The state's 3rd District Court of Appeal ruled that the City of Stockton had no right to use eminent domain to force an old office building and its tenants off land it eventually used to build Banner Island Ballpark (home of A's high-A affliate Stockton Ports). The city will have to pay for all litigation costs. One interesting nugget: the affected landowner had an agreement prior to the eminent domain action to sell to A.G. Spanos. Yes, that A.G. Spanos.
Landowners in Morgan Hill have shown interest in attracting the A's, Raiders, or 49ers to their digs. Baseball would be practically impossible as the weekday commute there coupled with ballpark traffic would be crushing. For football it might be a little better, at least as long as all games were played on Sundays. Local pols appear to be realistic about the demands of pro sports teams and the city's limited resources.
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The notion of putting any big league team in Morgan Hill is simply crazy. It is hemmed in by mountains and only accessible via the 101, which frequently backs up as it is. It is poorly served by transit (limited CalTrain service only). There is no significant population east, west, or south of there.
Morgan Hill would be horribly inconvenient even for many of us who live in Santa Clara County, let alone the rest of the Bay Area. From where I live, even if you could assume no traffic (which you obviously cannot) it would take as long to get there as it currently takes to get to Oakland. With traffic, it could easily take several hours even from San Jose (think Gilroy Garlic Festival).
I'm as big a booster of adding big league teams to Santa Clara County as anyone (well, except Tony), but this idea is nuts. So nuts, it's hard to believe it was a serious proposal. Frankly, I doubt any big league owner would take the gamble even if Morgan Hill were offering a free stadium (which they certainly are not).
Oh, and I would point out, Morgan Hill is still in Giants territory, so it wouldn't even help the A's solve the T-rights issue.
What is "the 101"?
(you from SoCal or something?)
Perhaps my comment about high tech moving to Salinas was extreme, but the fact is that Morgan Hill can attract business the same way San Jose did 20-30 years ago. By offering cheap land south of the metropolitan area.
Yes, San Jose offers much more than free land, but if your main selling points are cheap land on a freeway, then one day you're going to be passed over for the "next big place"
Just ask any dead mall owner
Mike, you're almost a decade late with your comment. Cisco bought huge swaths of land in Fremont, Coyote Valley, and Dublin - and eventually did nothing with it. They realized they'd be best off staying home.
The informal rule has been with the Internet/dot-com era, more of the "fun software/web" companies were situated north along the Peninsula and SF. Hardware companies were chiefly south of San Mateo County border. Cheap land was helpful, but a factor as inside as making sure your company has access to a limited pool of firmware engineers is now just as important, if not moreso.
it is related to soccer not baseball
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