Appeal of Warriors' New Arena Rejected by San Francisco Board of Supervisors
The Golden State Warriors can’t even help themselves from winning off the court. The San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously voted to reject an appeal of the team’s environmental impact report that was aimed at preventing construction of the new arena Tuesday, which should pave the way for the Warriors’ move across the bay.
Cristina Rendon of KTVU Fox 2 News reported the decision.
Opposition of the arena has reportedly increased in recent months, with C.W. Nevius of the San Francisco Chronicle noting support has gone down from 61 percent in the summer to 49 percent. Most citizens point to the taxpayer burden for the $29 million in transportation improvements needed and potential crowding of the Mission Bay area.
“It appears they have a helluva lot more lawyers and political operatives than actual supporters,” P.J. Johnston, a spokesman for the arena, said of the opponents, per Nevius. “They still have not turned out the bodies.”
The Warriors announced their plans to move back to San Francisco in May 2012. Their plans included a $500 million arena that was entirely privately financed, a stark contrast from the push for public funding major professional sports teams typically do. The entirety of the project is expected to cost more than $1 billion.
In November, the Mission Bay Alliance filed an appeal hoping to block the arena’s construction, citing myriad factors.
“We are appealing a city committee’s rubber-stamp approval of a disastrous project that will gridlock city streets, pollute Mission Bay neighborhoods, cost the taxpayers millions and threaten live-saving emergency care,” Mission Bay Alliance consultant Bruce Spaulding said in a statement, per Laura Dudnick of the San Francisco Examiner.
As it stands, no one can beat the Warriors this season on or off the court. The move to San Francisco is moving full steam ahead, perhaps only surpassed by the speed with which the Warriors are blitzing past the rest of the NBA.
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