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August 17, 2007
"Potential wrench" unlikely to hurt stadium project, despite Mercury News story
It's been two days since the Mercury News published the latest anti-soccer story from Barry Witt, and we've withheld comment on it so that we could research the topic he addresses more thoroughly. The fact that we are referring to it as an "anti-soccer" story will give you a clue as to the conclusions that we've drawn, but read on if you want all the details.
Witt's piece, headlined "San Jose sued over zoning decision," covers developer Carl Berg's recently filed lawsuit against the City of San Jose for denying a rezoning bid of 320 acres of industrial land in the Evergreen district of the city. SSV has obtained a copy of the suit which you can download here (PDF, 1.1 MB).
Witt's story begins, "Throwing a potential wrench into San Jose's pursuit of a professional soccer stadium, developer Carl Berg charged in a lawsuit this week that the city council is illegally picking favorites when deciding when to approve lucrative rezonings."
There's only one problem with that: Berg's lawsuit against the City has almost no bearing on the proposed soccer stadium.
In fact, the stadium is never mentioned in the complaint, and the iStar re-zoning that would finance the stadium is mentioned only peripherally, as one of a list of seven other approved (or likely-to-be-approved) rezonings (in paragraph 70(f), if you downloaded the complaint).
Any fair reading of the complaint renders the soccer stadium proposal a tangential footnote, yet Witt has chosen to put it front-and-center in his story, in a negative light.
In all, Berg's lawsuit lists eight claims of wrongdoing by the City of San Jose (referred to as "Causes of Action" in the document). Seven of them refer to specific actions taken by the City regarding the Evergreen project and, in essence, accuse the City of contractual wrongdoing. These claims are all focused solely on the City's past actions regarding the Evergreen project and have no bearing on any other projects. The eighth claim, which contains the reference to the iStar rezoning, asserts that the City's actions have denied Berg his constitutional right to equal protection under the law, which SSV's resident legal expert, attorney Don Gagliardi, contends is "extremely weak."
Here's more from Gagliardi:
First, the chances of Berg winning his "civil rights" constitutional equal protection claim (as opposed to his contract-based claims) are vanishingly slim. Real estate developers are not a "suspect class" such as an ethnic minority group and Berg will not be entitled to judicial "strict scrutiny" of his claim of alleged governmental discrimination between him and other developers, virtually dooming his claim... and the current judicial climate is not likely to be hospitable to in effect making new law by broadening constitutional equal protection claims. Further, there are many differences between Berg's Evergreen rezoning and the iStar rezoning, the latter of which will provide the city an extraordinary economic benefit in the form of a cost-free new stadium along with a billion-dollar redevelopment of the FMC site, and the former of which will not. These are hardly "aribitrary" distinctions for a municipality to draw...Further, even if by some miracle Berg were to prevail on his constitutional claim and thereby put the City of San Jose out of the rezoning business altogether, it almost certainly won't happen before the potential rezoning on the iStar property in March 2008... in this particular case, the initial case management conference is not even scheduled until April 2008, with the trial (if it gets that far) in the unscheduled thereafter.
Clearly, there is practically no way for Berg's lawsuit to have any impact on the iStar rezoning or on the soccer stadium. It's a fair question for the Mercury News, then, why they chose to make the soccer stadium the very first topic mentioned in their story.
Posted by Jay at August 17, 2007 12:51 PM
Comments
Don't tell that to Jamie Trecker. According to him, there has been a monkey-wrench thrown into the plans for a fictitious, non-existent team about which we're supposed to remain heart-broken forever.
http://community.foxsports.com/blogs/JamieTrecker/2007/08/15/One_good_one_bad
BTW, how're those plans coming along for inviting Barry Twitt, Jamie Trecker and Ray Ratto for the first ceremonial kick of first match?
Posted by: Will at August 17, 2007 01:42 PM
Who's Jamie Trecker? Never heard of him.
