Opponents of the A's proposed ballpark in downtown Oakland had been "lining up for months," and after the talks were halted last week, it appears they "weren't waffling," according to C.W. Nevius of the Santa Rosa PRESS DEMOCRAT, who wrote under the header, "A's Own Worst Enemy In Search For New Home." Peralta Community College District last week ended talks with the club over its proposed ballpark near Lake Merritt. Jennifer Shanoski, president of a union that represents teachers in the Peralta Community College District, which controls the land, was "expressing concerns in June." Nevius: "A legitimate, serious pitch to the Peralta Community College District and Laney College, which is ground zero for the ballpark, might have been a good start" (Santa Rosa PRESS DEMOCRAT, 12/10). An EAST BAY TIMES editorial stated it is time for the A's to "recognize they’re sitting on the best location right now" for a new ballpark in the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. A's President Dave Kaval "deserves great credit for trying to repair the team’s relationship with the city and its residents." Along the way, through his "words and advertising, he has insisted the team is fully committed to Oakland." The editorial: "We hope he means it because the community would like the A’s to stay." The "short-lived battle over the Peralta site was never about the team, it was about the proposed location." Kaval "wanted a ballpark close to downtown Oakland and sought a cool location, like that of the Giants, for an intimate experience." But it is "time to stop trying to imitate" the Giants and "lose the inferiority complex." Rather than "dis the location, the A’s should embrace it and seize the opportunity" (EAST BAY TIMES, 12/8).
CHANGE OF PLANS? In S.F., Ann Killion wrote A's Exec VP/Baseball Operations Billy Beane last season "made a big show of stating that the A’s were going to hang on to their young talent and pursue stability, so that they would have a good team ready when the new ballpark opens." No one with the A’s has "publicly backtracked on that idea, but whatever ballpark plan emerges will surely stretch well beyond the mythical opening date" of '23 that had been "thrown about." That could mean that any "talented young A’s" fans start to enjoy may be "traded in another round" of roster reshuffling (S.F. CHRONICLE, 12/10).
