK? There’s plenty of space next to the Ohlone Newark Center and the idiots in Fremont (and I’m from Fremont and ticked off that MLB won’t be in Fremont) can’t do jack about it.
February 24th, 2009 at 11:42 pm
Seems like Lew Wolfe was talking to San Jose last week and now with severing his ties with Fremont, all he has to do is work Bud Selig to clear the Giants territory in Santa Clara. (Based on the report by Raj Mathai in the NBC 11pm news)
Of course, Lew Wolfe is a seasoned businessman.
February 24th, 2009 at 11:50 pm
Lets hope the A’s are able to build their brand new home and ballpark in San Jose, since they are a city that is not afraid to do what it takes to stimulate true growth.
The A’s and their loyal fans deserve more than what Fremont and their weak residents and leaders can give them.
A true shame…
February 25th, 2009 at 9:26 am
Recall Time for….
Bob “the Mob” Wasserman
Sue “The Community sell- out” Chan
Anu “Absolutely” Natarajan
Bill “the Wasserman Clone” Harrison
Bob “the Waffler” Wieckowski
February 25th, 2009 at 9:33 am
Rather than “A’s to Fremont Dead”, shouldn’t the title for this piece have been “Fremont to A’s: Drop Dead”?
February 25th, 2009 at 2:51 pm
Yup, I agree it is the recall time. We should recall those who didnt work in our interest.
February 25th, 2009 at 4:43 pm
We all need a little humor in our lives, thanks Tbone and Irv.
February 25th, 2009 at 5:22 pm
Smalls,
I thought we were going to stop name calling?
Although Gus was against, he did not ‘lead the charge’ and now provides some guidence into the inner workings of city government.
This thing got going when the citizens woke up and made their voice heard.
February 25th, 2009 at 5:52 pm
Thanks WS, you guys didn’t need my help. I actually signed up on the FCN site last week so I could send a congratulatory e-mail. I made it through an intensive screening process and was accepted, only after proving I wasn’t a plant.
I went to a public presentation last Thursday and came away in awe of the amount of work they had done researching the issues. I have confined my comments and actions to this blog and have tried to bring my experience and whatever expertise I have to the subjects at hand.
After all, smalls named me mayor of the blog. I’ll take it.
February 25th, 2009 at 6:34 pm
Many of us were ready, and continue to be ready, to work through the EIR process and challenge the stadium proposal within the framework set up by the California Environmental Quality Act. The fact is that Wolff withdrew the A’s from the process before it could start.
February 25th, 2009 at 7:19 pm
The city-council is pathetic., i suggest they either wakeup and smell the coffee, or face some music in the form of a recall, and more resident resistance going forward.
The incumbents Ms Natarajan, and Mr Mayor need to go,
they are always biased, and have made the decision
before it can be arrived at., and look to subvert opposition or even rational comments in ANY form.
IMHO, Mr Mayor should gracefully accept he is too
old for this City and retire for a quieter pursuit
of happiness instead.
February 25th, 2009 at 8:17 pm
What is the proceedure for ad coup d’état to overthrow Wasserman and the city council? I am thinking nonviolent methods of course, with water pistols and silly string.
February 25th, 2009 at 8:31 pm
I understand the FCN has a team working on a recall effort. Perhaps someone from the group could comment and share status on this? It seems like a pretty popular concept, judging from the comments I’m seeing. It would probably be a good idea to get moving while people are still fired up.
Are you out there, D Alur?