San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a scaled-down development and host agreement for the 34th America’s Cup in San Francisco with warm-up races, the World Series, scheduled to begin next month in Italy and hit San Francisco on August 21.
While Piers 30-32 are back to being pit row, the long-term development rights will remain with the Port of San Francisco as will the $8 million tab to ready the piers for team use. And while the public’s “America’s Cup Village” will remain at Piers 27/29, once again, development rights for Pier 29 will remain with the Port as will the cost of improvements.
We’re still waiting for a reaction from “Waterfront Watch,” the group which filed a lawsuit in an attempt to block, or at least delay, any race related development, but we expect they’ll be okay with the watered-down agreement.
looks like a tent city… as if the 1% are “occupying” the pier.
Yeah, quite the contrast to the original and pre-SF-involvement-and-red-tape-plan.
http://www.som.com/content.cfm/americas_cup_planning_study
Wow… the only thing holding this city back is itself. Or, at least a number of vocal douche bags who prefer to live in the past.
Cool. Looking at the current waterfront construction (e.g. piers 27/29 and Brannan Street Wharf), The City is moving full speed ahead on this, lawsuits be damned. It’s about time.
[Editor’s Note: Keep in mind that neither the Brannan Street Wharf project nor development for the Pier 27 Cruise Ship Terminal were originally tied to the America’s Cup.]
It’s down to FOUR teams, half the America’s Cup staff in SF has been fired and the Port is now on the hook to fund all the development? To quote the late Johnny Carson…el bombo!
I fear the America’s Cup is going to be more of an embarrassment for San Francisco than a showcase event.
I fear the America’s Cup is going to be more of an embarrassment for San Francisco than a showcase event.
Good thing only a handful of people pay any attention to this event or realize it’s happening. This whole boondoggle–especially the fantastical projections of viewership/economic overflow–seemed absurd from the start. The Dennis Connor race with the boat controversy in 1987 was the last one I can remember even hearing a word about– and I was 9 years old then.
America’s cup is a scam: it’s a rolling pirate ship. They roll in, take as much property as they can, and then, “whoopsie”, they “lose” it and someone moves it to another city, where the scam repeats.
Posted by: tipster at January 25, 2012 10:42 AM
Amazing how the pirates lose interest when the booty dries up.
If you consider previous locations of the race — Newport RI, Valencia Spain, Auckland NZ — this is largely a way for second-tier cities to burnish their image among a select class of people. Similar to the “Bilbao effect” of trophy architecture for small cities. I think San Francisco will be OK as a backdrop without going out of its way for the borrowed status.
I wonder if the people predicting the AC will not be a big success are the same ones that predicted that Rincon Hill will be devoid of development for the next 20 years. I’m guessing yes.
Give it a chance peeps. It’s still a year and a half a way until the main event.
You start with a a Cadillac vision but our overly democratic public process gives you a Ford escort. Another lost opportunity.
A Swedish sailor capsized and died practicing in the Bay today (namelink). This event just keeps getting better.
Dang, that is sad. Lets hope that the remainder of the event concludes safely.