Obstacle to A's Move to San Jose
A battle has erupted between the San Jose City Council and one of the country's largest telecommunications company's over a proposed site in the city for the Oakland Athletics.
It has to do with a large AT&T operations center located smack in the middle of the ballpark site, and the company is in no hurry to move its more than $12 million facility.
Podcast
Instead, according to the published report, AT&T is playing hard ball perhaps because the San Jose City Council put the kibosh on company plans to develop housing on nearby property it owns.
Councilmember Sam Liccardo represents the downtown district, including the proposed ballpark site.
"AT&T can help San Jose realize this extraordinary opportunity or they can stand in the way," he said. "So far they've chosen to stand in the way."
For it's part, AT&T says it has a large working operation on that location currently serving customers.
John Britton of AT&T says at this time, the land is not for sale, although the company is always reassessing it's real estate portfolio. And, Britton stresses that the company expects to get fair market value for any parcel of real estate it sells.
