Max Smiley
Well-known member
San Francisco -- The organizers of Saturday's big professional motorcycle race at Pacific Bell Park are stuck with 6,000 cubic yards of dirt and no place to dump it.
The event construction team that smothered the Giants' baseball diamond with an all-dirt track for the THQ World Supercross GP met neighborhood resistance Sunday when workers tried to move the soil to a private parking lot at Candlestick Park, near a residential area called Bayview Heights.
City officials stopped the trucks when they discovered that Clear Channel, which produced the nearly sold-out race, didn't have permits to move that much dirt.
It took 450 truckloads to fill up Pac Bell Park for Saturday, and on Sunday witnesses said event crews had managed to move only about 20 or so truckloads to the Candlestick lot before they were stopped. For now, they've left the rest of the dirt at another lot near Pac Bell Park, but that's not a long-term answer.
Lenny Fuller, Clear Channel's director of operations for construction, said he hoped to store the dirt near Candlestick Park until he needs it again for a future Supercross race in the Bay Area. He didn't know how long that would be.
Fuller didn't seek city permission to use the private lot because he never needed such approval in other cities, he said.
By Monday afternoon, Fuller's crews were still wrangling with City Hall over whether they needed approval and how to get it. Fuller had 40 truckers waiting on the job.
Meanwhile, residents raised questions about why they hadn't been told about the plan to move hundreds of truckloads through their neighborhood starting around 8 a.m. Sunday.
"This is not the way to deal with the neighbors, by keeping them in the dark," said Shirley Moore, 53, who lives on Ignacio Street. "And we have some environmental concerns about where the dirt comes from."
Fuller said he wasn't sure where the soil came from, other than somewhere in the East Bay.
Mohammed Nuru, the deputy director of the Department of Public Works, said the city planned to take samples to a lab for analysis to ensure it had no dangerous contaminants such as lead.
Supervisor Sophie Maxwell, who represents the Bayview District and was called by neighbors to the Candlestick parking lot Sunday, said the dirt should be moved away from the neighborhoods.
"Our concern was that this is unidentified dirt," Maxwell said. "People are going to be breathing this dirt."
As for how all that dirt affected the Pac Bell Park field, Jorge Costa, senior vice president for ballpark operations, said the recovery work would take two to four weeks.
"We are cleaning up like after any big stadium-wide event," Costa said.
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:rolleyes
The event construction team that smothered the Giants' baseball diamond with an all-dirt track for the THQ World Supercross GP met neighborhood resistance Sunday when workers tried to move the soil to a private parking lot at Candlestick Park, near a residential area called Bayview Heights.
City officials stopped the trucks when they discovered that Clear Channel, which produced the nearly sold-out race, didn't have permits to move that much dirt.
It took 450 truckloads to fill up Pac Bell Park for Saturday, and on Sunday witnesses said event crews had managed to move only about 20 or so truckloads to the Candlestick lot before they were stopped. For now, they've left the rest of the dirt at another lot near Pac Bell Park, but that's not a long-term answer.
Lenny Fuller, Clear Channel's director of operations for construction, said he hoped to store the dirt near Candlestick Park until he needs it again for a future Supercross race in the Bay Area. He didn't know how long that would be.
Fuller didn't seek city permission to use the private lot because he never needed such approval in other cities, he said.
By Monday afternoon, Fuller's crews were still wrangling with City Hall over whether they needed approval and how to get it. Fuller had 40 truckers waiting on the job.
Meanwhile, residents raised questions about why they hadn't been told about the plan to move hundreds of truckloads through their neighborhood starting around 8 a.m. Sunday.
"This is not the way to deal with the neighbors, by keeping them in the dark," said Shirley Moore, 53, who lives on Ignacio Street. "And we have some environmental concerns about where the dirt comes from."
Fuller said he wasn't sure where the soil came from, other than somewhere in the East Bay.
Mohammed Nuru, the deputy director of the Department of Public Works, said the city planned to take samples to a lab for analysis to ensure it had no dangerous contaminants such as lead.
Supervisor Sophie Maxwell, who represents the Bayview District and was called by neighbors to the Candlestick parking lot Sunday, said the dirt should be moved away from the neighborhoods.
"Our concern was that this is unidentified dirt," Maxwell said. "People are going to be breathing this dirt."
As for how all that dirt affected the Pac Bell Park field, Jorge Costa, senior vice president for ballpark operations, said the recovery work would take two to four weeks.
"We are cleaning up like after any big stadium-wide event," Costa said.
==============
:rolleyes
