whitehouse: In this Weekly Address, the President discusses the government's response to the 2009 H1N1 flu virus, urging that there is no need to panic but explaining that the federal government and American people nonetheless should take the necessary precautions.
Saturday, May 02, 2009
73% of voters want a choice of a private or public health insurance plan.
Have you told your U.S. Representative and/or Senator? It's not about which party somebody identifies with, folks; this idea has incredibly broad support among ALL voters, and it's totally congruent with what the President is trying to achieve.
Broken down by party affiliation, it's:
77% of Democrats
79% of Independents
63% of Republicans
Write 3 letters before the Senate committee meeting on Tuesday to make sure your voice is heard in D.C. before it's all over but the earmarks. Write one to the Representative of your congressional district, and one to each of your Senators (except in Minnesota, of course, where there's only one Senator.) Make sure your elected represenatives realize that this has overwhelming support among voters - all voters.
Special interests are being heard - are you?
"While recent polling has shown consistent broad support for comprehensive health care reform, this poll specifically addressed whether people want a choice of a public health insurance plan. 73% of voters want a choice of a private or public health insurance plan, including Democrats (77%), Independents (79%), and Republicans (63%)"
The firm also tested the insurance industry's message about public health care and paired it with a message supporting it, and found the public to be far more receptive to the pro-public health care message:"62% of voters believe a public health insurance plan will spend less on
profits and administration and force private insurers to compete while only 28% of voters believe the attack that a public health insurance plan would be a "big, government bureaucracy." 60% believe that if private insurers are really more efficient than government, then they won't have any trouble competing with a public health insurance plan. Only 23% believe a public health insurance plan would have an unfair advantage over private plans."This polling was conducted for the pro-reform group Health Care for America Now.
But it goes beyond polls. There are hugely authoritative, respected voices pointing out that the system as it's been allowed to evolve is inefficient. It doesn't serve us well even though it does pay CEOs hefty bonuses and keep lobbyists busy. Tell your Senators and Representative what the Chief Economist of the World Bank says:
"...private healthcare insurers do not know how to deliver an efficient way..."
World Bank Chief Economist, Joseph Stiglitz
People who work hard for their money deserve to have a voice in how it's spent. The insurance industry and their lobbyists have been writing rules that boost their profits not protect Americans, and tax-payers are tired of bailing them out while worrying if we'll even have jobs. We need our leaders to take control and look out for our interests, not special interests.Put it in your words, and write those three emails in the next 24 hours, two or three paragraphs is all it takes, then get three more people to do the same.
Why are doctors for reform? Maybe it's because places such as Duke Medical center need more billing clerks than nurses.
Why are special interests fighting it, donating money to the campaigns of key U.S. Senators such as Baucus and Murray? Maybe it's because they know their extravagant bonuses will come to an end. They're in it for the money, after all.
You've got all the facts you need right here: Make sure D.C. knows that we know the facts, and we're tired of paying for them to ignore what's right for the rest of us.Why are doctors for reform? Maybe it's because places such as Duke Medical center need more billing clerks than nurses.
Why are special interests fighting it, donating money to the campaigns of key U.S. Senators such as Baucus and Murray? Maybe it's because they know their extravagant bonuses will come to an end. They're in it for the money, after all.
President Obama Goes "Three-For-Three" In UConn Shootout
In a video that's just plain fun to watch President Barack Obama hosts the National Champion University of Connecticut Women's Basketball Team at The White House and in an impromptu game of P-I-G, hits three straight shots from about 17 feet out.
What's so cool about President Obama is he's one of us,not the staid person that we've come to expect our leaders to be. He's a much needed breath of fresh air.
What's so cool about President Obama is he's one of us,not the staid person that we've come to expect our leaders to be. He's a much needed breath of fresh air.
New TV Show by Zennie62's On BART and Oscar Grant
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On Saturday, May 2nd, my new television show starts. It's called "The Blog Report With Zennie62" and features the use of my video blogs in a weekly 30-minute format broadcast and co-produced by CoLoursTV in Denver and on Channel 9407 nationwide on the DISH Network, but it's on Comcast in Florida, and Fox and Insight cable systems. The start time is 3:30 PM Pacific Time, 6:30 PM Eastern Time and the show is replayed at 11:30 PM and 2:30 PM respecfully.
