Warriors San Francisco Waterfront Arena Debate To Begin
SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) — With the Golden State Warriors looking to build a new waterfront basketball arena, lawmakers in Sacramento will begin debating a bill on Monday that that could have an impact on the project.
Arena opponents are criticizing AB 1273; the California Assembly bill proposed by Phil Ting, D-San Francisco, which would clear the way for the development the stadium along Piers 30-32 along the city's waterfront. They claim the bill strips the Bay Conservation and Development Commission of any oversight of the project.
Warrior's Waterfront Stadium Debate To Begin
"We really want to see the short cuts stop and let this project roll forward with the full and fair scrutiny that any other project of its size and significance would get in San Francisco," Gayle Cahill, the San Francisco Waterfront Alliance president, said.
The whole process, she said, feels rushed.
Golden State Warriors spokesman, P.J. Johnson, counters that AB 1273 simply updates the legislation for the San Francisco Waterfront. Regulators, he said, will still have their say.
"They absolutely retain their authority. They will still be voting on this project—thumbs up or thumbs down—and it does nothing to cut them out of the process," he said.
"It's the same people, by and large, who voice their opposition to avoid doing anything on Piers 30-32 and essentially want to leave it as a dilapidated parking lot, which is what it is today."
The Warriors hope to have the 17,500-seat arena built in time for the 2017 NBA season.
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