Better Sense San Jose

12/09/2017

After Fremont, San Jose Diridon, yet another community who doesn't fall for the A's rhetoric. Kodus to the Peralta district for keeping to their mission of education first and foremost !

The A’s dreams of building a dowtown ballpark in Oakland have been dealt a major blow by the Peralta Community College District’s board of trustees.

03/29/2017

"Coliseum authority actually loses money on game days when the Raiders are in town" -- nice one despite the rosy economic impact reports. Public subsidies to billionaire team owners ...
And Oakland will continue to pay $13 million a year even after the team left town ...
http://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Taxpayers-tab-for-Coliseum-redo-It-s-even-11034482.php

“It was a bad deal,” said Oakland City Council President Larry Reid, who was chief of staff for then-Mayor Elihu Harris in the 1990s when the city and county agreed to an expansion of the Coliseum to bring the Raiders back from Los Angeles. [...] the seat license sales never came close to hitting th...

03/28/2017

We commend Libby Schaaf for not giving in to demand for tax payer dollars ! Nice write up about NFL, "it's only business","“I’ve studied the economic impact, and it doesn’t warrant a public investment because it doesn’t pay off,” the mayor said of football.
Baseball, (...) public officials remain advised to count their fingers after shaking hands with an owner of any sports franchise." https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/27/sports/football/raiders-move-oakland-las-vegas.html

Las Vegas was willing to offer a $750 million public subsidy to gain the Raiders, even as school class sizes had to be increased for lack of funds.

10/24/2016

Nice article describing same arguments as being used by San Jose, "this puts Las Vegas on the map as a major league city", while at the same time again stating that the "benefits are overstated or bogus" due to the displacement effect .... http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/22/sports/football/las-vegas-raiders-nfl-stadium.html

Rarely has the economic rationale for a taxpayer-funded stadium been as flimsy as it is in Las Vegas’s case — and never has the subsidy been as high.

09/15/2016

our tax dollars are sponsoring the 49ers ... and the extra costs
impacts service throughout the system “The 49ers should be helping out,” Hendler Ross said. “We are running extra service because people want to take our trains to the game. It benefits the 49ers to have extra trains to this stadium.” http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2016/09/12/vtas-express-trains-serving-49ers-games-just-adds.html

Only 11 season passes for the VTA’s 49ers Express Trains — which are supposed to provide faster service and other perks for $149 — have sold as of today’s season-opener with the Los Angeles Rams.

03/21/2016

Even though this behavior is common from owners towards the public, it remains digusting: http://www.mercurynews.com/bay-area-news/ci_29657396/santa-clara-49ers-withheld-three-months-rent

03/08/2016

As expected, regular tourists avoided the area, fearing congestion etc.
"San Jose hotels actually welcomed fewer guests than the same week last year", while the taxpayer is on the hook anyway: "not enough to offset the $1.25 million in costs mostly for police services" -- this is what happens again and again, even though our elected officials just parrot the host commitee's empty phrases !!

San Jose hotel rooms actually hosted fewer visitors on Super Bowl week than they did during the same week in 2015. The poorer-than-expected occupancy rate appears likely to leave the city in the red when it comes to the big game.

02/15/2016

RIP Tom Aidala -- imagine downtown and other RDA projects without him ... City spent 2 Billion dollars on the unsuccesful attempt to revitalize downtown, kowtowing to any developer's whims, e.g. a road cutting through Plaza de Cesar Chavez to better serve the Fairmont , un-be-lie-va-ble ! http://www.mercurynews.com/obituaries/ci_29511189/tom-aidala-architect-downtown-sj-renaissance

Tom Aidala, 82, a Bronx native who had lived in San Francisco for much of his life, died Jan. 22 in Kelseyville, his home in Lake County.

02/13/2016

You just know that something is not quite right here when even the pro-stadium Mercury News smells a rat ... http://www.mercurynews.com/opinion/ci_29511107/mercury-news-editorial-jamie-matthews-post-super-bowl

Santa Clara City Council needs to plan an election for a new mayor and calm the waters on stadium and city manager issues.

02/13/2016

Is 20 the new 30? And then why take out a 30 year bond while the team skips town / demands a new stadium ?! Think cahs poor Oakland that will still spend general fund dollars for another decade to pay off Mount Davis while Mark Davis tried to leave for LA. Not to mention the saps in St Louis that even offered up a tax payer financed NEW stadium to keep the now leaving Rams ... http://www.governing.com/topics/finance/gov-rethinking-game-plan-stadium-bonds.html

Is a 30-year bond realistic when the economic lives of stadiums are proving to be much shorter?

02/10/2016

Sobering news about local businesses *not* profiting from the Super Bowl -- simple math: regulars stay away, worried about crowds, being replaced by out of towners, net economic impact: ZERO (or even negative...). Hopefully Mayor Liccardo takes this at heart, as he is already talking about when the next Super bowl will hit the region, and is dreaming about hosting Olympic Games ... http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2016/02/09/super-bowl-week-was-less-than-super-for-downtown.html http://www.mercurynews.com/sports/ci_29461057/super-bowl-50-organizers-city-leaders-tout-synergy

San Jose hosted one NFL-sanctioned event, the Feb. 1 Super Bowl Opening Night at the SAP Arena, but neither that nor the distinction of being the host city for the Carolina Panthers packed financial impact.

02/06/2016

Nobody should be forced to endure something like this monstrosity be put in his back yard ! Same would happen with Delmas Park residents if Diridon Stadium would come to pass .... http://www.mercurynews.com/sports/ci_29470656/santa-clara-levis-stadium-neighbor-will-hear-all

Mark Esteban, whose house is one of the closest residences to Levi’s Stadium, will clearly be able to hear the roar of the crowd after every score, Lady Gaga singing the national anthem and Coldplay’s halftime concert.