If you don't have a TV you can see the live stream at CoLoursTV.org. or Zennie62.com
This first show focused on selected events that occured after the shooting of Oscar Grant by BART Officer Johannes Mesherle on New Year's Day. It opens with my walk through a riot-ravaged downtown Oakland where I talked with many people about what happened, including a group of kids who were some of the rioters and that was eye-opening. Then we focus on the words of "DaveyD", America's foremost hiphop reporter and voice of the street, who shares his observations of how Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums handled the situation. And finally we hear from Mayor Dellums himself. This is not the last time I will visit this issue, but it's a good place to start the show.
The standard format is to present politics, news, sports, and tech in some combination for each show. Sometimes it's me talking about an issue; other times it's me talking to someone else, and with this show we will feature the work of other video-bloggers. It's a vloggers' playground.
The show will have a deliberate vlogger feel. Videos that you see on my channels at YouTube, Blip.tv, and other places make up the show. There's no studio; the camcorder is the star instrument. That means we can go anywhere at anytime and quickly make a video. It also means I can share what's happening in the news on the blogsphere in video form and show it on "The Blog Report". A lot of ground we can cover considering I never dreamed of having my own television show, but this whole road I've taken has been totally unplanned by me.
"The Blog Report" all started last year when I met Art Thomas who's the Executive Vice President with CoLoursTV at a media walk-through for the Democratic National Convention in Denver. He lived in Oakland before moving to Denver and so we had a lot to talk about. I was looking for a sponsor for our show at the time, so I sent a proposal to Thomas. That exchange turned into an idea for placing our videos on CoLoursTV and that became the concept called "The Blog Report With Zennie62".
Our first concern was how to get the videos up on television without a loss of at least the quality that is seen on Blip.tv and Viddler, which have the sharpest video uploads (that written, I love YouTube and the quality's really improved over time such that it's competitive with the two, but YouTube's best system is the website design and its "viral" nature as well as The YouTube Partner program.) I think we solved that problem and I understand the TV version looks even better than what you're going to see here.
I look forward to your feedback and questions. We're seeking sponsors and there are some organizations we simply want to establish strategic partnerships with, so please contact me. The possibilities for this are many and should serve as an example for a possble future for newspapers as well.
If you're a video-blogger located anywhere in the World and have material that's not longer than 4 minutes tops, notify me via email at zennie@sportsbusinesssims.com and we'll go from there. I prefer the video is already uploaded on some site, Brightcove, Blip.tv, YouTube, etc, so I can see it.
I wish to thank Art Thomas, Damon Purdy, and Tracy Winchester of CoLours TV, as well as Steve and Bernard and Michaa who made me look good in the promo. I also wish to thank Google / YouTube for their support and encouragement and specifically Chad, Emily, and Hunter. A big loud shot-out to the iReport team at CNN: Lila, Henry, Rachel, David, Nicole Saldi, and the rest. And thanks to the team at CNN Special Projects, Errol and Jessica, and to Roland Martin and his staff at CNN for discovering me.
Finally, thanks to the San Francisco Chronicle for seeing the value in how I do what I'm doing and providing a platform. To the National Football League and Commissioner Roger Goodell, Greg Aiello, and Frank Supovitz ("Mr. Super Bowl"). And thanks to my good friends Beth Schnitzer, Randy Gordon, Bill Boyd, Lars Frykman, Dana Santa Cruz, Phil Tagami, Ted Tagami, Chris De Benedetti, Molly Fuller, and at WISE and others (And you know who you are!) and to Bill Chackhes who's my New York connection and taught me all the Yiddish I know! To Michael Bean and Will Glass-Hussain at Forio Business Simulations for just being there and getting after me when I needed to be gotten after! To my political friends, Dawn, Ashley, and Tom and everyone that's not mentioned but in my heart!
Thanks to my co-founders at SBS: Dan, Mark, Lloyd, and Kristin! Thanks to the Oakland Mayor's Office, and to the Oakland Police Department. And thanks to Sierra Choi for being a good friend to crazy me. And of course, thanks to my Mom and my relatives in Oakland, Chicago and Tennessee.
