A Response to Mr. Dominic Dutra's article in the Argus

In "My Word: Dominic D. Dutra- A's ballpark offers fantastic opportunit..." in the Argus yesterday, Mr. Dutra makes several suggestions and makes this final comment:

In light of the frightful things we're seeing with the current state budget impasse and the all-too-evident risks to cities like Fremont, this is an advantage that cannot be disregarded.

Mr. Dutra, with all due respect, couldn't be more wrong. Scaring people into thinking this is a golden opportunity is reckless. This is the art of seduction all stadium projects play with the local community. A stadium can suck the local economy and region dry. Just look around anywhere and you will find story after story of regional decimation of economy and diversion of large public funds at the expense of the people of those regions just to keep the stadium alive. For instance, Professor Roger Noll, an economics Guru from Stanford University, who is an ardent sports fan, has written extensively about the impacts of sports stadiums on local businesses and the economics of such a project.

Let us take for example, the remarkable similarities between the current Oakland Coliseum and the proposed stadium in Fremont - a BART station right next to the stadium and major freeways nearby. What could be better, right? Well, think about what Oakland was 40 years ago when the Coliseum was first built: Oakland was a booming town, one of the best cities in the United States , and had multiple sports teams "tenants" utilizing the state of the art stadium architecture. There was baseball in summer, football in fall, ice hockey in winter, and basketball in spring. Sports all year around and entertainment (rock concerts, ice shows, Ringling Brothers circus, etc) sprinkled in between. What could be better?

Now, fast forward 40 years later, and what remains? A Coliseum that is costing taxpayers $338 Million (source: Summary of City Debt Outstanding) that is being paid by taxes for anyone who lives in Alameda County . You don't think a stadium is expensive? Well think again. You will be paying for it; if not now, then in the future.

What else do we see after 40 years? An economically blighted area. The commercial area surrounding the Oakland Coliseum is a total wasteland. All businesses that surrounded it have gone bankrupt, and the others that remain are barely surviving. Why do you think that the businesses in Pacific Commons are opposed to the Stadium? Because they know they will lose business if the stadium comes in, and the area will become what Oakland is right now.

It is not surprising that Mr. Dutra is pushing this pro-stadium message coating this with all the candy in the world. If you didn't know, Mr. Dutra and his family are real-estate developers in Fremont for long time. So one has to wonder about his intentions. Of course he and others like him are definitely hoping that Fremont will pass this absurd plan in the name of "better for Fremont" without offering any specifics of how it will impact the residents and how the city will benefit. The devil is in the details and how many of us are willing to ask for specifics from our elected officials?

Don't be fooled, Think again, Fremont!

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Comment by Michael on April 1, 2010 at 5:44pm: Just read this bit of untruth. Couldn't let this go without a comment. Once again, Mr. Alur uses untruths and misinformation to try to discredit others. He says it's reckless to scare people into thinking this is a golden opportunity (how it's possible to scare someone into an opportuntiy I don't know). How recless is it to scare people away from an opportunity? Especially when you have no real data whatsoever to back up your doomsday claims? This is FCN's version of WMD's. Same modus, same politics.

Comment by FCN Admin on February 1, 2009 at 1:57pm: Someone else wrote another excellent response to this biased and conflicted article by Mr. Dutra. Worth a read.

Click here to read the article on Argus.

Comments replicated here for convenience:
Mr. Dutra quotes Henry Ford in his opening lines. Then he goes on to presume Mr. Ford would take an intense and consuming interest in whether a stadium is built or not, in a town he never heard of. Mr. Dutra is attempting to portray the well-known name of Henry Ford, as a supporter of this stadium, and perhaps he succeeds with some readers.
It is my belief that Mr. Henry Ford had a lot more sense than Mr. Dutra, and, if he lived in Fremont, would be keenly aware of the multitude of issues and contradictions that surround this whole project.

Mr. Dutra failed to even keep contradiction out of his carefully crafted letter, by both urging haste and also pointing to San Jose's Arena with its 20 year planning process. In fact Mr. Dutra even says "should be done in an expedited manner" and "make prudent decisions" in the same sentence.

