1. A new investor has emerged to finance the $1.5 billion Coliseum City project, and would take over for the current investment team headed by Colony Capital, the Trib$ reports. The city of Oakland is expected to make an announcement about the new investor — if the city council agrees to extend an exclusive negotiating agreement on the project. The Trib reports that some councilmembers and Oakland Raiders’ officials have already met with the new financial backer, but Oakland A’s co-owner Lew Wolff has not.
Rebecca Kaplan.
2. Oakland mailboxes were flooded late last week by a hit-piece mailer that attacked Mayor Jean Quan and Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan and was funded by donors of mayoral candidates Libby Schaaf and Joe Tuman. The mailer, funded by an outside group calling itself Citizens for Oakland, also promoted Schaaf, Tuman, and candidate Bryan Parker (although it misspelled Parker’s first name). Schaaf and Tuman have denied involvement with the mailer.
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3. The Oakland Coliseum Authority has tabled a controversial plan to hire former Republican Assemblyman Guy Houston who has been dogged by allegations of fraud and elder abuse, the Trib$ reports. Councilmember Kaplan, who sits on the authority board and who had supported the hiring of Houston to be the authority’s executive director, asked to delay his appointment after news stories explored Houston’s troubled past.
5. Berkeley Councilmember Jesse Arreguin is proposing a new law that would prohibit landlords from banning pets, the Chron reports. Landlord groups strongly oppose the proposal.