With that, enjoy the show.
Oh and if you're wondering how we made the promo, here's that video:
Friday, May 01, 2009
Michael Vick To Be Spokesperson For PETA
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Yep, you read this right. According to AdAge.com Atlanta Falcons former quarterback Michael Vick is reportedly "in talks" to be a spokesperson for PETA. He's ready to do a series of ads for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals when he's released from jail later in May. Vick wants to clean-up his image as a dog-killer and reenter society with the problems stemming from his dog fighting business a thing of the past.
You know, as silly as it reads and sounds, Vick may just be able to do it. It depends on the commercial and how it's done. If it comes off as Vick just proclaiming his love for dogs, I'm not so sure. (See my video) But if it's done as more of a documentary style, then yes. That would work.
Everyone deserves a second chance, and that's certainly true for Vick. But let's be honest, too. Michael Vick is very concerned he will not be able to achieve the lifestyle he once enjoyed again. He wants the bling. He also wants to play football and knows that's the only way he's going to have even a snowballs' chance in the hell he's created for himself to do that.
I root for Vick because I met him at a 1999 EA Sports Super Bowl party in Atlanta and when Vick was still in college but a star, and I was really shocked at how much a fish-out-of-water he seemed to be. I really believe he surrounded himself with the wrong kind of people at a very young age and didn't know any better.
Now he does, but what a price he's paid over the last two years.
Gay Marriage Issue Will Revive The GOP
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Gay Marriage: the act of a man marrying a man or a woman marrying a woman will be the issue that revives the Republican Party.
Consider that for the first time, more Americans - including myself - support Gay Marriage than oppose it 49 percent to 46 percent according to the latest Washington Post / ABC Poll. But that near 50-50 split is common in many polls and shows that as the idea becomes more mainstream there's a healthy opposition to it.
We saw this recently in the comments by Miss California Carrie Prejean who said she believes marriage should be between a man and a woman and who parlayed her new fame into a gig working as a spokesperson for the National Organization for Marriage, while angering famous blogger Perez Hilton, who fired off a nasty retort using the "B-word."
That's the shape of things to come, but let's see where we really are because the media can make it seem as if Gay Marriage is already the norm, but it's not. As of November 2008, 29 states passed constitutional amendments barring the recognition of same sex marriage, so the majority of states still don't back it, even as Maine and New Hampshire seem set to approve it.
See, rather than becoming less of a wedge issue, it's more so.
As more people speak in favor of it, we have more who speak against it, and that's the political dynamic that could hurt us democrats.
We could have an election contest pitting two Black candidates, one Democrat and pro Gay Marriage, the other Republican and not, but basically having the same positions as his more liberal challenger. The way society is moving the GOP candidate could win. Recognition of this is already starting to split the Democratic Party, but the overriding economic problems are the glue that binds us for now. But for how long?
The real issue is the civil right of a person to marry who they want, not sexual orientation.
Look, about half the women I've dated said they were lesbian and still slept with me. Some of them are now married to men and have kids!
On top of that, we have websites like Ashley Madison.com that encourage married couples to cheat on each other!
It all spells one big anarchnistic, me-ism mess. My prediction is that over the next 25 years this hyper-fluidity in relationships will give way to a desire for something predictable.
But the road to that place will be rocky, with political groups, lawsuits charging sexual abandonment, and a newly revived GOP.
Buckle up!
President Obama, Pick Kathleen Sullivan For Supreme Court Judge
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Supreme Court Judge David Souter plans to retire at 69 years of age, according to Nina Totenberg of National Public Radio and which she announced today. President Barack Obama has a great opportunity to begin to remake the Supreme Court by installing a real legal scholar who's work and life has impacted many people. That person is Professor Kathleen Sullivan.
Professor Sullivan, like President Obama, is a constitutional law scholar which means she focuses on the interpretation and implementation of the U.S. Constitution. The importance of that can't be understated as we see a flurry of new laws to control speech and behavior (think laws curbing the use of "cuss" words for example) and their conflict with civil liberties. And as the Supreme Court is the place for the consideration fo the U.S. Constitution, it's logical to have a constitutional law professor on the bench.
But who is Kathleen Sullivan?
