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Former Mayor, Warriors Exec Face Off Over Planned SF Arena

SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS)—A former San Francisco mayor and Warriors team president faced off on Tuesday night in one-on-one debate over the planned development of a new arena along the San Francisco waterfront.

Former city mayor Art Agnos, representing the San Francisco Waterfront Alliance, and Warriors President Rick Welts went head-to-head in the debate hosted by the Portero Hill Democratic Club about the stadium plans at Piers 30-32 along the Embarcadero.

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Agnos told the crowd the plan to build an arena, along with 75,000 square feet of retail space, is being rushed and described the retail portion of the plans for the Piers as a shopping mall.

"This is the biggest project ever built in the history of San Francisco, being processed in the shortest period of time," he said.

Welts countered that the plans included an added 6.5 acres of open space and defended the retail component, which he said would be comparable to shops in the Ferry Building.

"This is a privately funded project. This is not Sacramento. They just agreed to spend $250 million to underwrite an arena there. We are going to bring $1 billion of private equity and bring this back to life for the people of San Francisco and the entire Bay Area," he said.

The Warriors hope to have the new arena ready for the 2017 NBA season.

(Copyright 2013 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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