Tuesday, March 9, 2010

More Press on Thriving Oakland Biz

After publishing yesterday's blog about how thriving Oakland businesses are receiving national and local kudos, it came to our attention that there are even more than we realized.

For example, Blue Bottle Coffee -- an Oakland company with many Bay Area locations -- just opened a new java spot in Brooklyn. So, last week the New York Times wrote an article about the popular coffee company, mentioning that the Oakland-based biz has "had a fanatical following" since it opened in 2003.

Closer to home, the Oakland Tribune covered the opening of Era, a new nightclub in Oakland's thriving Uptown entertainment district. The Trib also wrote about Beer Revolution, a new microbrewery that opened recently near Jack London Square.

Lastly, the San Francisco Chronicle raved about a new Oakland restaurant on Grand Avenue, a few blocks from the Grand Lake Theater. It's called Boot and Shoe Service, and it was started by Charlie Hallowell, owner of Oakland's much praised Pizzaiolo.

These new businesses are from several different parts of the city: the Jack London waterfront, Uptown and the Grand Lake district. If these entrepreneurs are doing well during this downturn, then it's fair to speculate that Oakland is well-positioned for when the economy turns the corner.

4 comments:

sidecross said...

The A’s owners are ‘property developers’ first and building a new stadium is their number one pursuit.

They could care less about where and more about when and how soon.

Oakland is an excellent place for the A’s to stay and the economy is robust enough to support a professional baseball team. The only real question is how to finance a new stadium in Oakland.

What we need is for the A’s to have owners whose first concern is baseball and not making development deals.

Steve Bowles said...

I agree that having owners that focus more on their product than development deals would be more beneficial to the franchise, but I (in fact, most of us) will disagree on the "care less about where" part. Wolff has said over and over again that he prefers San Jose and that he wants nothing to do with Oakland.

The question about how to finance a new stadium in Oakland was answered at the press conference in December (and subsequently circulated by the media): the team would be responsible for the stadium itself; the City would foot the costs of the land/parking (via redevelopment funds) and infrastructure improvements (via federal funds, which would be used even if no ballpark).

sidecross said...

Neither the city of Oakland nor the State of California economy is in any shape to help fund a new baseball stadium.

Both city and State are making huge drops in basic services such as education; to be funding any sports facility in this economic climate is living in a ‘bubble’.

sidecross said...

I might also add that the federal governments funds for ‘redevelopment’ should be used for repair of infrastructure such as bridges, rail lines, and water mains which for most urban areas are in dire need of repair.

The federal budget is in no better shape than most if not all State budgets; to think federal funds would first be used for a new baseball facility is ludicrous.

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