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S.F. seeks Navy's help in effort to keep 49ers
San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 3/8/7 | Robert Selna

Posted on 03/08/2007 8:06:48 AM PST by SmithL

Mayor wants Hunters Point Shipyard transferred to city to speed toxic cleanup -

Mayor Gavin Newsom's office is pushing the Navy to transfer ownership of Hunters Point Shipyard in San Francisco to the city in hope of accelerating a toxic cleanup of the property in time to meet the 49ers' 2012 deadline to build a new football stadium.

In a Feb. 16 memo obtained by The Chronicle, the city proposes to take ownership of the former naval base and assume responsibility for removing most non-radiological toxic material provided that the Navy covers the costs.

The Navy believes the transfer is possible. But questions remain about whether funding is available for a faster cleanup, the exact locations to be cleaned and whether the Navy can meet its obligation to rid the shipyard of radiological waste before turning it over to the city.

The city's responsibility would include dealing with chemical and petroleum contamination and other toxic wastes.

"Our primary objective is to expedite the cleanup and transfer of the shipyard so that we can create the public benefits the property holds, and one of those is the possibility of creating a stadium for the 49ers," said Newsom's base reuse director, Michael Cohen.

Cohen, who wrote the memo, said the Navy's current plan for the cleanup would take 10 more years. About $400 million has been spent so far, and another $500 million is needed to complete the work. The Navy believes a transfer to the city and faster cleanup would cost up to $75 million more. Cohen and Navy officials think Congress might provide that money.

The city wants title to the 500-acre former base as quickly as possible,...

(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 49ers; anytwosomenewsom; baghdadbythebay; breadandcircuses; sanfranciscovalues
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To: Uncle Hal

I have a hard time understanding why any business stays in San Francisco.


61 posted on 03/08/2007 11:46:09 AM PST by SmithL (si vis pacem, para bellum)
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Comment #62 Removed by Moderator

To: SmithL

Oh, *now* you want help?

Kiss my ditty bag.


63 posted on 03/08/2007 1:30:59 PM PST by dsc (There is no safety for honest men except by believing all possible evil of evil men. Edmund Burke)
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To: Uncle Hal
I don't think they're in SF proper now.

Don't they play in South San Fransisco? That's a separate city IIRC.

64 posted on 03/08/2007 1:37:59 PM PST by Dinsdale
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To: Dinsdale

I'm not sure where the city lines are, but the 49er now play at Monster Park (formerly Candlestick) just south of Hunters Point. Both sites are on the map in the original post.


65 posted on 03/08/2007 1:53:20 PM PST by SmithL (si vis pacem, para bellum)
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To: Cruising Speed

About $50 per square foot.


66 posted on 03/08/2007 1:57:37 PM PST by atomic conspiracy (Rousing the blog-rabble since 9-11-01)
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To: SmithL
San Francisco has declared itself to be a “military free zone”.
I think the US Navy should sell the land to San Francisco at fair market value and get the heck out.
67 posted on 03/08/2007 2:02:18 PM PST by R. Scott (Humanity i love you because when you're hard up you pawn your Intelligence to buy a drink)
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To: Dinsdale

They play in the city of SF.


68 posted on 03/08/2007 2:03:34 PM PST by Uncle Hal
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To: Professional Engineer

How about the 49er's pay for it. Geez.


69 posted on 03/08/2007 4:25:46 PM PST by snippy_about_it (Fall in --> The FReeper Foxhole. America's History. America's Soul. WWPD (what would Patton do))
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To: Cruising Speed

Shall we bid $850,000,000?


70 posted on 03/08/2007 4:29:41 PM PST by carolinalivin
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To: JOAT
Okay, lemme get this straight. Close a naval facility so it can be converted into a professional sports arena.

It's closing, regardless of what's to be done with the land. The problem is that the military is exempt from most environmental legislation, so the land has to be cleaned up before anyone else can occupy it.

When a military base closes, jobs leave with it. City officials want to open the land to new businesses that will create jobs. They have an agonizing wait while the military cleans up the site, an under-budgeted process that starts out as a five year plan and usually takes at least ten. I've talked to folks in Long Beach and Vallejo about their frustrations with that process (the Long Beach and Mare Island shipyards, respectively).

The request to the Navy is not unreasonable, and since San Francisco's own congresscritter is the Speaker of the House, the city might have the political juice to pull it off. Now, the reasonableness or wisdom of building a gazillion-dollar new stadium with taxpayer funds, that's a whole 'nother question.

As an Atlantan, this sort of debate just makes me want to kiss Billy Payne and Arthur Blank on the face.

71 posted on 03/08/2007 4:35:35 PM PST by ReignOfError (`)
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To: airborne
And I bet the SF Mayor doesn't see the hypocrisy in all of this.

He's probably running around yelling "who do I have to sleep with to get anything done around here?!?"

-PJ

72 posted on 03/08/2007 4:37:52 PM PST by Political Junkie Too (It's still not safe to vote Democrat.)
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To: Michael.SF.
Google Maps picture of USS Jeremiah O'Brien and USS Pampanito.

-PJ

73 posted on 03/08/2007 4:44:22 PM PST by Political Junkie Too (It's still not safe to vote Democrat.)
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To: Diver Dave
Let me see if I've got this straight... San Francisco/Newsom have a public employee whose job it is to aquire military bases in the city/county of San Francisco. Probably pay him $100,000 plus per year to write these memos.

That wouldn't be out of line. In my post #71 I get a little into the challenges involved and the importance to the city -- we're talking tens of millions of dollars worth of real estate and thousands of jobs. Just dealing with the Presidio alone is a full-time job for at least five years. And the Pentagon is a unique beast, so a specialist would do the job better than a generic urban planner.

74 posted on 03/08/2007 4:45:57 PM PST by ReignOfError (`)
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To: ReignOfError
There was a thread here several months ago that indicated that Pelosi's husband is a major stake holder in the financial arrangements that will transfer Hunter's Point to be developed for a Stadium. That discussion made it look like the fix was already in on this deal and the Pelosi's will "quietly" be the big winners. Anyone else have a recollection of the story?
75 posted on 03/08/2007 4:51:45 PM PST by RedEyeJack
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To: SmithL

LMAO! SF Hates the navy, now they want help?


76 posted on 03/08/2007 4:52:46 PM PST by Fierce Allegiance (RINO = Rudy Is Not Ours! Keep scrubbing, Rudy supporters, the blood won't come off.)
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To: SmithL

Hey...we're the government; and I don't want to give our valuable things away when our debt is already so damend huge!!!!!!


77 posted on 03/08/2007 4:53:48 PM PST by bannie
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To: bannie

dame-nd
dam-end
da-mend

take your pick.

:-D


78 posted on 03/08/2007 4:54:42 PM PST by bannie
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To: JimRed
Why should the Navy do ANYTHING for a city in which hatred of all things military runs rampant?

But. it's for the children...

79 posted on 03/08/2007 6:30:59 PM PST by FDNYRHEROES (Always bring a liberal to a gunfight)
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To: Political Junkie Too

Thanks. For years the Jeremiah O'Brian was kept at the pier near Red's Java hut, just south of the Bay Bridge. I knew they moved it but did not know where.


80 posted on 03/09/2007 7:36:16 AM PST by Michael.SF. (In this (political) War, Republicans are gutless appeasers. -- Ann Coulter)
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