The Oakland A’s Howard Terminal ballpark proposal scored a legislative victory on Monday, when the California State Assembly Committee on Natural Resources advanced a bill that supports the plan.
The A’s continue to push a proposed project at the Port of Oakland’s waterfront Howard Terminal site, which calls for a new ballpark to anchor a larger development that includes housing. Monday brought a key vote for Assembly Bill 1191, legislation at the state level intended to support the proposal. Authored by California State Assembly member Rob Bonta, the bill would help facilitate the project by, according to Press Democrat, authorizing “the city of Oakland to acquire reclaimed tidelands around Howard Terminal by trading other properties to the State Lands Commission.”
With the legislation heading to a committee vote on Monday, an estimated hundreds of A’s fans turned out to the State Capitol in Sacramento to rally in support of the bill. The legislation ultimately cleared the committee in a 7-0 vote, representing a win for the A’s. More from NBC Sports California:
“With the 7-0 vote, they’re really giving a resounding yes that Oakland should have the same time of waterfront [ballpark] as San Francisco, and that’s a great thing,” A’s president Dave Kaval told NBC Sports California. “It’s really the key step. These bills never die on the floor, they die in committee. And so the fact that we’ve gotten out of committee — and this is kind of the key committee — this is where we had to bring our supporters, our fans and everyone from the Green and Gold nation to make sure it happened.”
Kaval noted that approximately 350 A’s fans packed the State Capitol earlier in the day to rally in favor of Assembly Bill 1191, authored by Rob Bonta (D-California), in support of developing Howard Terminal for a new ballpark.
“We’re pretty excited about the results and that so many fans came out,” Kaval said. “I think that’s what I was most excited about — 350 fans, many of them traveled up from the Bay Area to spend an afternoon in Sacramento supporting the A’s and our legislation. That’s a big deal.”
There are still plenty of hurdles remaining to move the Howard Terminal proposal forward. Furthermore, Monday’s action represents just one step in the process as it relates to Assembly Bill 1191, which will be considered by the Assembly Local Government Committee on Wednesday. The fact that plenty of work remains was acknowledged by the A’s, but the show of support in Sacramento left the team and supporters of the bill confident in the proposal’s progress.
“Tonight’s Assembly vote is an important step in the process of building a new ballpark district at Howard Terminal that will be a model of green design, sustainable development, and environmental justice reform,” Oakland A’s President Dave Kaval said in a press statement. “We appreciate the vote of confidence from the Assembly members and greatly value their questions and input. We still have much work to do in this process, but this vote is an important moment for Oakland.”
“This 7-0 vote with bipartisan support and no “no” votes is a very strong endorsement of the City of Oakland, the East Bay, and the Athletics,” Assembly member Rob Bonta said in a press statement. “The A’s commitment to build a world-class, sustainable ballpark at Howard Terminal will mean thousands of jobs, billions in economic impact for the region, and more vital affordable housing in our community. We have tremendous momentum now heading into our next committee vote on Wednesday.”
Rendering courtesy Oakland A’s.
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