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Saturday, May 18, 2013 | 4:13 a.m.

Posted: 6:32 p.m. Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Some SF residents resistant to Warriors arena plan

Mockup of new arena for Golden State Warriors
Golden State Warriors/City of San Francisco
Mockup of new arena for Golden State Warriors

KTVU.com

SAN FRANCISCO —

While Oakland and East Bay fans have been mourning the potential loss of the Golden State Warriors to San Francisco, not everyone in the city is thrilled with the team moving across the bay.

Supervisors Tuesday afternoon held the first public hearing about the proposed Warriors arena. Some residents living in the area who don't want a new arena for a neighbor were crying foul about the deal.

The Golden State Warriors plan to build a state-of-the-art arena on Piers 30 and 32 in time for the 2017 season.

The new arena was welcome news for neighboring businesses.

"We're excited that this thing came out of nowhere," said HiDive bar owner John Caine. "We like the idea of them coming in."

But as SF supervisors held their first hearing on the project, some San Francisans told officials they felt blindsided.

"It's gonna have a huge environmental impact. I don't think we want this in this neighborhood at all," said San Francisco Juriaj Martanoviz. "I don't think it's a good idea."

Katy Liddell heads the 175-member South Beach, Rincon and Mission Bay Neighborhood Association.

She said residents here are irritated that they weren't consulted about pollution, congestion and crime concerns before the arena announcement.

"People are very upset right now," said Liddell."We want the Warriors in San Francisco. We welcome them with open arms, but we really have grave concerns about putting an arena on 30, 32."

Warriors spokesman P.J. Johnston said the team was taking environmental aspects of the project into consideration.

"There will be lots of open space, lots of greenery and lots of access to the water."

The team is still hammering out a lease agreement with the San Francisco port. Johnston said the team needs to do a lot of outreach.

"We know we need to go out and talk to people individually as well as collectively that live in the neighborhood and really the whole city and we're going to do that," explained Johnston.

An actual design of the proposed arena is still a ways off. The team must sort through the specs and possible size of the project before it can even hire an architect.

An environment study will also have to be approved.

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