The Oakland A’s are exploring using a gondola ski lift to transport fans from downtown to the Port of Oakland’s Howard Terminal, where the team is thinking of building a new ballpark.

Howard Terminal is one of two sites the A’s are looking at for a new ballpark. The challenge, however, is how to get fans from somewhere near BART’s 12th Street/Oakland City Center Station to a ballpark just north of Jack London Square.

One answer: an overhead lift that would sail over I-880 and the Southern Pacific railroad tracks that separate downtown from the port.

“You have to be creative in how you approach these problems in the modern era, where you have transportation gridlock,” said A’s president Dave Kaval.

Crazy as a gondola might sound, the A’s have few other mass transit options for getting fans to Howard Terminal.

BART General Manager Grace Crunican recently slammed the door on the idea of building a new BART station near Howard Terminal, claiming it was technically infeasible — not to mention that the price tag would be in the stratosphere.

Transportation challenges at the port site are a key reason the A’s are taking a renewed look at staying at their current home at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, but in a new ballpark.

Kaval said he still hasn’t given up on the idea of a new BART stop at the port, though an aerial gondola conceivably could be built for far less. It would give fans a spectacular view to boot during a five-minute ride between downtown and a waterfront ballpark.

“If you can make it more of a journey, it’s going to be a draw” for fans, Kaval said.

And though it would hardly top direct BART service to the ballpark, a gondola system could carry anywhere from 4,000 to 6,000 passengers an hour — delivering them to and from either the 12th Street BART Station or from a couple blocks to the south, near Oakland’s City Center and Housewives Market.

An aerial tram could also do wonders for Jack London Square, which is also cut off by the freeway and railroad tracks and has long struggled to draw visitors from downtown Oakland and elsewhere.

Just last year, the Oakland Zoo opened a new $5 million aerial tram to take diners from the visitor center to the hilltop cafe and restaurant. But unlike that system, which carries about eight people at a time, the system the A’s are looking at could carry more than 20 people per gondola. A similar line is being used in a Portland, Ore., neighborhood to move commuters between the city’s South Waterfront and the main campus of Oregon Health & Science University.

Any overhead ride would require approvals from Union Pacific, which controls the train right of way, and Caltrans, which has jurisdiction over the freeway

A’s planners, however, said they don’t think those are insurmountable problems, pointing to BART’s overhead cable car that runs over the freeway near the Coliseum, taking passengers to Oakland International Airport.

Estimates for building the gondola system range anywhere from $50 million to $100 million. And it’s not yet known how much the city would be expected to kick in — if anything — or how much A’s fans would have to pay to ride it.

In the meantime, Kaval appears to be riding high on the idea. We’re told he has been busy talking it up privately with folks in City Hall.

Safe bet: San Francisco County Assessor-Recorder Carmen Chu has been tagged by Mayor Mark Farrell as the latest addition to the city’s retirement board, replacing Realtor Victor Makras, who is moving over to the Port Commission.

Chu’s resume includes stints as a supervisor representing the city’s west side and as a top staffer on former Mayor Gavin Newsom’s budget team.

Chu’s appointment means five of the board’s seven members are now connected to the police and fire departments, whose members have some of the best retirement benefits in the city.

The public safety-connected members include: retired police Capt. Alexander “Al” Casciato; Fire Capt. Joseph Driscoll; Police Sgt. (and Commission President) Brian Stansbury; Commission Vice President Wendy Paskin (wife of former Police Chief and Mayor Frank Jordan); and now Chu, who both works for the city and is married to San Francisco firefighter Scott Hua.

When asked about the appointment, Farrell said, “Carmen Chu is the best person for the job — period.

“She has been an incredible elected official, serving on the Board of Supervisors and as assessor-recorder,” Farrell said. “She has one of the sharpest financial minds in the city, and I cannot think of a better person to serve on the retirement board.”

San Francisco Chronicle columnists Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross appear Sundays, Mondays and Wednesdays. Matier can be seen on the KPIX TV morning and evening news. He can also be heard on KCBS radio Monday through Friday at 7:50 a.m. and 5:50 p.m. Got a tip? Call (415) 777-8815, or email matierandross@

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