The Zong

Gavin Newsom and his stadium crew are coming correct this time, and what could have been a hastily put-together scramble for redemption looks on the face of it like a decent redevelopment plan for Hunters Point. The Mayor says it can be privately financed, which might actually get the attention of John York, who often trucks like an accountant with three mortgages.

The drawings themselves look kinda like something out of Reading Rainbow…

Cue Lavar Burton: “And the people flocked to Hunters point, eyes full of wonder, to the sound of crowds cheering and the fresh, pungent smell of the Bay, newly cleansed of its radioactive waste.”

The new map of how Hunter’s Point will look in Newsom’s mind includes parks, artist’s studios, and affordable housing, and reactions in the city have been somewhat positive, except for grumpy old Glenn Dickey.

The 49ers were born in San Francisco, but in the 61 years since, the fan base has moved away from The City. Precise figures aren’t available, but it’s believed less than 10 percent of season ticket-holders live in San Francisco. The great bulk of fans is on the Peninsula or in the South Bay.

Precise figures aren’t available, but I believe that nobody has read the Examiner or Glenn Dickey since George Moscone was still alive.

Anyhow, this plan is still kind of pie-in-the-sky until someone can come up with a firm estimate on the Superfun(d) cleanup of the shipyard out there, both time and money-wise.

“The big risk is that if there is a disagreement between the local government and the military about the actual cost of the cleanup, how much the city gets will depend on the strength of the congressional district where the base is located,” said Saul Bloom, executive director at Arc Ecology, a local nonprofit that helps communities plan for the closure and the cleanup of military bases. “The Navy will want to get out on the cheap, and the city wants to get the funding it needs to get the job done.”

Bloom acknowledged that the city is in a good position given that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, both Democrats, want the shipyard developed and have expressed a desire to keep the 49ers in San Francisco.

But the remaining cleanup cost will require major appropriations. The Navy estimates that over the next 10 years, it would need to spend $500 million, and it predicts that figure would go up by as much as $75 million if the city took over and tried to expedite the work.

I smell pork!

Anyhow, there are other concerns, not the least of which is a lack of freeway access, although that could truly go either way for me. Candlestick Park is close to a freeway, and all that does is move all the traffic to the freeway. I’m no trafficologist, but something tells me people will take public transportation to this new park if it is made readily available. Go to a game at Pac Bell Park and watch the trains come in. Better yet, get on a train. It’s like Japan on those things.

The good news for San Francisco is that the redevelopment may actually happen even if John York decides that he’d rather be closer to the Olive Garden in Santa Clara. It’s possible that Hunters Point will become a “nice” place to go hang out in this lifetime, with parks and waterfront promenades and ugly-ass condos.

My question is this: why did the government of San Franistan wait so goddamn long to make with the right plan? Did you really have to wait until York threatened to move the team to come up with this stuff? It reminds me of how I used to write papers in college; they were great as long as I waited until two hours before class to write them.

- M.G.