Residents prefer piecemeal deconstruction to implosion.
The dilemma about how to best get rid of Candlestick Park is heating up in the Bayview. The city of San Francisco is looking at whether to allow the developer to tear it down piece by piece or to implode the thing in one big blast. ABC7 News spoke to residents who believe there is really only one good option.
Candlestick Park will either be taken down mechanically piece by piece or with explosives, the same way the Kingdome in Seattle was destroyed 15 years ago. Implosion is said to be a much faster and cheaper option.
At a community meeting held Monday night, Bayview residents spoke out. An overwhelming majority voiced opposition to an implosion so close to their homes. They worry about the health effects from all the dust.
“We’re talking about silica dust which is essentially the concrete, the concrete dust, which we know will raise rates of asthma, of heart disease, of cancer,” Julia Barber of the Bayview Hill Neighborhood Association said.
A representative with Lennar, the developer that is asking for the implosion permit, says the process is safe. The open space surrounding the stadium as well as the west to east winds make it a good candidate.
“The conventional demolition, or the implosion option, do not lead to any risk to health, otherwise we would not pursue them,” B.H. Bronson Johnson from Lennar Urban said.
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