by Jerry Feitelberg

SAN FRANCISCO–The State Lands Commission who filed a lawsuit against Proposition B the measure that limits height development on the San Francisco Waterfront argued in the suit that the state owns the land and that the Port of San Francisco is managed by the Port not by the city. The city said that they will aggressively defend the vote of the citizens of San Francisco who passed Prop B.

This is a different school of thought coming from City Hall as previous to the election the Mayor and some members of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors wanted to see Propositon B or wanted it off the ballot so that the Warriors could have a chance to build a new arena at Piers 30-32. Just before the measure passed the Warriors bought land at Mission Bay from Salesforce and will start construction on the new arena with planned retail, condos, and hotels at that location.

It was also noted that San Francisco’s populaton has grown from 750,000 to a reported 1 million that figure came out on Tuesday which gives incentive to developers, real estate companies and the Lands Commission to try to overturn Prop B as there is a lot riding on getting B overturned financially. No San Francisco mayor came out for Proposition B current of former except Art Agnos who was a advocate to stop highrise building on the Embarcadero when the Warriors touted the idea of a new arena at Piers 30-32.

Former San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom who is California Lt Gov is on the Lands Commission with State Controller John Chiang and Finance Director Michael Cohen are set to fight the City and Prop B. The Commission will be in for a fight against the City and San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera who was a supporter of Proposition B and says the city has jurisdiction on how the port is governed, “With (Tuesday’s) lawsuit, the State’s Land Commission seems to have embraced the notion that any local initiative and by extension, any land use regulation by a Board of Supervisors or Planning Commission affecting Port property is barred by the state and therefore invalid.” said Herrera

Ironically some of the people that Newsom will be going up against to overturn Prop B are the very people who worked for him when he was Mayor. It’s a different turn of events as the strategy to get measure B overturned will take it’s legal twists and angles in this lawsuit, “while the commission respects the power of the initiative as it relates to local and municipal affairs, when it comes to the management of state property including public trust land, the Legislature has specifically delegated the management resposibility for those lands to the San Francisco Port Commission.” said Jennifer Lucchesi an executive officer for the Port Commission.

Piers 30-32 was offered up to George Lucas and Lucas Light and Industries after the Warriors were turned away by the waterfront neighborhood but Lucas who was looking at three cities to move to which included San Francisco, Los Angeles and Chicago didn’t want to sort through San Francisco politics anymore after being forced to move out of the Presidio where his offices were located selected Chicago. Lucas could have moved to Piers 30-32 without the problems the Warriors had to face but left for the Windy City anyway.

Herrera meanwhile said he plans to defend Proposition B tooth and nail to protect Waterfront development, “That view (Lucchesi and the Commission) represents a radical departure in law and practice from land use decision making in San Francisco and elsewhere. While the city must certainly honor it’s obligations as trustee in managing public trust property, it is a legally and practically untenable position to argue that San Francisco’s voters and elected officials have no direct say over how our City’s waterfront is developed” said Herrera.

Jerry Feitelberg is covering the new arena developements for the Golden State Warriors and Sacramento Kings for http://www.sportsradioservice.com