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City Seeks to Work With A’s, Major League Baseball To Keep Team in Oakland

City Council leaders said it’s incorrect “that the City Council is delaying or refusing to consider the A’s project proposal,” at Howard Terminal.

Published

5 years ago

May 18, 2021

Mia Lane

Leaders of the Oakland City Council told the head of Major League Baseball in a May 14 letter that they are willing to work with the A’s baseball team to keep it from moving out of the city.

Oakland recently lost both its National Football League franchise the Oakland Raider’s to Las Vegas and the Golden State Warriors to San Francisco.

The letter comes just days after MLB told the Oakland A’s to look for another city to play while pursuing a waterfront park in Oakland.

“The Oakland City Council is committed to negotiating in good faith for a strong future for the A’s in Oakland, and we invite the A’s and MLB to do the same by agreeing not to seek relocation while the A’s complete the (stadium at the Charles P. Howard Terminal) project process,” the letter begins.

But officials in Las Vegas revealed on May 12 on Twitter through Mayor Carolyn Goodman that they have been talking with the A’s since 2019 and they are excited.

City Council leaders said it’s incorrect “that the City Council is delaying or refusing to consider the A’s project proposal,” at Howard Terminal.

Rather, many, such as city staff have been working to bring the proposal to the council for potential approval.

But the A’s have been working on the project for nearly five years, A’s president Dave Kaval said in February. Opposition, too, has mounted against the Howard Terminal site and in favor of a new stadium at the current Oakland Coliseum site.

The City Council’s letter says that MLB has concluded without sufficient support “that the Coliseum site is not viable.”City Council leaders asked in the letter for the materials MLB reviewed to draw that conclusion.

The council’s letter is signed by council President Nikki Fortunato Bas, Vice Mayor and Councilmember At-Large Rebecca Kaplan and Councilmember Carroll Fife, who represents downtown and West Oakland.

The Howard Terminal site is near both downtown and West Oakland.

City Council leaders are willing to meet with MLB officials and the A’s ownership, the letter says, “to thoughtfully move forward.”

Council leaders said the A’s leadership recently changed their requests.

“Rather than send forward full completed deal terms for consideration,” the A’s demanded that the council vote on summary deal terms.

“Council leadership expressed willingness to explore this request, and met with the A’s staff and other stakeholders to seek how best to move forward,” according to the letter.

Council leaders were in the process of scheduling a vote on the summary deal terms before their summer recess when MLB told the A’s to seek a new home while it pursues a waterfront ballpark in Oakland.

“This relocation announcement came without giving the council an opportunity to receive and vote on a proposal and did not even wait for the time requested for the vote,” the letter says.

“Since the request was for a vote by August, why would you announce permission to explore relocation, prior to the date of the requested vote, if the request had been a sincere one?” the letter said.

Council leaders asked MLB to confirm its intentions.

“Can you confirm definitively, that if the council were to take such a vote for a term sheet regarding the A’s, that you would prohibit any action to seek or pursue relocation during those next steps?”

Kaplan’s staff confirmed late on the afternoon of May 14 that a vote on the summary deal terms will be scheduled for before the August recess.

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Oakland Children’s Hospital Workers and Patients Rally for Pediatric Medical Care

OAKLAND POST — “Children who go through a bone marrow transplant are immunocompromised, meaning that their immune system has been wiped out,” and having to take public transport to San Francisco exposes patients to the risk of getting a dangerous infection, said Paola Portillo, a social worker.

Published

3 hours ago

July 26, 2026

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Staff and family members of patients at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital Oakland in Oakland, Calif., hold signs during a rally on Thursday, July 9, 2026. Rally participants protested the relocation of specialized care clinics to the hospital's San Francisco campus. Photo by Kayla Chan/Bay City News.

By Post Staff

Staff, patients’ families, and supporters held a rally recently at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital in Oakland to protest the hospital’s decision to relocate specialized treatment clinics to San Francisco.

Protesters said the move is creating barriers for patients to access care and raised concerns over whether the hospital was appropriately using funds partially designated for pediatric services.

In response, hospital officials say they are concentrating resources for highly specialized procedures so patients can receive the highest quality of care.

One of the speakers at the rally, Paola Portillo, a social worker, said the hospital started transferring the clinics a year ago when UCSF Health integrated with the Children’s Hospital Oakland, located at 747 52nd St. in North Oakland.

