12:20 PM -- The Mercury News of San Jose reported this weekend that a select few got a glance at the Cisco Field proposal -- not for the stadium's innards, but for the surrounding "village" that's to include retail and residential development.
The first view of A's owner Lew Wolff's proposed 174-acre "ballpark village" emerged Friday, raising immediate concerns about plans for game-day parking and the location of an elementary school close to Fremont's garbage dump.
Parking was expected to be a problem. The school/dump issue -- uh, that's kind of a surprise. Although the dump might be gone by the time the school opens.
The dump is expected to close in two to four years, once its mountain of garbage reaches 150 feet above sea level. The landfill will be capped by layers of clay and soil and be topped with grass.
Quick review: This is all about building an Oakland A's ballpark in Fremont, Calif., basically putting the A's in Silicon Valley territory. Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO) has big plans to load the ballpark with networking technology.
Already replaced as CEO, John Chambers is fully detaching as he plans to step down as Cisco chairman, truly ending his time as the face and voice of the company.