No Rehab for Piers 30-32
If anyone really thought the America’s Cup could be pulled off without facing a lawsuit or two, they don’t know San Francisco politics. In what appears to be an attempt at a shocking coup de grâce, former president of the Board of Supes Aaron Peskin filed a suit last week — the day before the deadline to challenge the EIR — on behalf of Waterfront Watch, claiming "procedural violations" in the way the EIR was developed and approved. But as sailing journalist Kimball Livingston wrote on his blog, Blue Planet Times, "Relax. The America’s Cup is going to be fine."
The bigger and more disturbing news came on Monday when it was announced that the City and Event Authority scrapped plans to rehab dilapidated Piers 30-32 — with Larry Ellison footing the bill to the tune of $80 mil — in favor of "consolidating" the venue plan to Pier 80 for the teams and Piers 27-29 for the Race Village. So now, instead of having the heart of the event on the Embarcadero, it’s been relegated to the southern waterfront — an area that needs the influx of jobs and cash, to be sure, but one that is far from ideal — and Piers 30-32 will continue to remain an eyesore since no self-respecting developer will touch it with a 15-ft spinnaker pole. We don’t know what the City’s gameplan was, but it certainly seems to be a case of the City cutting off its nose to spite its face.