Professor Sullivan is 53 years old and was born August 20, 1555 in Michigan. She went to Cornell, then to Oxford, where she was a Marshal Scholar, and finally earned her J.D. at Harvard Law School in 1981. It was there, the legendary Professor Lawrence Tribe called her the most extraordinary student he ever had. She's a co-author of the casebook "Constitutional Law" as well as several other books including "The New Federalist Papers."
The person named one of the 100 most influential women in business was Dean of The Stanford Law School from 1999 to 2004 where she recruited such legal luminaries as cyberlaw expert Larry Lessig, raised over $63 million, and established a clinical law practice in East Palo Alto to give students more real world experience. After her time as Dean, she established a new center of constitutional law.
As a private practice lawyer, Ms. Sullivan has a diverse client list, from Republican Senator Mitch McConnell to the City of Honolulu, ABC Television, Hearst Publications and the San Francisco Chronicle in the BALCO case, and Siebel Systems, to name some of them.
She is perhaps the best intellectually qualified person to replace Justice Souter. Her work, particularly in the New Federalist Papers, reveals a mind able to grasp and explain the interplay between technology, social change, and The Constitution. Kathleen Sullivan is the perfect choice and the fact that she's lesbian should not be an issue for anyone.
.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Page Mill Properties, Zennie Abraham, and Middle Ground
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I just received a call from Paul Hogarth who's a tenant activist, lawyer and a singer. He seemed interested in why I would write anything even half-way supportive of Page Mill Properties, which has been embroiled in controversy surrounding tenants and the rent control system in East Palo Alto. To recap, Page Mill Properties now owns over 1,700 units that they took over (not built) and rehabilitated. I got a tip that was a hot story and so went down to get information via video. What I found was that Page Mill would talk to me but the tenant activist at the center of the story, Chris Lund, would not.
That did not stop Lund from calling me every day sometimes four times a day asking about my association with Page Mill. Each time he never wanted to go and talk with me on the record. Then via a weird set of associations, Julian Davis who I helped on the Prop H Campaign told Andy Blue that I was a paid blogger and so must be in this case -- not true. Again, at the time, no one from the tenants side would talk to me, and Page Mill did on video.
I've called Tenants Together and hope that they will sit down with me; I'm told by Page Mill Properties Tenants Together has never sat down with them to help resolve anything at all. But as for Paul, I think he's less interested in telling the story which includes the East Palo Alto Redevelopment Agency and more interested in shutting me up.
As for me, and perhaps this will help, I'm pro-developer and pro-Redevelopment Agency but not anti-tenant. I believe governments should do the work of making it affordable to develop and maintain affordable rents. My good friend Kofi Bonner runs Lennar Development here in San Francisco and while the project is not perfect and the Redevelopment Agency needs to merge all of their project areas (more on that latter) I know what the issues are and how to solve them. I am an expert on how redevelopment agencies work and what they do. I know how to make and read housing development balance sheets. And I have a right to my point of view without harassment.
Paul Hogarth can try to shoot this messenger, but I'm going to keep talking and pointing a finger at the East Palo Alto Redevelopment Agency.
What bothers me most is every week I get an email from someone using the "N" word and that I can't identify. Hogarth asked me "Why are you with SFGate?" as if I should not be here and while I don't think it's him or anyone associated with him, given their behavior how do I know?
What's going on, I do not know.
It's not a good thing to have to delete these emails let alone get them; how do I know where they come from, especially if I get weird treatment from activists? As to how I make money, I'm a YouTube Partner. More about that later.
Susan Boyle v. Hollie Steel? Boyle Should Quit BGT Now!
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The Worldwide sensation Susan Boyle, who was discovered to rave reviews on the show Britains' Got Talent is now faced with her second "big challenger" in as many weeks on the show, 10-year-old Hollie Steel and a process that threatens to dampen Boyle's chance for real success. The small girl from Britain wowed the crowd last Saturday on yet another show.
Steel makes the second talent to emerge as a possible challenge to Boyle for the winner of the competition in as many weeks, as we were introduced to 12-year-old Shaheen Jafargholi just the weekend before, and calls into question the ability of Boyle to maintain the high level frenzy that catapulted her to stardome. What I fear is that as BGT rolls out new challengers, Boyle's ability to capture a high dollar record deal will be impacted. The only solution for Boyle is to drop out of Britains' Got Talent, and sign a record deal before the end of May.
