January 17, 2007

A's owner mum on stadium funding

Oakland A's owner Lew Wolff gave his first public presentation of his Fremont stadium proposal last night, telling the Fremont city council that the surrounding development project will include 2,900 new homes and 500,000 square feet of upscale "specialty" retailers, similar to San Jose's Santana Row. As for any hint of financing details, though, the A's owner/real estate developer came up empty. As the San Jose Mercury News reported:

Wolff has yet to unveil exactly what his ballpark village would look like, how he expects to handle game-day traffic, or how the public cost of serving a new community of 2,900 homes with schools, parks, libraries, and police and fire protection compares to the projected tax revenues his development would yield. Wolff said he would deliver an economic impact report to the city in the near future.

Of course, an "economic impact report" still isn't a financial plan - it's just a projection (often a rose-colored one) of the likely costs and benefits of a project, once it's been paid for. It is, though, a necessary step if Wolff is really thinking of seeking tax-increment financing or similar public subsidies.

As for the public who Wolff was addressing, many expressed skepticism about the plan, with much concern about likely traffic problems. Wolff's request that the council take up the plan "move this along sooner rather than later" was met with criticism from a local Sierra Club representative, who said that since this would be the biggest development in the city's history, it should receive extra public scrutiny. Hey, what a concept!