The proposed Oakland A’s move to San Jose hasn’t had much progress in over three years. But an interesting development occurred last week. MLB Commissioner Bud Selig’s three-person committee in charge of finding the best future home for the A’s reportedly met with city officials and business leaders in San Jose and Oakland. Meanwhile, investigators from State Controller John Chiang’s office have been coming through old San Jose Redevelopment Agency records pertaining to land being held for a possible A’s stadium.
Your search for oakland returned 613 results
U.S. Attorney May Not be Out of Line
Dave Hodges operates A2C2 medical marijuana collective in San Jose. He wrote this column for San Jose Inside.—Editor
Harborside collectives in San Jose and Oakland were recently ordered to shut down by U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag. Many have called Harborside a model for other medical marijuana collectives. To help everyone better understand what the complex California law states, I want to provide some direct quotes and key information.
U.S. Attorney out of Line about Marijuana
U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag’s war on medical marijuana is a violation of current federal Department of Justice policy, an embarrassment to the President of the United States and is, literally, threatening the health and safety of our community. She should be removed from her post, immediately.
Q&A with County Assessor Larry Stone
We tried to do a Q&A with Santa Clara County Assessor Larry Stone back in late March. That didn’t happen, but it wasn’t Stone’s fault—there weren’t enough questions at the time. But here we are, three months later, and we’ve got the tax man’s answers to a couple submitted questions, relayed in a telephone conversation, as well as his thoughts on the fight between the county and Redevelopment Agencies, the odds the Oakland A’s will relocate to San Jose and how he views the local housing market five years after the subprime mortgage crisis.
Councilmembers Don’t Want to Play Ball
The territory war between San Jose and the San Francisco Giants got a bit more heated Thursday, with the minor league Giants caught in the fray. San Jose councilmembers Sam Liccardo and Pete Constant said in a memo that before the city spends $85,000 on maintenance for the San Jose Giants’ stadium, they would like to know how much Giants owners are spending to sue the city over land being saved for a potential move to San Jose by the Oakland A’s.
Move to Amend Rally at St. James
The Santa Clara County chapter of Move to Amend will hold a rally at noon Thursday in St. James Park, near the Historic Courthouse. Move to Amend is a nonpartisan organization arguing for a 28th amendment that would overturn corporate personhood and rule that money is not equivalent to free speech.
What San Jose Can Learn from 49ers
The San Francisco 49ers broke ground Thursday on their new stadium in Santa Clara and threw a tremendous party replete with football royalty, current players, politicians and, most importantly, volunteers from the Measure J campaign that made the day possible. The model used by Santa Clara and the Niners should be replicated in San Jose for the new A’s stadium.
Milpitas: The Political Hunger Games
The spillover from Milpitas’ toxic political landscape has finally seeped over to San Jose. On Tuesday, Milpitas councilmember Debbie Giordano requested the city’s attorney investigate council colleague Armando Gomez’s fundraising activities for San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed. The direction by Giordano seems to be a direct response to Gomez—a senior budget advisor to Reed—targeting a lobbying loophole that he says Giordano and political consultant Vic Ajlouny have taken advantage of.
Pose Questions to Assessor Larry Stone
This week, Santa Clara County Assessor Larry Stone has agreed to answer questions from San Jose Inside readers. He is the sixth public official to participate in this series. Questions are selected from online posts to this site.
An Open Letter to Larry Baer
Dear Larry: We need to talk. It started a few years back, when Lew Wolff got it in his head that Oakland wasn’t the best home for the ballclub he’d recently purchased. The A’s play in a rundown stadium in a decrepit area of town in front of a dwindling—albeit loud and loyal—fanbase. The organization’s limited revenue stream prevents it from building a consistent winner and essentially makes them a ward of the league. Enter San Jose.
Giants, A’s Clash over Territorial Rights
The public relations war we’ve all been waiting for is finally here. In a recent article, New York Daily News columnist Bill Madden suggested that MLB was unlikely to grant the Oakland A’s permission to move to San Jose. Baseball officials responded by saying no decision had been made. Then the A’s and San Francisco Giants sparred with competing statements about who had rights to the South Bay territory.
Baseball’s Hot Stove Rumors at Odds
The stove runs hot in the spring, and a fresh batch of baseball rumors about the Oakland A’s potential move to San Jose came pouring in this past weekend. Bill Madden, of the New York Daily News, tipped the first domino Saturday by reporting writing that MLB Commissioner Bud Selig will uphold the San Francisco Giant’s territorial claims over the South Bay, and prevent the Oakland A’s from relocating to San Jose. Henry Schulman, of the San Francisco Chronicle, begged to differ.
Mayor Reed Opposes Freedom to Marry
Don’t expect to see San Jose’s Chuck Reed join the growing list of mayors who have pledged their support to the Freedom to Marry campaign. In an interview with San Jose Inside last week, the mayor said he supports civil unions and domestic partnerships, but he draws the line at marriage. San Jose is the largest city in the country not to have its mayor supporting Freedom to Marry.
Occupy Movement Should Rethink Strategy
The quixotic Occupy movement needs some real leadership now. While most of us share the concerns of the movement and have marveled at their ability to highlight issues that have really caused our economic pain, the immature and needless violence against people and property is hurting their cause and is ineffective in creating the change they seek.
San Jose Inside’s 2011 Year in Review
As the year winds down, you can almost hear the collective sigh coming from City Hall. Or maybe that’s an echoing whoosh from councilmembers, the mayor, city manager and their staffs, who hightailed it for the holidays. Either way, 2011 was a tumultuous year, fierce in the manner civic actors clashed over pension reform, public safety, pot, a potential ballpark, ballot measures, pay cuts, occupations of city property and other issues of varying degrees of importance.
Court Gives RDAs Death Sentence
A ruling Thursday by the California Supreme Court is more or less the nail in the coffin for the San Jose Redevelopment Agency. It’s also a critical victory for Gov. Jerry Brown, whose budget has been under scrutiny for major shortfalls compared to rosy projections regarding revenue. The state’s high court decided $1.7 billion can be legally taken from RDAs across the state, and the ruling also denies agencies the ability to “pay to play” by giving money over to the state to remain in existence.