Why the end of May? It's simple.
Because to date this entire affair has been engineered by the producers of BGT, who taped the show in January and are engineering the release of auditions and information on all of the talent that appeared, including Susan Boyle. With each passing week that a new talent is trotted out, two things happen: 1) the appetite people have to see her online lessens, and 2) the new talent draws the attention of the people who were hungry for more of Susan's voice, but weren't getting it.
By quiting BGT, Boyle takes the PR control away from that show's producers and puts it into her lap. She can take advantage of this by recording one or who "teaser" songs and putting them on YouTube and other video distribution channels, and working on a record deal that will fetch more money now that one two months from now.
I think Ms. Boyle's brother is right on. Susan Boyle, while you're out on that date with BGT Judge Piers Morgan, talk to him about getting you out of BGT (after all, he just said you would not win it) and into a record deal so we can hear more of you before it's too late and the system eats what it created.
Ah, that's you.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
NFL DRAFT Sets record for Viewership and Internet page views
Record 39 Million Fans Tune Into 2009 NFL Draft On NFL Network, ESPN & ESPN2
04/28/2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
4/28/09
RECORD 39 MILLION FANS TUNE INTO 2009 NFL DRAFT
ON NFL NETWORK, ESPN & ESPN2
First-Round Coverage Outdraws All Weekend
Basketball, Hockey & Baseball Games
Fans Spend More Time on NFL.com
A record 39 million viewers tuned in to watch the 2009 NFL Draft on NFL Network, ESPN and ESPN2, according to Nielsen Media Research. The total audience for the 2009 NFL Draft is an increase of nearly 2.5 million viewers from 2008 and tops the record of 38 million viewers set in 2007. Total NFL Draft viewership has increased 66 percent from 2001 to 2009 (from 23.5 million to 39 million).
First-round coverage of the Draft drew a combined average viewership of 6.3 million viewers on ESPN and NFL Network – exceeding the average viewership of the ESPN Sunday Night Baseball (Yankees-Red Sox; 4.6 million viewers), FOX’s Saturday Baseball (Yankees-Red Sox and Cubs-Cardinals; 4.1 million) and all other weekend NBA and NHL playoff action (topped by NBA Playoffs First-Round Game 4 on ABC, Cavaliers-Pistons; 5.4 million viewers).
Fans visiting NFL.com on Draft weekend spent a record average of 45 minutes on the site – up 153 percent from a year ago. Visitors to NFL.com over the weekend increased 28 percent over 2008 while video streams accessed were up 65 percent. In addition, fans viewed three times more NFL.com Draft content on their wireless devices than a year ago.
More than 48,000 fans followed the NFL Draft via the NFL's Twitter pages. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell's Draft tweets were read by 3,690 followers. NFL Network's Rich Eisen drew 4,383 followers and posted 309 updates throughout the network's two-day draft coverage. NFL Network analyst Jamie Dukes had more than 1,500 followers.
04/28/2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
4/28/09
RECORD 39 MILLION FANS TUNE INTO 2009 NFL DRAFT
ON NFL NETWORK, ESPN & ESPN2
First-Round Coverage Outdraws All Weekend
Basketball, Hockey & Baseball Games
Fans Spend More Time on NFL.com
A record 39 million viewers tuned in to watch the 2009 NFL Draft on NFL Network, ESPN and ESPN2, according to Nielsen Media Research. The total audience for the 2009 NFL Draft is an increase of nearly 2.5 million viewers from 2008 and tops the record of 38 million viewers set in 2007. Total NFL Draft viewership has increased 66 percent from 2001 to 2009 (from 23.5 million to 39 million).
First-round coverage of the Draft drew a combined average viewership of 6.3 million viewers on ESPN and NFL Network – exceeding the average viewership of the ESPN Sunday Night Baseball (Yankees-Red Sox; 4.6 million viewers), FOX’s Saturday Baseball (Yankees-Red Sox and Cubs-Cardinals; 4.1 million) and all other weekend NBA and NHL playoff action (topped by NBA Playoffs First-Round Game 4 on ABC, Cavaliers-Pistons; 5.4 million viewers).
