We already have The Los Angeles Angels
of Anaheim, so what-say-you if we have
The Oakland A’S of Fremont ?

By Amaury Pi-González

Click below for more!Here in Fremont (where I have lived since 1979) two elected officials just made another
pitch to lure the Oakland Athletics
here to Southern Alameda County.

Fremont has aproximately 210,000 people which
makes us the 4th most populated city in the
Bay Area. Only San José (1 million),
San Francisco (750,000) and Oakland
(380,000) have a larger population than
Fremont.

When I first moved to Fremont this was called
a ‘bedroom community’ well, it is still that but
it has grown to be a “big bedroom community”,
we are talking here like the size of Yonkers,
New York !

The powers to be here at Fremont City Hall
have in mind the site near the future Warm Springs
BART station at the new Pacific Commons
development off Auto Mall Parkway.

Our Mayor Dan Wasserman said
this June 24: “We would be very interested
in becoming the home of the A’S if an
arrangement could be made” and “would
welcome the opportunity to meet with
you and introduce you to the city of Fremont”
That “you”he was talking about is the
Athletics new owner Lew Wolf.

Together with Mayor Wasserman is County
Supervisor Scott Haggerty who is also working
on the project. Lew Wolf (who was out of town)
did say that he was interested in meeting
with the Mayor and associates here in
Fremont.

It is obvious that the city of Oakland doesn’t
have anything planned for a new stadium even
though Igancio de la Fuente might be talking
about it, the situation in Oakland is not one that
would be ideal at this time.

There are some hurdles here in Fremont,
NUMMI (New United MotorsManufacturing
Incorporated) a venture between the Japanese
giant Toyota and USA General Motors,
largest auto maker in the world, would be
“neighboors” since the proposed site by
Fremont’s Mayor is a large plot of land just
north of the plant. The NUMMI plant here
in Fremont employs around 5,000 people,
traffic here would be a complete nightmare.
And that is the main reaction you find here
in Fremont to this proposal.

NUMMI (the largest private employer)here
in Southern Alameda County is opposed to
building a ballpark on a 107-acre site
that is owned by General Motors

BART who currently has its last station in
Fremont would extend in the next few years
to this proposed area and that would be
a great help. There would be stations
in Fremont at Irvington and then Warm Springs.

A few years ago I had a luncheon with
Ignacio de la Fuente, just accross from his
office at Oakland City Hall. I was Sports Anchor
for Telemundo and I did that interview with
him for our 6PM Newscast.
De la Fuente had a site in mind in downtown
Oakland at that time, however, that didn’t
worked so today he is talking about
by the Oakland Estuary on a 60 acre site
by the name of Oak to Ninth.
However, Oak to Ninth, just like Pacific
Commons has absolutely no public transportation
nearby.

Our Mayor here has a point when he said
“it appears the A’S are going sideways with
the city of Oakland”.

Last week also the new owner of the team
Lew Wolf said that the building of a new
ballpark for the A’S in the Coliseum parking
lot was not feasible because a shortage
of land, also utility issues and concerns
about infringing parking revenues from
the A’S “compadre” tennants the NBA
Golden State Warriors and the NFL
Oakland Raiders.

But the Warm Springs site here in Fremont
was ranked third among seven possible
sites that were analyzed in a study conducted
in 2002 for a new ballpark. As a matter of
fact this was only behind by the two previous
sites I have mentioned here. The Downtown
Oakland location and the Oakland Coliseum.

Does it seems that we are running out of sites ?
It looks that way to me. The study was made
by the Kansas City based HOK Sports, they
are the #1 Major League ballpark builders in
the country.

Fremont is getting “crowded”. There was a
huge fight at City Hall when WALMART
finally won and are building a big store
on Osgood paralel to Hwy 680. The company
next door, BAX Transportation threatened
by moving out of Fremont, citing that it
would created an even more difficult traffic
situation in this part of town. BAX has around
150 employees.

So as we can see “around and around it
goes, where does it stops nobody knows”

Can Fremont be the new home for the Oakland
Athletics ? I would say it is a long long shot.
But even a long shot still has hopes. When
somebody says NO in our world today in
many ways with time that changes to a
big resounding YES. People change with
time, things change with time. Politicos
come and go, they change, love affairs
change, everything in life can change,
except paying taxes and eventually dying.

I am an optimist most of the time, I rather
look at the glass half full than half empty
and if Fremont is the A’S only hope to
stay in the Bay Area ?
Others think that in about 6 years or so,
the A’S will be playing in San José.

I know the way to San José, but does
the A’S know the way to San José, that
is the question. Meanwhile, they should
know the way to Fremont, last I looked
we were still in Alameda County.

Fremont still great, we are 15 minutes
from San José’s Sillicon Valley, 25 minutes
from Oakland and 50 minutes from
San Francisco, you want location ?
we have it !

Hasta la vista amigos !