Carole Migden
2007-01-19 11:00:00.0
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SAN FRANCISCO -

As a proud San Franciscan, you bet I want the 49ers to stay in The City. I was surprised that this San Francisco paper would so readily let go of our football team that has been a city tradition since 1946.

The 49ers’ namesake comes from the California Gold Rush of 1849, which in less than two years transformed San Francisco from a small settlement of fewer than a thousand inhabitants into a metropolis of 25,000 seeking opportunity. Our city is steeped in the traditions of these roots, be it The City’s 49 Mile Scenic Drive, the Golden Gate Bridge or our five-time Super Bowl champion. As someone who makes San Francisco my home, I want to keep my team.

As a state legislator, however, it is my duty to protect California’s pocketbook and ensure that state funds are used on schools, hospitals, housing and transit. Neighboring communities should not be mortgaging these precious resources to raid a football team and stadium from a nearby area. That is why I introduced SB49, which prohibits a local municipality from using tax breaks and land giveaways just to move a football team.

Last year California, as mandated by the state Constitution, backfilled local governments and school districts nearly $2 billion for redevelopment projects aimed at creating housing and new businesses to revitalize blighted and depressed neighborhoods. SB 49 would prohibit a local government from using this funding mechanism for the purpose of building a football stadium. It is widely held by leading economists that football stadiums are the most expensive construction projects in professional sports while, with an average of just 10 home games a year, they produce the smallest return to the local economy.

SB 49 is a reasonable expansion of existing law prohibiting local agencies from using financial incentives to relocate big-box stores and auto dealerships from other cities in the same market area. When those laws were passed in 1999, the Legislature concluded that it was not in the state’s interest to have large-scale developments playing one community off another, hoping to attract public subsidies to induce their relocations.

Meanwhile, the 49ers have hired a team of high-powered spin doctors and lobbyists who have misinformed the public about the bill and have threatened that SB 49 would force the team to move out of the Bay Area altogether. To this I can only say that U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, newly elected Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Mayor Gavin Newsom and the Board of Supervisors are united and committed to working with the team to provide a world-class venue in San Francisco.

Moreover, collectively we have a responsibility to the southeastern area of our city. Young people from these neighborhoods are literally dying in the streets. We must provide stability, work force training, and jobs to this community in need. The Third Street light rail, having just been completed to connect Bayview-Hunters Point to downtown, is a step forward. We cannot afford to take a step backward and sit on our hands as the 49ers and the accompanying jobs skip town. A new football stadium at the Hunters Point shipyard is a righteous endeavor for the community, especially when compared with the proposed nonresidential site in Santa Clara with existing retail outlets and an amusement park.

I am hopeful that San Francisco’s elected officials will strike a deal with the 49ers to keep the team in San Francisco for another 60 years without wasting tens of millions of state tax dollars. Furthermore, this effort must be part of a larger one to help a neighborhood grow and be enlivened with opportunity.

Sen. Carole Migden represents San Francisco in the California Legislature.