Oakland A’s

A Conversation with San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed: Part I

San Jose Inside editor Josh Koehn sat down for a interview last week with San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed. In the first part of their conversation, the two discuss the city's controversial pension reforms, the depleted police ranks, the current mayor's race, San Jose's lawsuit with Major League Baseball and Reed's insistence that he's not a closet Republican.

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A’s Agreement to Stay in Oakland Put on Hold

Though Oakland A's owner Lew Wolff has long wanted to move his team to San Jose, he has reached a tentative lease agreement to stay put for another decade. But a vote Friday to approve the deal was delayed after four of eight Coliseum Joint Powers Authority board members did not show.

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San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed Takes Long View in Final State of the City Speech

Chuck Reed spent much of his eighth and final State of the City speech thanking his predecessors while noting that a mayor’s work goes on long after he or she leaves office. Noting that he and past elected officials in San Jose have stood “on the shoulders of giants,” Reed said the work he and the council have carried out in recent years must be viewed outside the prism of four-year term limits. “We have to think in much longer timeframes,” he said.

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City Manager Debra Figone’s Exit Interview

San Jose Inside’s Josh Koehn sat down in late October with City Manager Debra Figone, who will retire at the end of next week, to discuss her 44-year career in public service. The free-flowing discussion, which has been edited for clarity, touches on topics such as the city’s adversarial relationship with the Police Officers Association, the validity of international travel for elected officials, the possibility of another sports franchise coming to San Jose if the Oakland A’s cannot relocate here, and how Figone views the media’s coverage of local politics.

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Mayor Reed Could Tie Legacy to Bringing A’s to San Jose

My last column described how luck, spunk and political ambition brought the 49ers to Santa Clara. Now it is time for San Jose to step to the plate and get the Oakland Athletics. Let’s start with the positives: A’s owner Lew Wolff wants the team in San Jose and the San Jose establishment wants the A’s in San Jose. So, what is the problem? Politics, pure and simple.

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