The San Jose Redevelopment Agency already spent $600,000 to revamp San Jose Municipal Stadium where the minor league San Jose Giants play. Now the cash-strapped organization wants to spend another $300,000 to replace an electrical transformer there. “This is a 1942 building that needs improvements,” says Harry Mavrogenes, Director of the RDA.
“Not so fast,” says Councilmember Sam Liccardo. The problem, he says, is that the San Francisco Giants own a controlling interest in the minor league team, and the San Francisco Giants are the most vocal opponents to the Oakland A’s relocating to San Jose. By working against the city’s interests by opposing a major league team here, the Giants—San Francisco and San Jose—are “not only biting the hand that feeds them. They’re threatening to swallow the whole arm.”
Mavrogenes disagrees, and argues that the Municipal Stadium is a city landmark, and that the Giants are only tenants there. The transformer, he says, is necessary to the stadium, and it should “last a while.” As long as it takes for MLB to decide whether to allow the A’s to move?
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Sept. 18: Bark in the Park 