Fans visiting NFL.com on Draft weekend spent a record average of 45 minutes on the site – up 153 percent from a year ago. Visitors to NFL.com over the weekend increased 28 percent over 2008 while video streams accessed were up 65 percent. In addition, fans viewed three times more NFL.com Draft content on their wireless devices than a year ago.
More than 48,000 fans followed the NFL Draft via the NFL's Twitter pages. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell's Draft tweets were read by 3,690 followers. NFL Network's Rich Eisen drew 4,383 followers and posted 309 updates throughout the network's two-day draft coverage. NFL Network analyst Jamie Dukes had more than 1,500 followers.
Oakland A's Owner Wolff's Anti-Oakland Words Called "Sob Story" By Oakland City Attorney
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In a strongly worded letter I just received as of this writing from the office of Oakland City Attorney John Russo (and is reproduced in full at the end of this post), Oakland's lawyer penned what is without a doubt the strongest attack on the Oakland Athletics attempts to leave Oakland by and Oakland City Official. Russo writes:
Oakland A’s managing partner Lew Wolff is a talented and smart businessman.
But if Wolff thinks anybody is buying his sob story about why the A’s have to leave Oakland, he’s seriously underestimating the intelligence of the team’s fan base, the press and the people of this city.
Oakland City Attorney John Russo with me in 2008 in his office.
What started this has been a process of dissing and trying to excavate the team from Oakland almost since it was sold to Ken Schott and Steve Hoffman after the beloved Haas Family sold the organization in 1994; Schott and Hoffman then sold the team to the ownership group headed by Wolff. In fact, the Haas family put the team up for sale under the condition that it remain in Oakland; a desire basically ignored by the last two ownership groups, at least by their actions.
Schott and Hoffman entertained the idea of moving the A's to Sacramento as far back as 1996, (and I know this personally because when I was Economic Advisor to Mayor Elihu Harris I met John McCasey, who was then and still is now the Executive Director of the Sacramento Sports Commission at a Cal Football game, and who sold me openly they were trying to lure the organization out of Oakland and the owners were receptive; news I quickly communicated to Mayor Harris.) Mr. Wolff and his operatives have - according to a source via email - talked with San Jose officials about moving the A's there as far back as just after they gained control of the Oakland A's in 2005.
That means the "moves" Wolff was making to keep the A's in Oakland were for all practical purposes not "real" and considering the impossible timetable Wolff gave the City of Oakland to come up with a development plan, then the politically unrealistic one that Wolff wanted which called for the relocation of 80 businesses, it seems Oakland was being "played" all the time.
That, and other actions including my intelligence that the current meetings with the Major League Baseball Committee regarding assessing Oakland's ability to be a host for a baseball team aren't going well, and you have Russo's tirade of a letter. He also writes:
Here is the truth: A’s owners and Major League Baseball have been plotting to abandon Oakland for at least 10 years. They have never been partners in the city’s efforts to build a new stadium and keep the franchise in Oakland.
Collusion between A’s owners and the league has been evident since 1999, after a settlement gave Oakland and Alameda County the right to force a sale of the team to different owners. A team of buyers committed to keeping the club in Oakland stepped up and a price was set. But, for the first time in anyone’s memory, Major League Baseball denied the transfer of a franchise to a qualified ownership group.
City leaders – former Mayor Jerry Brown and former City Manager Robert Bobb – even tried to attend a baseball owners meeting to present the plan to transfer ownership. But they were treated as presumptuous interlopers and denied the opportunity to pitch the plan. The Lords of Baseball made it clear that they do not see American cities as partners, but rather as ATMs that exist to provide them with ever greater amounts of taxpayer dollars.
I exchanged text messages with Russo to determine if this meant the City of Oakland was preparing legal action against the A's and Major League Baseball. He wrote: "I was thinking about other interested parties who might feel that an A's move to San Jose would violate that interested parties contractual rights."
He means the San Francisco Giants.
