NFL Commissioner Sends ‘Grim’ Letter to Oakland Mayor
The Oakland Coliseum, at top. Shutterstock
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Also in our State and Local Weekend Digest: Drone crashes into Buffalo City Hall; Iowa’s awful repeat drunk-driving record; and county supervisor in Virginia attacked by deer.
CITY HALLS | NFL Commissioner Roger Goddell on Friday sent a letter to Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf that painted “a grim picture of the city’s chances of keeping the Raiders from moving to Las Vegas.” Although the city of Oakland sent Goddell a letter outlining a $1.3 billion plan to redevelop the Coliseum complex which would include a new 55,000-seat football stadium and a new ballpark for the A’s, the commissioner’s response said that city’s plan wasn’t “clear and specific, actionable in a reasonable time frame, and free of major contingencies.” NFL owners are preparing to vote on relocating the Raiders to Las Vegas, where a 65,000-seat domed stadium, reliant on taxpayer subsidies, has been proposed. [East Bay Times]
A hobbyist’s drone aircraft crashed through a 23rd story window at Buffalo City Hall last week. Nobody was injured in the incident. No charges were filed because they owner of the device did not intend to commit a crime. [The Buffalo News]
In Wisconsin, the Janesville City Council will decide on Monday whether to repair or remove a historic dam on the Rock River in the city’s downtown area. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources ordered the city to take action after deficiencies in the Monterey Dam were discovered. [The Janesville Gazette]
TRANSPARENCY | A coalition of open government advocates last week launched a new website with salary information for Michigan state workers, but some of the information listed is incorrect according to the state. That includes one Department of Corrections employee who apparently has a $400,000 salary, which prompted a laugh from a spokesman for the Department of Retirement Services, who said "nothing that would drive a salary over $400,000." [MichiganGovernmentSalaries.com; Detroit Free Press]
Where are the boundaries drawn regarding the appropriateness of a county official or agency blocking a constituent on Facebook and other social media platforms? It falls into a legal gray area, which is being tested by a civil rights lawsuit being filed by a resident in Loudoun County, Virginia. [Loudoun Times-Mirror]
TRANSPORTATION | Legislation in Florida’s state Senate threatens to disrupt or perhaps even kill a private high-speed passenger rail project between Miami and Orlando currently being built due to a requirement that its tracks need to be fenced off. The bill has been supported by Citizens Against Rail Expansion, a group opposed to the project. Officials with Brightline, as the rail project is called, say that federal railroad rules don’t mandate fencing because it doesn’t improve safety. [The Miami Herald]
PUBLIC SAFETY | In 2016, at least 40 percent of deadly drunk driving incidents in Iowa involved repeat offenders highlighting the “ongoing struggle to keep drunken drivers off the roads, one in which the state has shown little progress over the past decade.” [The Des Moines Register]
Last week, a member of the Giles County Board of Supervisors in Virginia was attacked by a nine-point buck that he and his wife had raised since it was a fawn. The supervisor struggled with the deer for about 10 minutes, and sustained lacerations, bruises and was gored in the lower legs before his wife shot the animal dead with a pistol. [The Roanoke Times]
ENERGY | With oil and gas prices rebounding, drillers in Colorado are venturing into more urbanized areas of the Front Range. [The Denver Post]
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