Columnist Marcus Thompson wrote a great piece in The Athletic in late May that captures how we feel about the Howard Terminal development on the Oakland waterfront.
Thompson, a West Oakland resident, praised the Howard Terminal for what it can do for the West Oakland neighborhood. He added:
The project will bring money to the city. It will revitalize an area. It can also address some of the issues that are much larger than baseball.
Thompson noted that the A’s franchise has not done a good job in promoting the development or even communicating its strengths in basic ways. Despite that, he still supports the project. He wrote:
So the pressure is on the government officials to do what’s best for the city, even if their potential partners may be hacks at selling the vision. And the $450 million the A’s have pledged over 45 years for community benefits — from tax increments to finance projects — is not nothing.
We agree. And we hope that Oakland’s leaders will do the same.