Exclusive to ZENNIEREPORT.COM – Ok, the news that Oakland Howard Terminal Ballpark Project Manager Molly Maybrun was headed to a new job should have signaled the end of the ballpark project, because Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao hasn’t said a peep about replacing her.
And now, the Mayor says she has $475 million for Howard Terminal, but did anyone see the big check? You know, the big TV-ready check with the big letters? And why is Molly leaving if the project’s not dead?
Mayor Thao’s MLB Desperation Leads To Flim-Flamery
Those questions point to a scheme Thao cooked up to keep Oakland’s name out there as looking like it was trying to get the Oakland A’s back. That shocking revelation happened after this author observed to a long time Oakland Government politico, friend, and Port of Oakland Board Commissioner that Maybrun’s departure indeed meant the end of Howard Terminal. My friend, who’s close to Mayor Thao, texted “She was gone long ago.”
That should make the brain spin of any Howard Terminal Ballpark Project observer or participant. Why? Because it raises the question: if Molly Maybrun was “ gone long ago”, then what was she doing taking the trip to Seattle with Mayor Thao and the Mayor’s chief of staff and communications director for the MLB Meeting? And does that lead to an explanation why Mayor Thao would choose to send her aides rather than any Oakland staffer who could show the necessary credibility in addition to Maybrun, like her City Administrator Justin Jenkins?
The Team Mayor Thao Sends to Seattle To Meet Commissioner Rob Manfred Was All About Smoke
If Molly Maybrun was “ gone long ago”, then what were Mayor Thao and her aides doing all of that time? The question is all the more important when one considers that Mayor Thao, for all of her claims to want the A’s back to finish the negotiating job, Howard Terminal wasn’t even a lead attraction on the City of Oakland’s own website.
Meanwhile, Sheng was spinning a web that manged to capture the attention of the national media. Take Sports Illustrated’s Jason Burke:
It was recently revealed that Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao flew up to Seattle to meet with MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred on Sunday to show him the work that her city has put in to trying to keep the A’s in Oakland. The hope? That the materials she brought, which included 31 copies all of the plans, proposals, and all of the work that has gone into the Howard Terminal project in Oakland can help set the record straight–that there was an offer, and a pretty good one–with Manfred and the other owners ahead of their vote. But there is one thing that the Mayor said in her interview with Casey Pratt that was very interesting and caught my attention.
Sports Illustrated – Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao Meets with MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred
When asked what is next for the fight to keep the A’s in Oakland, she said: “Well if you know my track record, I hold those cards very close to my heart. But I’m going to continue to fight. And I want to talk to the Oakland A’s fans out there for a minute if you don’t mind. I am so proud of all the Oakland A’s fans. I’m proud of Oaklanders. Keep it going. Keep going. We’re fighting this fight together. I’ve heard all of the chants during the games and what have you. Just know that your Mayor is working for you. We’re going to continue to fight until there are shovels actually in the ground.”
Well, the words were good, but then Mayor Thao presented photos of the team that went, including the one above. If you did not know to ask who they were, you’d guess that all of them were the deal team. In other words, the people who negotiate with the A’s, come up with the plans, design the bond issues, and in short do all of the necessary work to get a ballpark built. But then you add the tiitles, and the whole house of cards comes crashing down: The Mayor, her chief of staff and her communications representative. And Molly tagging along to bring the binders that were book forms of the term sheet they knew the A’s rejected.
So what was that about? Suppose, just consider, what if MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred had turned around and said “OK, I will tell you what. I want you to make a presentation before the MLB Owners and also show us your financing plan, including the planned bond isssue. And the best time we can do that is in two weeks. The Commissioner would be right in assuming that Mayor Thao had all of that informatiion all ready, after all, she claims the City made an offer. To a seasoned sports commissioner that means they have the details of the bond issues worked out. But guess what: they did not. And getting the necessary information ready would take more time than two weeks.
So, Mayor Thao was heading herself, and by extension Oakland, down a path it had never seen before: one of an unprofessional, can’t get it done, doesn’t know what it’s doing municipality that can’t build stadiums or arenas or convention centers. But Mayor Thao never considered that one bit. You say she had Molly Maybrun as lead negotiator? Ok, so why did Sheng Thao and Dave Kaval bring in former San Francisco Mayoral Aide Steve Kawa to broker a deal between the A’s and the City of Oakland?
Could it be that with the departure of the A’s gone was the money that flowed to city staff? And is that why, as my Port of Oakland friend said, Molly Maybrun left long ago? Who would have paid for the new staff work that needed to be done? The point is, the Mayor didn’t think about what she was doing, and her aides didn’t seems to be giving her any good advice either – or she wasn’t taking it.
What this author would have told the Mayor is simple: go after an MLB team that wants to leave. In an era where sports franchises are this side of printing money, the number of teams threatening to move will not descrease to zero, any time soon. Mayor Thao and Oakland A’s fans have to take the red pill: the window to act closed at the end of 2021. This author said the A’s were leaving in an Oakland News Now Blog post dated November 25th, 2021. The only thing wrong about that article was the land: The Las Vegas Festival Grounds, and not the Tropicana Hotel.
But the point is, Mayor Thao has to stop faking it. It’s not a good way to run a City, and it produces a house of cards, and we all know what happened to those.
Sheng Thao Should Stop Screwing Around And Go After The Brewers
Oakland has been at the tail end of the dog for too long. As the Thing would say “It’s CLOBBERING TIME”. Oakland should work to take all of those plans, focus them back to The Coliseum, and bring the Milwaukee Brewers to Oakland. That’s what real leaders to. That’s what Joe Lacob implied in my interview with him in 2012 when he said “We are going to be the first shoe to drop”.
That’s what Oakland did, but back when we had Elihu Harris is Mayor of Oakland. And yeah, he was my boss as his Economic Advisor. This is Mayor Thao’s wake up call. Go to work.