Dear Dan, I Strongly Oppose the Proposal to Build a New A's Stadium
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From: Ellen Robinson To: Kalb, Dan Subject: A’s stadium Date: Wednesday, September 13, 2017 10:54:04 AM Dear Dan, I strongly oppose the proposal to build a new A’s Stadium at the Laney Peralta site. I’m glad the A’s are committed to staying in Oakland after almost 50 years, and I want home runs for our team, but announcing Peralta as the preferred site on September 13, without conducting any impact studies or meaningfully engaging directly impacted stakeholders, is a strikeout and a loss for the home team. Placing a stadium in the middle of two vulnerable cultural districts already facing major displacement of small businesses and affordable housing for families, Eastlake and Chinatown, will wreak further havoc on these Southeast Asian, Chinese, immigrant, and low-income neighborhoods and is the least equitable option of the three sites considered, so I am dismayed that the A’s are completely disregarding serious and widespread concerns from neighborhood stakeholders who have built up these cultural districts over the last century. To put it simply, this stadium could quickly wipe out one of the most diverse neighborhoods in Oakland and the heart of our Asian immigrant community. Placing a ballpark next to Laney College would also seriously disrupt the learning environment at the college, the most affordable and accessible higher education resource available to our low-income students, and nearby public schools. A stadium at this small site would create severe noise disturbance both at the time of construction and during games and events, traffic congestion, senior and youth pedestrian accidents, air pollution, light pollution, trash blight, and a significant impact on strained college facilities with crowds streaming through a campus serving sensitive populations such as re-entry, newcomer, and high school students. I also believe that Peralta would be in violation of the California Surplus Land Act, which states that any public agency must prioritize the sale or lease of land for affordable housing first. Respectfully, Ellen Robinson Oakland CA 94611 From: Measure DD Community Coalition To: [email protected] Cc: DL - City Council; Schaaf, Libby; Landreth, Sabrina; [email protected]; [email protected] Subject: Letter from Oakland Measure DD Community Coalition re: proposed stadium site Date: Sunday, October 1, 2017 1:43:00 PM Attachments: A"s_stadium_letter.pdf Ms. Martinez: The attached letter from the Oakland Measure DD Community Coalition includes Coalition input regarding the proposed A's stadium site. Please convey the letter to members of the Peralta CCD Governing Board. Thank you. William Threlfall Administrator for Oakland Measure DD Community Coalition Oakland Measure DD Community Coalition October 2, 2017 Oakland Athletics Peralta Community College District Attn: Dave Kaval, President Attn: Board of Trustees 7000 Coliseum Way 333 East 8th Street Oakland CA 94621 Oakland CA 94606 The Measure DD Community Coalition, an alliance of Oakland residents and organizations with broad community wide interests, is sanctioned by the Oakland City Council to monitor the projects and expenditures of the $198 million 2002 Bond Election. Of 56 Measure DD projects, approximately 45 have been successfully completed. Moreover, the Coalition has coordinated with City staff on projects in the vicinity of Peralta's Administrative Offices, specifically the new Lake Merritt Blvd, Amphitheater Park, new bridges at E10 St and E12th St, restored marsh areas, and continuing water quality improvements of the Lake Merritt Channel and its accompanying sculpture-park walkways along each side of the Channel from the Lake to the Estuary. At the Coalition's meeting on Monday, September 18, a report was received of the Oakland A's September 12 announcement of the team's desire to construct a new baseball stadium at the site of the Peralta College District Administrative Offices. In response, this communication was directed. The Measure DD Coalition is delighted that the A's have chosen to remain in Oakland. The team is a welcomed entertainment, economic, and social asset to the city, and the Coalition wishes the team success in Oakland for many years into the future. As the Channel itself and 100 ft. at both sides of the adjacent parkway that borders the Peralta parcel are “protected” property of the City of Oakland and are also projects of Measure DD Bond improvements, the Coalition has serious concerns for the negative impacts of a 35,000 seat mega- stadium project adjacent to the Channel. Among these concerns are: • increased pedestrian traffic through the sculpture-park's walkways along the length of the Channel from the Lake to the Bay will