Oakland City Council Member Carroll Fife may sponsor a ballot measure that would let voters decide the fate of the A’s proposed waterfront ballpark, the latest twist in the baseball team’s five-year quest for a new stadium.
Fife is “leaning towards supporting a ballot measure,” she told The Chronicle after a Saturday community meeting in West Oakland on the $12 billion proposal.
Thousands of West Oakland residents’ voices aren’t being considered during the approval process, and a ballot measure would help empower them, she said. Fife said she will make a final decision after further discussions with colleagues and studying the cost of a potential measure.
The A’s are hoping for a City Council vote this year on whether to allow the stadium to be built, but a November ballot measure could delay any decision for months and potentially kill the project, one of the largest ever proposed in California.
Fife, who represents the Howard Terminal area where the ballpark is proposed, said she has spoken to two fellow council members and they are both receptive to the idea of a ballot measure. Support from a majority of the eight-member council would be needed to place a measure on the November ballot.