Latest twist in Oakland A's lease saga: over-editing City attorney's 'cleanups' alter Coliseum agreement

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In the latest twist in the saga of the Oakland A's stadium lease, the city has once again altered the agreement - delivering to the organization a new set of unexpected revisions that were being reviewed by the team late Friday.

Jon Streeter, an attorney for the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Authority who spent 14 months negotiating the lease with the A's and Major League Baseball, said the city's latest move was frustrating, but he expected the city and A's to settle their differences over the weekend.

The city "is being very reasonable and the A's are being very reasonable," Streeter said. "We're going to have something to announce within a day or so."

The trouble kicked up again Thursday evening, Streeter said, when City Attorney Barbara Parker made what she called "cleanups" to the 64-page agreement and sent the changes to the A's executives and Streeter, as well as city and county leaders.

The lease 'cleanups'

The "cleanups" were approved by the Oakland City Council in its meeting Wednesday, in which the council voted 5-2 to approve the lease with seven changes, including "cleanups" characterized as changes to syntax and grammar. But when Parker sent the revised document on Thursday night, it contained more of what Streeter said were substantial changes.

"The city attorney interpreted that to mean that she could go back and insert changes to the language that she had been attempting to get the A's to agree to for weeks but they had rejected repeatedly," Streeter said. "This is the kind of thing that we are now going to have to smooth over."

In total, Parker made 22 mostly minor changes, including the seven the council approved. The lease has already won the approval of the Coliseum Authority, a joint city and county agency that acts as the A's landlord.

Darryl Stewart, left, and Nate Miley, the chair of the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Authority, right, react to the vote during Wednesday's council meeting. The Oakland City Council voted to revise the proposed lease agreement with the Oakland Athletics on Wednesday night, July 16, 2014, during a special session in Oakland, Calif. The revised lease must be approved by the Coliseum Authority and the Athletics now. less Darryl Stewart, left, and Nate Miley, the chair of the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Authority, right, react to the vote during Wednesday's council meeting. The Oakland City Council voted to revise the ... more Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle Buy photo Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 10 Caption Close Latest twist in Oakland A's lease saga: over-editing 1 / 10 Back to Gallery

Parker's actions, Streeter said, risked upsetting the A's organization. The A's owners have repeatedly said they did not want to renegotiate the deal after it was approved by the Coliseum Authority.

In an interview, A's co-owner Lew Wolff said he wasn't aware that Parker had submitted the revised document Thursday since he had asked team executives and attorneys to review the city's revisions.

"What's happening now is that ... our people are looking over whatever the contingencies were, and they'll give me a recommendation of what we want to do," Wolff said.

Streeter said that while Oakland attorneys may have thought they were making tiny changes to the deal, they did not understand the context of the negotiations he had conducted with the team for 14 months.

'Benefit of the doubt'

"To give them the benefit of the doubt - and the way that this was done, frankly, I am not sure that the benefit of the doubt is deserved - I think that they thought they were doing some tweaks without understating that they had been the subject of some very vigorous, vigorous bargaining," Streeter said.

As an example, Streeter pointed to a sentence acknowledging that the A's were spending money on a new scoreboard. The Coliseum Authority agreed to the language. Parker deleted it.

Removing the sentence, Streeter said, would not change the terms of the deal. But the line was included to make clear how control of the scoreboard had shifted.

"It is an essential part of it, so for someone to come in later and strike it from the agreement - I have no idea why they want to do this," Streeter said. "And that kind of thing in a contract can be important to later interpretation if there is a dispute about who is responsible for this and who is responsible for that."

Alex Katz, a spokesman for Parker, took issue with Streeter's interpretation of the city's changes.

"The document we sent to the A's, (Coliseum Authority) and county last night is consistent with the motion approved by the council," Katz said. "And that includes drafting cleanups, including this example."

But council President Pat Kernighan, who proposed the changes approved by the council and reviewed Parker's changes, said that after speaking with Streeter on Friday she was willing to compromise.

"There's some flexibility there," Kernighan said. "This is all something that we can all work out, that frankly (Streeter) can work out."

A spokesman for Mayor Jean Quan said the mayor had not reviewed the changes before Parker sent them.

'Not butting in'

Councilman Dan Kalb, who agreed Wednesday to modify the lease, said he had not reviewed Parker's changes, but said the city attorney had the right to push for a better deal.

"We are not butting in," Kalb said. "We are doing our job, and this should not be surprising to anyone. We are not a rubber stamp."

Councilman Larry Reid, who voted against the changes and said the city should have approved the original lease, said he didn't understand why the council was trying to second guess the Coliseum Authority, where Reid represents the city.

"The city of Oakland is not responsible for negotiating for the lease agreement," Reid said. "It is just mad confusion that is going on in this institution that I am a part of."