- LA Daily News: Bill offering tax breaks for sports, entertainment centers faces vote
- SD Union Tribune: New play is possible in stadium financing
As reported yesterday, SB 4 passed with no opposition in the AEST&IM committee, and is slated to go Assembly's Appropriations committee, then the floor for a full Assembly vote, and finally the governor's desk.
Moving over to the topic of eminent domain: The Supreme Court ruled that eminent domain is legal (for non-public purposes) by a 5-4 vote. This clears the way for the DC Ballpark land acquisitions to proceed, and may move the Florida Marlins' ballpark plans forward if they can bridge the funding gap. Much of the land near the Orange Bowl that would be used for the ballpark is residential, and if landowners aren't willing to sell, the city of Miami could turn to eminent domain to acquire property.
5 comments:
My question - if this passes and the committee decides the A's need a new ballpark in California - how do they decide whether it goes in Oakland, San Jose, Sacramento, Fremont, etc?
Good question. I don't think the Authority will have any direct power to decide where a ballpark goes. There is potential for a bidding war of sorts. If you take away the mitigating factors (San Jose's territorial rights, Sacramento's TV market size, Oakland's lack of good sites, Fremont's suburban feel) and level the playing field, then it becomes an issue of which city can provide the most favorable deal to the A's. It remains to be seen if the Authority would work one bid/team/city at a time, or work within a competitive process. I'll go more into detail on this in a future post.
Was Silveira's threats to sue re: the 9th St. Terminal plan affected by the Supreme Court ruling, or was he threatening to sue on some other grounds?
Silveira's suit was based on some early drawings of the development plan, which showed some of Signature's housing being built on his property. Problem was that no one had consulted him on the development. Since then, there has been a settlement with the city, and Signature's plans have been modified to exclude Silveira's property.
Eminent domain proceedings were not used, as Silveira filed suit before the city could get the land deal going. Eminent domain is being used at the Uptown site.
Marine Layer: One potential location I have heard nothing about (and I'm sure there is a reason for this) is Alameda. There is a huge plot of land on the western tip of the island that the Navy no longer uses. Why couldn't this be cleaned up and used for a new ball park? It would have the most stunning views of both downtown Oakland and the city.
Besides clean-up, which will have to be done regardless, and traffic issues, for which I have no solution, are there other reasons that spot isn't being considered?
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