Jean Quan tries to delay Coliseum vote, seeks more talks

Oakland Mayor Jean Quan, right, and City Administrator Henry Gardner, left, speak about keeping the A's and Raiders in Oakland and signing the lease agreement to move forward with discussions about building a new stadium for the A's at Oakland City Hall in Oakland, Calif. on Wednesday, July 9, 2014. less Oakland Mayor Jean Quan, right, and City Administrator Henry Gardner, left, speak about keeping the A's and Raiders in Oakland and signing the lease agreement to move forward with discussions about building a ... more Photo: Tim Hussin, Special To The Chronicle Photo: Tim Hussin, Special To The Chronicle Image 1 of / 13 Caption Close Jean Quan tries to delay Coliseum vote, seeks more talks 1 / 13 Back to Gallery

Less than a week after publicly calling for the City Council to approve the A's proposed new lease with the Coliseum, Oakland Mayor Jean Quan is privately pushing members to hit the brakes on the deal to give her team more time to negotiate.

"Welcome to the latest in the ongoing saga," said Councilman Noel Gallo, who took the mayor's first cue and put the lease on the council's agenda for Wednesday evening.

Just last Wednesday, after baseball Commissioner Bud Selig said the A's could leave Oakland immediately if they couldn't get a deal, Quan said, "We need the City Council to approve it as quickly as possible."

Quan also said she had asked interim City Administrator Henry Gardner to negotiate a few "clarifications" with A's co-owner Lew Wolff before the deal was approved.

Quan did not elaborate on what those clarifications were. But sources close to the talks say Wolff has made it clear he has no interest in reopening the deal approved by the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Authority, which is run jointly by the city and county.

Despite that, Gardner continued to meet with A's representatives.

Fast-forward to Monday morning, when Quan told Gallo that Wolff might be ready to make concessions, but won't - thanks to the City Council's pending vote.

Quan wants to hold off on the vote until the end of the month to give Gardner time for more negotiations, Gallo said.

Asked for comment, Quan spokesman Sean Maher said, "Mayor Quan's priority is keeping the A's at home in Oakland for the long term, and she is fired up to make it happen.

"She is confident they will join her in supporting a lease that secures the team's near-term future in Oakland, protects the ongoing Coliseum City negotiations with the Raiders, and lets us all move forward working on new ballparks for both teams."

City affairs: San Francisco Supervisor John Avalos, a former mayoral candidate, has acknowledged that he had an affair with his top office aide - a relationship that appears to have skirted the boundaries of city rules.

Avalos said his $95,082-a-year aide, Raquel Redondiez, went on unpaid leave in May but has not officially quit.

"We are not together, but we have shared our feelings for one another, and I felt it was most appropriate for her to find employment outside this office," said Avalos, 50.

"I let a lot of people down, and I'm really sorry," Avalos said.

The supervisor separated this year from his wife, a San Francisco elementary-school teacher. The couple have two children.

Avalos - who came in second to Mayor Ed Lee in the 2011 election - said he first met Redondiez when they both worked as staffers a decade ago for then-Supervisor Chris Daly.

Avalos was elected supervisor in 2008 from District 11 but did not say when the romance started, how long it lasted or when it might have ended.

Although city personnel rules do not expressly prohibit relationships between bosses and their direct subordinates, they do set strict guidelines.

"You must notify your supervisor if you are, or become, related to or romantically involved with another employee in the workplace over whom you have the authority to impose or recommend an employment action," the city personnel handbook says.

It also says, "Supervisors and managers should avoid any appearance of favoritism or nepotism in the workplace."

City Hall records show that Redondiez went on unpaid leave May 28. Board of Supervisors clerk Angela Calvillo says she was never given a reason for Redondiez's exit.

Avalos told us that the leave is set to expire at the end of July but that Redondiez is still looking for other work and that her leave could be extended.

Redondiez did not return our calls seeking comment.

Avalos, who is termed out of office in 2016, says that he regrets his behavior and that his family will have to deal with the pain of the affair going public.

"Overall, my relations mean a lot to me, and the trust people have in me means a lot to me," he said. "I have a lot of trust to repair with my family."

Sends his regrets: One official you won't see Thursday at the ribbon cutting for the 49ers' new stadium in Santa Clara is San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee.

"The mayor has back-to-back meetings scheduled at City Hall," said spokesman Francis Tsang.

Tsang dismissed the suggestion that there could be a message in the mayor's decision to miss the ceremony. He noted that Lee has been to Levi's Stadium several times as construction proceeds.

"He intends go to games as well," Tsang said.

It's just that Santa Clara is a bit of a drive, Tsang said - and it is a workday.

"He has a lot of issues to work on, like housing and transportation," Tsang said.

The mayor will not be going to the 49ers' black-tie gala Saturday night, either.

"He's not a black-tie kind of guy," Tsang said.