The Major League Agreement, which governs the actions of Major League Baseball and its member organizations, spells out exactly what counties in the San Francisco Bay Area belong to the Giants:
The Giants' territory includes San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Cruz, Monterey and Marin Counties, plus Santa Clara County with respect to another major league team.
Again, read that. Santa Clara County includes San Jose. Thus, San Jose is the San Francisco Giants' official territory, a fact that seems lost on some media types down there.
And with respect to the A's..
The Athletics' territory includes Alameda and Contra Costa Counties;
Now many observers will say that all the Athletics brass needs is for 75 percent of the owners of Major League Baseball to approve the move, but a little known rule "52" blocks that action allowing the Giants to block the move of "any major league or minor league team from playing within 15 miles of its territory without permission."
The Giants could argue the A's are already within their territorial limits established by Rule 52 and any closer move into it would be economically harmful. But what's more important and interesting to me is the possible joint legal assault this seems to signal, one pitting the Giants and the City of Oakland against the Oakland A's and Major League Baseball. With such heavy-hitters as Senator's Boxer and Feinstein on the side of the City of Oakland and the San Francisco Giants, and the City and County of San Francisco, I would not bet against them.
Here's Russo's full letter:
Keeping the A's in Oakland
By City Attorney John Russo
Oakland A’s managing partner Lew Wolff is a talented and smart businessman.
But if Wolff thinks anybody is buying his sob story about why the A’s have to leave Oakland, he’s seriously underestimating the intelligence of the team’s fan base, the press and the people of this city.
Wolff has been telling reporters and anyone who will listen that the A’s have done everything possible to build a new ballpark and stay in Oakland. As Wolff put it in a recent press release, the team has “exhausted (its) time and resources over the years” with the city.
Claiming the A’s have made an exhaustive effort to stay in Oakland is like George W. Bush saying he did everything he could to stay out of Iraq – it’s not a “reality-based” statement.
Here is the truth: A’s owners and Major League Baseball have been plotting to abandon Oakland for at least 10 years. They have never been partners in the city’s efforts to build a new stadium and keep the franchise in Oakland.
Collusion between A’s owners and the league has been evident since 1999, after a settlement gave Oakland and Alameda County the right to force a sale of the team to different owners. A team of buyers committed to keeping the club in Oakland stepped up and a price was set. But, for the first time in anyone’s memory, Major League Baseball denied the transfer of a franchise to a qualified ownership group.
City leaders – former Mayor Jerry Brown and former City Manager Robert Bobb – even tried to attend a baseball owners meeting to present the plan to transfer ownership. But they were treated as presumptuous interlopers and denied the opportunity to pitch the plan. The Lords of Baseball made it clear that they do not see American cities as partners, but rather as ATMs that exist to provide them with ever greater amounts of taxpayer dollars.
A few years later, when Oakland hired HOK, the nation’s most respected stadium architects, to look at possible sites for a new ballpark, the A’s refused to provide any support for the firm’s search. The city brought together a commission of business and community leaders to work on options for a new stadium, and spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on staff time and consultants. However, the team demonstrated no interest in the process or in the architect’s favored site – a spot in downtown Oakland, next to two BART stations, with enough land for the city and the team to build a dream ballpark. Instead of a new ballpark at the site, we now have condos.
It’s telling that Wolff’s only proposal to stay in Oakland depended on the city using eminent domain to take the property of about 100 blue-collar businesses in East Oakland. The proposal came in August 2005, just two months after a Supreme Court ruling – Kelo v. City of New London – that decidedly turned the public against the use of eminent domain for private development. Wolff is too smart to not know that his proposal was totally unrealistic.
Mayor Ron Dellums and other Oakland leaders have made it clear that the city is prepared to continue working on feasible options for a new ballpark.
Moving the A’s to San Jose – which is contractually Giants territory – would require a special deal with Wolff’s old fraternity brother, Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig. Such a deal would be a blatant example of collusion in baseball and would likely be tied up in court for years.
The idea that the A’s have made a real, exhaustive effort to stay is disingenuous at best. With some imagination and a real partnership among the city, the business community and the ball club, the A’s could build a new ballpark and remain the team of the people of the East Bay.
It shouldn’t take an act of congress to compel the Lords of Baseball to give Oakland a fair shot.
Oakland A's On SFGate.com
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