Thursday, February 5, 2009

Warm Springs turns out to protest A's stadium plans


A few good blog posts from Tri-City Beat:

Also followed by Marine Layer: Warm Springs turns out in protest

How many people show up tonight? The A's ends up using the multi-purpose room (instead of the originally planned 25-people meetings). There are about 500-600 people inside the room. And there are at least as many people still on the side walk. So it's likely over 1,000. It's a very peaceful protest. The weather cooperates too.

One clarification. This protest was not initiated by Fremont Citizens Networks (FCN). It was started by a few concerned local citizens. FCN becomes a channel for people to get connected. Many volunteers just show up to facilitate the traffic, talk to the crowd and media, and make sure the whole protest is safe and peaceful.

Here is the video news report (02/05/09) from KTSF (Mostly in Chinese, but still worth a watch).




Videos from Q&A in multi-purpose room:





14 comments:

  1. I think this was a great event. However, the Mayor MUST BE RECALL! Does anyone think he may have some kind of deal with A's in order to be this supportive to A's?

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  2. Agreed that Wasserman either didn't get it, or had cut some deal with A's. Either way, he should be removed! Suzanne Lee Chan too, in my opinion.

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  3. They are going to do the same thing at James Leitch school on Feb 19, 2009 at 7PM. Only 25 people will be allowed in.

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  4. Okay- this is the really important 'back story' to last night. I was one of the 25 selected people to meet with them and I was the one that pushed them to move things to the MultiPurpose Room so more people could be let in. They *REALLY* didnt want to do that, but myself and one other resident kept shooting down their rationale (because the reasons were pretty lame) and in the end, a few things happened that made it possible. If this stadium is such a good idea (as they contend) and if they truly wanted to disseminate information and get feedback, then inviting everyone in was completely the right thing to do. After last night, I dont think they'll offer to change rooms any more! But I think wedid exactly the right thing- we showed them last night that we are NOT an easy target, that we will not go quietly, and if the city council refuses to represent the will of the people most impacted by this stadium, then we will do everything in our power to recall them, oppose them, expose them, and we will not give up until this dumb idea of a stadium in a residential area is DEAD-DEAD-DEAD. The feeling last night was that, if this stadium would be built, our property values would drop by $200k, so let's all invest $10k now each times HUNDREDS of people to stop this. Together, we can do this! We MUST do this- for our families, our kids, and our future. NO STADIUM!

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  5. Can we start the recall actions now? I think the sooner we start, the better we will be. We should not sit back and wait for these hypocrites to make bad decision for your life.

    I think we should also pick a day when we should distribute flyers to all Fremont residents and organize a protest to the Mayor and Councilman offices and also A.

    We also should contact the news media and have them to start a daily session to express our views. We live in USA. Government should respect PEOPLE, not MONEY.

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  6. We should have a protest in front of the city hall. Also I think it's about time to hire an attorney to fight with them.

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  7. All COMMENTS are wonderful/great. But, let's be real and start working towards each of them systematically.
    How about this:
    1) We should ALL show up AGAIN at James Leitch school on Feb 19, 2009 at 7PM.
    2) Show up for the Next Council meeting
    3) Have some sort of a group meeting to identify NEXT steps. It would be GREAT if some of our LEADERS on this FORUM can help us organize this.

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  8. Isn't there another protest (to coincide with another closed-door A's meeting) next Tuesday, Feb. 10, at Warm Springs School? We need to be there to protest again. This fight is just beginning!

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  9. ECONOMICS OF WARMSPRINGS STADIUM

    Mayor Wasserman has said Fremont needs jobs and revenue.

    The A’s indicated they will pay for the stadium without taxpayer funds. They will pay Fremont $1 million per year to cover city services. If taxpayer money is used then the Mayor and City Council cannot decide the fate of the project; the people of Fremont through a vote must decide it.

    Taxes will Rise Of course Taxpayer money will not be needed until after the council approves a Warm Springs stadium.
    Funding for stadium related: parking, road improvements, traffic control improvements, utility improvements, police crime and accident investigations, court cost, jail costs, legal costs, community suits against the city, A’s fan legal suits against Fremont police, planning department costs, administrative costs, emergency response costs, increased insurance costs, etc. will all end up in the taxpayers lap. This happens in every community where a stadium exists.

    Job Growth my “A’s”s. The stadium will create temporary construction jobs for 24 to 36 months. After the stadium is built there will be about 150 part time jobs earning $8 to $12 per hour. Hardly the kind of growth Fremont needs.

    Negative Economic Impacts. Stadium traffic will delay and prevent shoppers and workers from entering Fry’s, Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Nummi, and all companies around the stadium. This will be a large adverse economic impact that must be evaluated.

    The Alameda County Tax assessor indicated that Fremont’s real estate has an assessed taxable value of about $35 billion. This is below the total market value of Fremont’s real estate, however, many properties are currently assessed for more than they are worth. Owners are coming out in record numbers requesting their property be reassessed to current lower market values.
    If a Mission home that is currently assessed at $1million were to drop 20% to $800K because a stadium reduced its value. The homeowner loses $200k. The Alameda County tax collector loses about 1.1% of that or $2200. The City of Fremont loses about 15% of $2200 or $330.
    Since you got a lot of homes that will be impacted this will add up to millions of tax dollars not collected by Alameda County. This needs to be evaluated in the economic plan for the A’s stadium.

    Impacts to Neibhoring Cities
    Traffic around the stadium will increase drive times along Fremont roads, and along 680. Impacts will result in increased fuel consumption and reduced work production. Delivery trucks (UPS, Fed X, Mail service, commercial truckers, etc), and commuters who live in adjacent cities will experience excess delays at their cost. These economic impacts must be addressed in the economic plan for a Warm Springs stadium.

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  10. Susan Lee Chan is in the Developers pockets. There is $500 limit per contributer. Look what the Dutra's do to buy influence!!
    Ten Dutras and 3 Dutra related contributed to her campaign-
    Guess who will get stadium construction contracts..... Dutra!!

    Sue Chan, a candidate for Fremont City Council, has received over 25% of her campaign contributions from developers that will have proposals before the city council in the near future. Among these developers is John Dutra and his entire family. See below for the contributions made by the Dutra family to Sue Chan Fremont City Council Campaign.

    John Dutra $500
    Bernadine Dutra $500
    Lisa Dutra $500
    Dominic Dutra $500
    Diana Dutra $500
    Tony Dutra $500
    Dianna Dutra $500
    Ann Marie Dutra $500
    John J. Dutra $500
    Cynthia Dutra Brice $500
    Peiffen Liao (CFO of Dutra Enterprise)$250
    Alan Cerro (Partner of Dutra Cerro Graden)$250
    Landis Graden (Partner of Dutra Cerro Graden)$100

    From Form 460 filed October 2008 with Fremont City Clerk.$500 is maximum allowed contribution.

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  11. Shouldn't this information (contributions) be published in newspapers? Public awareness.

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  12. Can we get similar contribution for other council members and mayor?

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  13. Yes, This fight is just beginning! We all need standing up. Here is our hometown, we have to protect it.

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  14. Wow! The contributions information should be sent to media. What about other council members?

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