The Budget Committee of the BOS voted last night to move the America's Cup agreement on to the full board for a vote on Tuesday, February 28. The biggest sticking point, Pier 29, had been taken off the table earlier in the day. There's still further clarifications needed to the local hire provisions and the 1% transfer tax on future condo sales but encouragingly, the ACOC promised to pay $12M by the end of June towards their $32M commitment. The committee was mostly concerned about how much the city would lose financially over the six decades of the agreement. We watched part of the 5-hour proceedings on SFGovTV, and damn, they were dull. Everyone's so polite! Although one speaker challenged the committee to "not lose this like you did the 49ers." In a "we share your pain" moment, a speaker from the Golden Gate Conservancy reported that they still had not come an agreement with the Event Authority to use Crissy Field for spectators. Otherwise, the public comments were mostly about local hiring practices and not finance, plus the usual "how great the America's Cup is going to be" boosters going on about how sailing is not a rich man's sport. To which we'd add "but the America's Cup is."
· SF Advances Plan For America's Cup [SF Gate]
· America's Cup Coverage [Curbed Sf Archives]
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