It's a sweet deal for Oakland A's owner Lew Wolff. Not so sweet for the San Jose taxpayer, many South Bay residents are saying.
On Nov. 8, the San Jose City Council voted to option 5.5 acres of downtown land to Wolff, a wealthy real estate developer looking for a new ballpark location. Wolff can buy the land for $6.9 million -- or less than a third of the $25.1 million the Redevelopment Agency paid for the land, according to the San Jose Mercury News.
Only "a very few" city residents backed the plan, meaning that there are now very many livid San Jose residents, calling out their City Council for a sellout.
"We can't afford to give that land away. In these difficult times, it just doesn't make sense," said Carol Myers of Willow Glen.
San Jose is facing its 11th-consecutive budget deficit.
The city would need to figure out how it would finance the $25 million bond debt needed to buy the property originally.
San Jose city officials defended the plan -- which Wolff has yet to decide upon.
"The land isn't giving us any income at all right now," Mayor Chuck Reed told the newspaper. "We're taking a piece of dirt and generating revenue for the city."