According to Portillo, patients who need bone marrow treatments and interventional radiology are forced to travel to UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital in San Francisco, which can be dangerous, she said.

“Children who go through a bone marrow transplant are immunocompromised, meaning that their immune system has been wiped out,” and having to take public transport to San Francisco exposes patients to the risk of getting a dangerous infection, she said.

UCSF spokesperson Kristen Bole says the move improves the hospital’s quality of care, giving bone marrow treatment (BMT) as an example.

“Inpatient BMT is a highly complex service where patient volume, specialized infrastructure, faculty coverage and 24/7 support are essential,” she said in a statement. “Concentrating non-gene therapy inpatient BMT care at Mission Bay allows us to provide the safest and most sustainable model for patients and families.”

Hospital officials also emphasized that moving care was not a one-way street. Beginning this month, patients admitted for rehabilitative treatment have been directed to the children’s hospital in Oakland, Bole said.

Speakers at the rally also claimed UCSF has not been transparent about how it has allocated funding from 2020’s Measure C, a measure that created a half-percent sales tax that partially funded pediatric health care at the children’s hospital.

“The community fought so hard for Measure C because every child deserves access to lifesaving, pediatric, high-quality care right here in Oakland,” said Agnes Cho, a policy advisor speaking on behalf of Alameda County Supervisor Nikki Fortunato Bas. “The funding should go towards strengthening care for children right here in Oakland.”

Protesters also said UCSF’s $3.3 billion endowment has been misused. Last October, the University Professional & Technical Employees union published a report on the University of California’s spending, which highlighted projects such as the $4.3 billion UCSF Helen Diller Medical Center at Parnassus Heights.

“What I have a problem with is saying the kids from the East Bay have to go to San Francisco to get care, so that UC can build a fancy hospital for its richest patients in San Francisco,” said union President Dan Russell.

The UCSF spokesperson said UCSF has been investing in its Oakland campus, explaining that upgrades that are expected to be completed in 2030 at a cost of $1.6 billion.

“Oakland is central to our pediatric health system, and we are making the largest investment in the campus’ history,” the spokeswoman said. “We do not make investments of this scale in a campus, workforce or community we plan to leave behind.”

This article includes coverage from Bay City News Service and media releases.

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Black History

Opinion: When Politicians Start Sanitizing One Chapter of History, They’re Coming After The Whole Book

OAKLAND POST — The White House recently released a report criticizing the Smithsonian for supposedly promoting “anti-White activism” and other ideological sins. Buried inside is something even more troubling. The report argues Americans shouldn’t think of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 primarily as a racist law. Instead, we’re told it was about national security.

Published

3 hours ago

July 26, 2026

bpusa-syndication

AI-generated illustration created by Open AI.

By Emil Amok Guillermo

I came to Winnipeg to perform my one-man show, 69, Emil Amok: Anchorman—The News Made Me Do It.

I didn’t expect to leave with another lesson about America.

It came over dim sum.

After the show, Shirley—a Chinese Canadian—and her friend Chris, a Sri Lankan-Mauritian Canadian—insisted on taking me to a restaurant in Winnipeg’s Chinatown.

A Filipino American. A Chinese Canadian. A Sri Lankan-Mauritian Canadian.

The United Nations, if it served dumplings.

Then Shirley told me about her father.

He arrived from China at 14 years old, speaking no English. The school put him in second grade just to learn the language. Once he caught up, they skipped him to ninth grade.

Two years later, he was working.

He opened a restaurant.

It burned down.

He opened another.

Eventually he bought a café in rural Manitoba serving chop suey, burgers, steaks and fries.

The Good Way Café became the place everybody gathered. Rock and roll played from the jukebox until midnight.

Her father, Arthur Mar, built a business, employed people and became part of his community.

Sound familiar?

It should.

It’s the same immigrant story Americans love to celebrate.

Until politics gets involved.

Because before Arthur Mar could build anything, Canada made him pay a $500 Chinese head tax—a fortune in the 1920s.

When that didn’t keep enough Chinese out, Canada passed its own Chinese Exclusion Act.

Different country.

Same racism.

Canada has spent decades admitting what it did.

The Trump administration wants America to do the opposite.

The White House recently released a report criticizing the Smithsonian for supposedly promoting “anti-White activism” and other ideological sins.

Buried inside is something even more troubling.

The report argues Americans shouldn’t think of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 primarily as a racist law.