produce maintenance and expense burdens on park facilities and under-staffed crews. • trampled landscapes, crowd management, and overburdened hardscape accompanying victory celebrations -- as example, each of the Warrior's 2015 & 2017 victory celebrations centered at the Lake Merritt area cost the city approximately $1.5 million -- the unbudgeted costs of which are only now being partially compensated. • as the nation's oldest nationally-designated bird and waterfowl refuge, Lake Merritt is host to tens of thousands of some 200 protected species of birds and waterfowl. A mega- stadium will be a direct intrusion on the migratory flyway. Oakland Measure DD Community Coalition: www.waterfrontaction.org/dd • amplified music, fireworks, and noise of the stadium's crowds and PA systems can frighten migrating birds causing disruption of habitats, abandoned nests, and shortened lives of fowlings. • increased vehicular traffic along the few streets in the vicinity of the Lake Merritt Channel will deposit harmful pollutants and toxins in the recently restored Channel, posing health risks to both wildlife and humans. • trash emanating from stadium fans, blowing winds, pedestrians and vehicles along the roadways and bridges is unsightly and is dangerous to fish and wildlife, and will pollute the Channel and its parkways. Moreover, discarded food scraps will attract rodents and scavengers that spread disease and prey on birds, their nests, and wildlife that live along the Channel. • the bright lights of the ballpark, scoreboard, parking areas, and associated buildings can disrupt the flyways of migrating birds, disturb bird and animal sleep patterns, and disorient birds that migrate or fly at night. • increased air, water, noise, and environmental pollution will compound the existing negative impacts of freeway truck and commuter traffic; freight, rail, and train movement; and vehicular surface traffic. • intense commercial and high-density residential development of adjacent neighborhoods invariably accompanies a ballpark installation, which will transform and degrade what is currently a human-scale, wildlife-friendly, contemplative and relaxing green area of the city into a hyper-active thoroughfare. The Measure DD Coalition mutually shares with the Audubon Society concerns for the potential negative effects on Lake Merritt, its water quality, wildlife, the Bay Trail, and the Channel connecting to the Bay. The toxic impacts to air and water and by the noise and lighting of the proposed stadium on the lives and qualitative habitation of humans and wildlife all serve to undermine the enormous investment for which residents, elected officials, city staff, and contractors have worked so long and hard, and for which the residents of the city will be paying for years into the future. In the event that the proposed stadium project should proceed at the Peralta site, the Coalition requests that comprehensive physical, social, and environmental analyses be undertaken early in the process, and that the Coalition be informed and provided with findings and proposed mitigations that impinge on the above listed concerns. Sincerely, The Measure DD Community Coalition CC: Oakland City Council < [email protected] > Mayor Libby Schaaf < [email protected] > City Administrator Sabrina Landreth < [email protected] > Alameda County Board of Supervisors < [email protected] > County Administrator Susan Muranishi < [email protected] > From: Dellums Institute for Social Justice To: Kalb, Dan Subject: Dellums Institute Stands with the Community! Date: Thursday, September 21, 2017 11:29:43 AM The Dellums Institute Stands with Community Coalition! We believe in standing up for community engagement. September 18, 2017 Dave Kaval President, Oakland A’s Mayor Libby Schaaf Council President Larry Reid Councilmember Abel Guillen City of Oakland Chancellor Jowel Laguerre Peralta Community College District Dear Oakland Leaders; We were heartened to hear the recent news that the Oakland A’s have re-confirmed their commitment to remain in Oakland. While in office at the City of Oakland, we did everything possible to keep the A’s in Oakland. We met frequently with Lew Wolff. We then convinced Major League Baseball of the importance of keeping the A’s in Oakland and the viability of our proposals for the construction of a new ballpark. Had the Governor not killed Redevelopment in 2011, it is highly likely that the A’s would already be playing in their new ballpark. We fought to keep the A’s in the past. We continue our commitment to the A’s. At the same time, we believe there are legitimate community concerns about potential negative impacts of a new Oakland A’s ballpark located on the Peralta Community College site, not far from the Chinatown and Eastlake neighborhoods. We strongly recommend