:-)
Actually, it's kind of disappointing to see that Jaime won't own up to his past mistakes (saying the Quakes would never return, would never build a stadium, would not really still be credited with their two MLS Cup championships, etc.). It sure looks like he's hoping the stadium deal falls apart so that he can save face, but if that's really true, it doesn't speak well of his character.
Posted by: Jay Hipps, SSV at August 17, 2007 01:49 PM
Published also at the San Jose Mercury News website
Great column. It's great to read the angry
response of soccer fans. I will just post a Google
translated essay that a friend of mine wrote
a few years ago about the perils of soccer (the original was in Spanish). Enjoy.
Soccer
By Stallone Steban
This is the true history of how a civilization
reached, after four million years of evolution, the summit of stupidity.
Everything began of the most unsuspected form.
In some patio of a school, an ingenious boy invented a simple game: the marbles.
That childish entertainment, with its small balls of
rainbow colors, soon was made popular among
the students. Immediately some adult, intrigued by the infantile enthusiasm,
showed his head on one of those groups of people.
This being, without a doubt of great
talent, and of which unfortunately we do not
know his name, admired agape that innocent
game, and in his very advanced mind
was arising between darknesses, vague
images of colossal temples where masses of
people howled and moaned in cathartic
celebration. Although he did not understand
these auguries (that turned out to be
desperate warning of the Gods), he ran to
reveal its discovery to other beings of its
same species. The amazement was general, and
in just a short time grounds of patios, seats
and stuffed esplanades of people of all age
and condition could be seen crowding around
itself with no shame on ridiculous small
balls. It didn't take much to organize local
championships, encouraged by livened up
retailers who offered all class of gadgets
and complements of the greater utility for
better benefit of the new phenomenon. From
the local championships teams of surpassed
players arose, who faced in fights provincial
and regional. The governors of the nation
appreciated the magnificent qualities of so
educative activity, and gave the approval to
what some began to call sport,
creating a Ministry that regulated,
protected, sponsored and spread a new
organization: Professional Marble League.
Naturally, one settled down a simple unified
code of rules, uses and ways with his
corresponding laws, statutes, substatutes and sections,
that people memorized without the slightest problem.
Through all the country the main cities
constructed with pride their majestic Marble
Stages to lodge properly so important cultural
activity. At the same time, new national
heroes grew, the Players Marble
professionals, beings of remarkable talent and
sensitivity, that caused envies and
admiration among the general population by
important declarations and their wealth so
deservedly gained. No less media glory was
achieved by the ostentatious people, who, with
disinterestedness and diaphanous clarity,
administered the accounts and balances of
clubs and associations. Day after day, one
could be hear thoughtful reflexions and wise
analysis by the Doctors of the matter who
made an effort to explain without rest their
faithful disciples, eager for information on
the story of the new Science.
Incomprehensibly, some voices were raised against
the new one religion: "it's alienating,"
"the opium of the people." They came,
without a doubt, from insane minds of
diminished individuals, that did not
include/understand the many virtues of the Marble
Game. Without a doubt, everything was
perfect: the national economies benefited from
enormous income, the citizens tribally
combined their patriotic feelings in international
encounter, dreamed up the spirit and the
throat going to the Magnificent Stages,
offered an ideal nobleman to the childhood,
and mainly, a democratic Philosophy was
provided on which everybody could give a
speech with reasonings untiringly founded.
And thus it was as an ingenious game became
the Subject, Science, the Philosophy and the
Religion of that outpost civilization.
Posted by: Fernando at August 18, 2007 05:29 PM
That's an interesting story, Fernando. We haven't really gone into it much on the blog, but I agree that there are some values inherent to a good soccer team (such as tenacity, perserverance, a willingness to work for and believe in your teammates, etc.) that are also more broadly applicable to life, both for us as individuals and as a society.
Thanks for sharing.
Posted by: Jay Hipps, SSV at August 18, 2007 08:24 PM