Instead, we’re told it was about national security.

Funny how those two words have always been available whenever politicians want to discriminate against somebody.

Black Americans have heard that song before.

Slave patrols became public safety.

Jim Crow became states’ rights.

Mass incarceration became law and order.

Same melody.

Different verse.

History has a way of putting racism in a respectable suit.

When politicians begin sanitizing one chapter of history, they’re coming after the whole book.

Communities of color don’t have identical histories.

But we recognize familiar tactics.

About the Author

Emil Guillermo is an award-winning journalist, commentator and comic monologist. He performs “69, Emil Amok: Anchorman—The News Made Me Do It” at the Winnipeg Fringe Festival, July 16–26.

Get Tix: https://www.winnipegfringe.com/performer-detail.aspx?kw=Emil+Amok+Productions

Follow him at YouTube.com/@emilamok1.

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Black History

Beyond Politics: California Legislators Across Party Lines Celebrate Lori Wilson at 50

OAKLAND POST — Organized by Assemblymembers Anamarie Ávila Farías (D-Martinez) and Stephanie Nguyen (D-Elk Grove), the celebration featured a video filled with birthday wishes from Democratic and Republican lawmakers, as well as Capitol staff, honoring Wilson, who serves as chair of the Assembly Transportation Committee and is a member of the California Legislative Black Caucus.

Published

3 hours ago

July 26, 2026

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Assemblymember Lori D. Wilson (D-Suisun City). File photo.

By Tanu Henry, California Black Media

In a Capitol more often defined by policy debates and partisan differences, California lawmakers recently offered a reminder that respect, friendship and collegiality can still rise above politics.

On July 17, legislators from both sides of the aisle came together to celebrate Assemblymember Lori D. Wilson’s (D-Suisun City) 50th birthday with a surprise tribute that reflected the admiration she has earned from colleagues across the political spectrum.

Organized by Assemblymembers Anamarie Ávila Farías (D-Martinez) and Stephanie Nguyen (D-Elk Grove), the celebration featured a video filled with birthday wishes from Democratic and Republican lawmakers, as well as Capitol staff, honoring Wilson, who serves as chair of the Assembly Transportation Committee and is a member of the California Legislative Black Caucus.

“I hope you’re feeling the love from the Legislature, Lori, and I’m so honored to be able to serve with you and have you as my seatmate,” Ávila Farías said in the video. “You’re an amazing human being, and I feel so privileged to celebrate this milestone with you. Happy birthday.”

Assemblymember Corey Jackson (D-Moreno Valley), a member of the California Legislative Black Caucus, thanked Wilson for her leadership and service.

“Happy Birthday, Lori. Thanks for what you stand for and all the work that you’ve done in the Legislature.”

Republican Assemblymember David J. Tangipa (R-Fresno) also joined in the celebration.

“You are a rock star. Happy, happy birthday and have a great one.”

Assemblymember Buffy Wicks (D-Oakland) praised Wilson’s character and leadership.

“Hugest of happiest birthdays of all time, dear Lori. You are such a ray of sunshine in the Legislature; you are an adult in the room; you are a badass warrior, and we love you and appreciate you,” said Wicks.

Assemblymember LaShae Sharp-Collins (D-San Diego), also a member of the California Legislative Black Caucus, reflected on Wilson’s future.

“Wishing you a very happy 50th birthday, Lori. You are an amazing woman, and there’s so much more to come for you,” she said.

Assemblymember Sade Elhawary (D-Los Angeles), a member of the California Legislative Black Caucus, added:

“Lori, we are so happy that you are the fearless queen that you are. Happy 50th. Enjoy. You deserve it.”

Republican Assemblymember Carl DeMaio (R-San Diego) also shared his appreciation.

“Happy birthday. I believe you’re an amazing individual, an amazing person, and I love your housing policies, so thank you. Again, happy birthday. Have some fun today.”

Assemblymember Rhodesia Ransom (D-Stockton) closed with words celebrating both Wilson’s milestone and her wisdom.

“There’s a saying that when you become older you become wiser, but I want to say that you’re already there.”

At a time when political divisions often dominate the public conversation, the celebration served as a reminder that personal relationships and mutual respect continue to exist inside California’s Capitol. For one afternoon, party labels took a back seat as lawmakers from across the aisle came together to honor a colleague whose leadership, professionalism and friendship have earned admiration well beyond partisan lines.