As the Oakland A’s continue to consider building a new ballpark at the Peralta site, concerns are being raised about how a potential project would affect a nearby neighborhood.
Over the last several months, the A’s and team president Dave Kaval have been widely reported to be considering three sites for a new facility. One option is the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, while the other two are Howard Terminal and the site of the Peralta Community College District headquarters. The Peralta site is near Laney College, and there has been some previous signs that there could be momentum for building a new ballpark at that location.
While the A’s have not announced their final decision, residents of the nearby Eastlake neighborhood are expressing their fears that a new ballpark at the Peralta site will result in the displacement of area businesses and residents. More from East Bay Express:
At a time when skyrocketing rents and the lack of housing is displacing many Oakland residents, Eastlake is one of the few places in the city where low-income residents can still afford a place to live or operate a small business. E. 12th Street is full of mom-and-pop stores and eateries run by immigrants and their families.
James Vann, a longtime tenants rights activist, also was on hand to urge Kaval to either pick the Coliseum or the Howard Terminal sites. The Peralta location, Vann said in an interview, is “going to gentrify this area. The Eastlake community will be gone. And the small businesses here? Say ‘goodbye’ to those.”
Kaval and the team have yet to release schematics of exactly where the ballpark would be situated near Laney, but it would roughly be bounded by E. 8th Street, 5th Avenue, Interstate 880, and the Lake Merritt Channel.
In an interview, Mayor Libby Schaaf, who has been trying to convince the A’s to pick the Howard Terminal site, said she’s also worried about the impact of a new ballpark on the Eastlake immigrant community. “Compared with the other sites, this site creates the most concern with me because of the threat of displacement and the impact that [a new ballpark] will have on the real estate near it,” she said.
As noted, the A’s have not made a final decision on a site, but the club has indicated that it would like to announce its preference by the end of this year. The Peralta site has been seen as having a few advantages in comparison to its competitors, including convenient BART access and a more downtown setting.
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