Flash: Yee wants to sell the Cow Palace!By Tim Redmond
Okay, this is pretty radical:
State Sen. Leland Yee has been a bill that would force the Cow Palace, a state-owned operation, to sell 13 acres of land to Daly City. Okay, we've got some problems with that, but basically, the idea is to force the Cow Palace folks to negotiate a deal with a developer for a long-term lease so that neighborhood can get a supermarket and some other amenities.
But now, at the last minute, with only days left in the legislative session, Yee is trying to amend the bill to authorize the sale of the entire site -- 63 acres of public land.
"We were hoping for a lease deal, but that hasn't happened," Adam Keigwin, Yee's press spokesperson, told me. "That neighborhood has no grocery store. The land is currently underutilized. The governor wants us to include the entire parcel in the bill."
So in cooperation with Gov. Schwarzenegger, Yee is preparing to allow the state to sell off 63 acres of public land. That's a huge site, a vast amount of immensely valuable property in one of the densest urban areas in America.
Joe Barkett, CEO of the Cow Palace, is (not surprisingly) upset: "The Cow Palace is an historic institution with wonderful memories for many people," he told me. "To try to sell it off in this manner is a disservice to the community."
Keigwin notes that the bill doesn't mandate that the Cow Palace be torn down; "all it would do is change the ownership." And that might not happen right away; "the governor's office agrees that this might not be the best time to sell."
But the governor and Yee are also looking for cash to address the horrifying budget deficity, and this is one potential source of millions and millions of dollars.
The problem is that once you sell public land, it's gone, forever. And with all the needs in San Francisco and Daly City -- affordable housing, parks, cultural facilities as well as a supermarket -- there ought to be a way to keep this in the public sector. I asked Keigwin about some sort of public development authority, and he agreed that was a nice idea, but "that's never happened at the state level."
Folks: This is a bad idea. I'm in full agreement that the site is underutilized, but I have this visceral opposition to selling off 63 acres of land to a private developer.
And if the Assembly goes along, this will happen in a matter of days.
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Comments (4)
Update: Just talked to Keigwin, who told me he "misspoke" and that Yee isn't going to try to push this bill through in the final week of the session. So we've got a year to derail this and see if there's a better way.
Posted by tim redmond | September 3, 2009 09:07 PM
I like Mr. Redmond's observation about a "search for a better way." I'm sure the community around the Cow Palace has some real needs, but surely the needs of the organizations (some of them communities in and of themselves) that hold significant events, such as the Dickens Faire, there need to be honored, as well. What is the alternative for these groups, and if there is presently none, are there resources to convert or build another venue?
Kit Dalton
Posted by catharine dalton | September 3, 2009 10:59 PM
The site as a whole can be described as underutilized, but the region still needs a venue like the Cow Palace - especially right on a rail line!
What it doesn't need is parking lots. Sell, develop, do whatever you like to the asphalt around the arena. That way folks can take the T to future events there, rather than clogging 880 and 101 on their way to the HP Pavilion
Posted by Josh | September 4, 2009 01:30 PM
I agree that the parking lots are too big. But I think the best approach would be to create a public development authority with the ability to sign long-term leases on the land (and develop only the parts of the land that make sense instead of clearcutting the whole site). That way the public would have a chance to look at what the communities really need -- what sort of retail, what sort of housing, what sort of commercial -- instead of letting a private developer come up with a plan and leaving all of the rest of us to respond and fight.
Posted by tim redmond | September 4, 2009 04:03 PM