Trucking Groups Oppose Oakland Stadium Port Site Even as A's Mull Moving
[Stay on top of transportation news: Get TTNews in your inbox.]
Two California-based trucking associations continue to oppose plans for a major league baseball stadium to be built for the Oakland Athletics inside the Port of Oakland facility at the Howard Terminal.
Major League Baseball recently turned up the heat and authorized the team to begin discussions with other cities about possible relocation once its lease at its current stadium, RingCentral Coliseum, expires in 2024.
The trucking associations said they don’t object to the American League club building a new park — the Coliseum is MLB’s fifth oldest stadium — but are opposed to doing so at the port site.
Yadon
“When you’re talking about being in the heart of an active port there are concerns about productivity, efficiency, and safety that go with it,” California Trucking Association President Shawn Yadon told TT. “I think folks that are dependent on the port for their business have concerns about that.”
The Port of Oakland is the eighth-busiest cargo port in the nation. In April, 217,993 twenty-foot-equivalent containers were processed there, a 34.3% increase from the same month last year. And it is a critical part of the West Coast supply chain. It is especially important to the agriculture industry for farmers in California and the Midwest who transport millions of pounds of raw commodities and frozen meat to Asian nations.
The Howard Terminal has not been used for cargo operations in nearly a decade, because it’s considered too small to handle huge containerships. However it is being used for vessel berthing, truck and container parking and depot operations, training of longshore workers and other logistics services.
The privately-funded stadium is just one part of the Howard Terminal plan, called the Oakland Waterfront Ballpark District Project. The $12 billion redevelopment not only includes the ballpark, but also office, retail, hotel space, high-end and affordable apartments and an indoor performance venue. Also, a gondola is included to take baseball fans to a Bay Area Rapid Transit Station in the city’s waterfront entertainment district.
The A’s reportedly are meeting with officials from other cities about relocation. Among them are Portland, Ore., and Las Vegas, where the NFL’s Raiders relocated from Oakland last year.
But the Oakland City Council has written to MLB executives, indicating plans are moving forward for a stadium at Howard Terminal.
Several city council members, including the vice mayor and president, said the city is committed to negotiating in good faith for a strong future for the A’s in Oakland and would address assertions that the city is unwilling to negotiate for a new stadium at Howard Terminal. The council also said it will consider a non-binding agreement with the team to move the stadium issue forward at its meeting on July 20.
Schaaf
Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf supports the Howard Terminal plan, saying in a statement on the day MLB authorized the team to begin relocation discussions: “The only viable path to keeping the A’s rooted in Oakland is a ballpark on the waterfront,” she said.
Port officials insist they have not taken a position on the stadium question because until the council makes a decision, there is nothing to discuss.
“There’s no action before the Port Authority Board, so there is nothing to say,” said Port of Oakland spokeswoman Marilyn Sandifur. “Now the city has closed the comment period for the public and they’re reviewing the comments on the environmental review process.”
Trucking leaders said the better alternative is to build a new ballpark near the RingCentral Coliseum, on the site of the now-nearly unused Oracle Arena, former home of the NBA’s Golden State Warriors, who moved at the end of the 2019-20 season to its new Chase Center in downtown San Francisco.
“If you look at any major seaport or industrial site, once they create a tourist or housing attraction in these areas, it’s the beginning of the end of these industrial sites,” Harbor Trucking Association President Weston LaBar told TT. “The Port of Oakland is too important to sacrifice for a baseball stadium when they have a perfectly developed site where they are. The Port of Oakland is the lifeblood of the agriculture export industry in California.”
Sports stadium consultant Marc Ganis has worked on two dozen stadium plans and he told TT time is running out for Oakland to build a new stadium somewhere, because the 56-year-old RingCentral Coliseum is obsolete and the possibility of moving is now real.
“Oakland better step up because they’ve already lost two teams, the Raiders and Warriors,” Ganis said. “The A’s will reluctantly pack their bags if they can’t work out an agreement for the port site.”
Want more news? Listen to today's daily briefing below or go here for more info:
