Missed this the other day, but the excellent Field of Schemes blog reports that Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums has suggested using federal stimulus funds to help build a ballpark for the A’s:
The City of Oakland would not spend any public money on constructing a new ballpark in Jack London Square for the Oakland A’s, but would assemble land and provide infrastructure and parking for the stadium, Mayor Ron Dellums said at a City Hall press conference this afternoon. Dellums and city staffers said the city would use redevelopment funds to acquire property, and not the city’s debt-ridden general fund, and hoped to obtain more federal stimulus money for infrastructure if the project goes forward.
I agree with FoS’s view of this: great, in that putting people to work is what stimulus funds are designed to do, but man, you’d hope that such funds would be used for something a little more public, as opposed to building a playground for Lew Wolff and his real estate developer friends.
Probably no need to worry, though. I can’t see Oakland happening for the A’s. It’s going to be San Jose or bust.