Mr. Dutra mentions mitigation of concerns "acceptable to most reasonable people". It gives one cause to wonder how he defines "reasonable people". Is a reasonable person to him, someone who thinks and acts like he does, or is there room for differences? It is my opinion, that any reasonable person would be very turned off by the financial burden the city will face in coming years, the terrible traffic forcing clogged highways and local streets, the increase in crime, litter, and activities requiring police attention and more, all attributed to the location of a stadium in Fremont.

If the Stadium were to be built at the Warm Springs site, which is apparently now the preferred site, does it mean local residents are "unreasonable", Mr. Dutra, because they don't want their homes to lose 50% of their current value, because they don't want to be forced to keep their windows closed to shut out noise, because they don't want to breath the pollution from 10,000 cars, because they don't want strangers - many who've had a beer or few-, driving through their neighborhoods and past their playing children?

The A's have had no comment to effectively mitigate many of the points here that matter the most (traffic, smog, noise, property values, litter, ongoing costs to the city of Fremont in public services and maintenance and the proportional tax burden to Fremont residents, etc). You might argue the question of noise has been considered. I say it has not been effectively considered, nor can it be with a stadium as close to homes and schools as this proposal would have it.

The issues to local residents are far more serious than the residents of greater Fremont. But the entire city will be impacted, and it does not take an expensive study to see this.

Mr. Dutra, It is refreshing to see you air your motivations for all to see. At least the people of Fremont know where you stand. I sincerely wish it was with us, but sadly I see it is not.

Sincerely,

A long-time Fremont Resident

Comment by FCN Admin on January 29, 2009 at 1:47pm: FCN Admin Note: We found this well written response to the Argus article by another Fremont Citizen that we thought should be shared with everyone. The article comment can be found here and is reproduced below for your convenience.

Beware of Greeks bearing gifts
In what appears to be an effort in support of the stadium, Mr. Dutra alludes to vague benefits the proposed stadium will provide to Fremont’s residents. With the promise of vague benefits, Mr. Dutra then advocates “expedited” consideration of how the stadium could benefit Fremont in order for a “prudent” decision to be made.

The notion of expedited analyses in order to render a prudent decision is a contradiction of terms.

A family suffering financial difficulties does not hastily decide to purchase a fancy new sports car in the hope that greater visibility will somehow translate into a new job and more money. People would view such a purchase as foolish.

Such is the case with the proposed stadium.

Fremont is predicting an $11.2 million budget deficit this year based on a $147 million operating budget. The economy is in a downward spiral, tens of thousands of people are losing their jobs on a daily basis, local and national businesses are closing and going bankrupt, California’s state budget problems are catastrophic, and yet Mr. Dutra is suggesting the City quickly decide upon approving the stadium and incurring significant obligations in money, services and support. Obligations that will translate into higher taxes and fees paid by Fremont residents for years to come.

Prudence does not mandate haste; rather it mandates careful consideration.

Mr. Dutra’s request for expediency would not seem so outrageous if not for the fact that, currently, there are no details available on the development of a stadium in Warm Springs.

The A’s are clearly aligned with Mr. Dutra in seeking expedited city review of their project. The A’s expect the draft Environmental Impact Report to be completed within the next five months. Since there have never been any plans or proposals released for Warm Springs, the A’s state that they plan to supplement their filings so that the draft EIR can include Warm Springs as a Primary site. To date, no such proposal or plans have materialized.

In order for the City and residents of Fremont to evaluate any proposal for a Warm Springs stadium, the A’s must promptly disclose detailed plans for the stadium and supporting developments. The City must then undertake its own independent and careful economic analysis to determine whether at least the economics support the stadium. Clearly, if the economics do not support it, there is no reason to consider going forward further with the project.

Mr. Dutra closes his piece by touting the success of the San Jose Arena and how San Jose undertook a 20-year planning effort that culminated in the arena. Mr. Dutra thus seems to realize that careful and diligent planning and analysis, not short-cuts and cursory analysis undertaken in expedited fashion, are ingredients to success.

If one were to consider only vague promises and stories to make decision of this scale, I have a wonderful bridge that I can sell to you.

Fremont Resident