Dear Mayor Thao and Oakland City Council

Hon Representatives of the People,

I write to you today with a request. On April 13th, 8 days before the A’s announced that they were focusing on moving to Las Vegas I posted this to Instagram:

We all saw how this turned out. My request to you is simple: Stop wasting the momentum my friends and I built for you.

Please, instead of this war of words and Op Eds. Instead of expressing solidarity with Federal legislation that will never pass and doesn’t really do a thing to keep the A’s in town. Please take the necessary action to keep the team in town.

Please vote on and codify that the on site infrastructure at Howard Terminal will be funded by tax receipts on the site. Do more than express what is possible, take the required action. Get the County to do the same.

Next, please vote on and codify Limited Obligation Bonds for off site infrastructure. Do not wait for future grants to be awarded and do not stop chasing grants. You can do both. Close any gap and beyond with voted on funding sources, set a limit at $150M (which was reported as the most you were willing to raise in this manner). That plus what you have already secured in grants more than covers the off site infra. If you win more grants, you don’t have to issue the bonds. If you don’t vote on the bonds, the grants don’t matter for an A’s stadium.

Please reach out to an alternate ownership group and get them to agree to the terms you have already negotiated. They may not be needed, but they are an actual point of leverage against John Fisher’s ownership group. Much more than a Wall Street Journal Opinion piece.

Please pick up the phone and call Rob Manfred instead of going on tv and smiling while noting he hasn’t called you. You pulled out of negotiations to avoid being used as leverage in Nevada. That helped force the A’s into a nearly impossible situation of trying to build a 9 acre, retractable roof stadium. It did not work to stop them from getting $380M in public funds.

You can offer a better deal. You should take the necessary steps with or without the A’s involvement. You should do it right now.

Sincerely,

Your Pal Jeff