Raiders owner scouts Concord site for new stadium

Oakland Raiders owner Mark Davis took a tour of the old Concord Naval Weapons Station the other day - with an eye toward whether it could be just the place for a new stadium for the team.

"He made no commitments, but my feeling, he liked the looks of the property," said Concord Mayor Dan Helix.

Helix joined Davis and a handful of others on the 90-minute tour Friday, including Michael Wright, who's in charge of the local base reuse authority, and Don Perata, the former state Senate leader who is now advising the Raiders.

Helix said the group checked out most of the 5,000-acre base, which has been decommissioned but is still being cleaned up by the Navy. Concord is hoping to build a number of mixed-use developments there.

The always-fidgety Raiders have been looking around for a new home to replace the Coliseum, which was built in the 1960s and expanded when the team returned from Los Angeles nearly 20 years ago. The Raiders have also been looking at a site in the Dublin area, but we're told it's already spoken for in another development.

Helix said Davis was particularly interested in the Concord site's proximity to the North Concord BART Station, since 30 percent of the team's fans now take BART to games in Oakland. The bulk of the Raiders' base lives in the East Bay.

As for whether Helix thinks a Raiders stadium would be a good fit for Concord, a city of just 124,000?

"I think a stadium there would be a significant addition," he said, "because it would attract a great deal of development."

Split ticket: One of the behind-the-scenes complications of the BART labor talks is the fear that, even if negotiators reach a deal before the Thursday night strike deadline, the rank and file will reject it.

Just look at AC Transit, where drivers rejected a 9.6 percent raise over three years that their leadership had worked out with management.

Yvonne Williams, leader of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 192, suspects the rejection had to do with changes in employees' health care contributions.

"We are a progressive union," Williams said, "and while the changes would have saved some people money, it would have cost others more."

Health care costs are a key issue in the BART talks as well. Privately, both sides in those negotiations tell us they don't have much room left to move.

After a series of take-backs during the recession, workers' expectations for big raises are "really high," said one BART union negotiator, who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the talks.

On the other side, BART directors - who ultimately have to answer to the public - are keenly aware of the recent poll that found 63 percent of Bay Area residents surveyed thought the workers should accept the agency's latest offer.

The poll was paid for by the business boosters at the Bay Area Council, which called for public support to "hold the line on the BART board's latest offer of a 10 percent raise."

Renne riches: Opponents of the proposed 13-story development known as 8 Washington argue that San Francisco doesn't need more condos for the rich on the waterfront.

One of the most vocal critics of condos for the rich has been former City Attorney Louise Renne - who just sold her own condo at the neighboring Golden Gateway complex for $2.2 million.

A fact not unnoticed by 8 Washington supporters.

"First the 8 Washington backers said because we own property there we have conflict, and now it's because we have sold the property," Renne said. "It's a no-win situation."

By the way, Renne says she's not actually leaving the neighborhood - she and her husband are downsizing and have rented a nearby apartment.

On guard: The safest place in Oakland on Monday will be the construction site where eight Habitat for Humanity staffers and AmeriCorps workers were robbed at gunpoint last week in broad daylight.

The 9500 block of Brookfield Court in East Oakland will be awash with cops and Secret Service agents for the visit by former President Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn.

And thanks to the armed robbery Tuesday, security guards will now be a fixture of Habitat construction projects in Oakland - even after the Carters leave.

"We've been in Oakland for 20 years and built or rehabbed 115 homes, and never had anything like this happen," said local Habitat President Janice Jensen. "It really shook us to the core."

The next day, construction resumed - only this time with a guard watching over the site.

As for whether the guard was armed?

"I'm not sure I should answer that question," Jensen said.

This column has been corrected since it appeared in print editions.