Warriors New Arena SF Delayed By UCSF Approval Snag

Mission Bay Alliance Press Release: Mission Bay Alliance Demands Release of Emergency Access Deal Struck Between UCSF and Warriors after City, UCSF Stonewall Public Access City officials claim they do not have a copy of the UCSF-Warriors’ agreement announced last week in a City-issued Press Release while UCSF Remains Unresponsive “What are the City, the Warriors and UCSF trying to hide?” San Francisco -- Opponents of the proposed 18,500-seat Golden State Warriors arena and entertainment center in Mission Bay are demanding the release of the public safety “agreement” struck between the Warriors and UCSF last week after City of San Francisco officials and UCSF have refused to produce any documentation beyond a City-issued press release. In the joint announcement of UCSF’s project endorsement, UCSF Chancellor Sam Hawgood hailed the “agreements” between UCSF, the Warriors and the City as providing necessary safeguards by creating a dedicated transportation fund and a “special circumstances cap” limiting dual events to protect access to emergency services. UCSF’s emergency room sits only 1,000 feet from the proposed stadium. Yet few details about what this agreement actually entailed emerged in the City’s one-page press release. And while a Mission Bay Transportation Improvement Ordinance was introduced at the Board of Supervisors meeting and subsequently made available, both the City and UCSF have refused to provide the agreement between UCSF and the Warriors. The Mission Bay Alliance has formally requested the agreement as a public record, but the City has claimed it does not have a copy. UCSF has yet to respond to a request for the document. “What are the City, UCSF and the Warriors trying to hide by denying public review of an agreement that will impact the health and safety of thousands of UCSF patients and families?” said Sam Singer, a spokesman for the Mission Bay Alliance. “We demand full disclosure of this so-called agreement so that the public can be fully informed of a package that we believe to be no more than a smoke and mirrors’ PR stunt.” The Mission Bay Alliance, a coalition of UCSF stakeholders, employees, healthcare workers and neighbors opposing the Mission Bay arena, is further challenging the media to demand release of these documents. The agreements were broadly and often favorably reported when announced last week – it appears even without any review beyond the City’s released statements. “We’re calling on the hardworking men and women of the news media to dig beneath the released rhetoric and challenge UCSF, the City and the Warriors to provide some answers,” Singer said. “The residents of the City of San Francisco deserve to know what’s really going on beneath the spin and behind closed doors.” This week, the Columbia Journalism Review reported that a San Francisco Chronicle reporter was suspended after it was discovered that he’d published a Warriors’ press release online as his own reporting. Once it came to the Chronicle’s attention, the story was taken down and rewritten and Editor in Chief Audrey Cooper issued an apology and announced an investigation. “This arena project is too massive and too disastrous for it to slip through the cracks without appropriate and vital public scrutiny,” Singer said. About the Mission Bay Alliance The Mission Bay Alliance is a coalition of UCSF stakeholders, donors, faculty, physicians and the working men and women of San Francisco who are concerned about the impact of the proposed Golden State Warriors’ stadium on the future of the vibrant community and medical campus at Mission Bay. The Alliance fully supports the Warriors’ team and congratulates its tremendous championship win. However, the Alliance believes the proposed arena and entertainment center is ill-conceived for this site. For more information about the Mission Bay Alliance, visit http://ift.tt/1cuhvm2.

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