Stalled efforts to bring in big donors could put San Francisco taxpayers on the hook for upward of $20 million for the America’s\u00a0Cup.<\/p>\n
With the 55 days of steroidal sailing just six months away, fundraising efforts to cover the estimated $31 million to $34 million cost for police, cleanup, transportation and other expenses have pretty much hit the wall at $14\u00a0million.<\/p>\n
Originally pitched as a competition between as many as 12 international teams, the race is now down to three entries. The shrinking size of the event has helped reduce costs, but it also substantially cut into corporate interest in sponsorships, which city officials originally thought would bring in $300\u00a0million.<\/p>\n
Recreation and\u00a0Park Commission<\/a>\u00a0President\u00a0Mark Buell<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>and his group have managed to raise $9 million from local donors and another $5 million from the race organizers in the form of a loan that may not have to be\u00a0repaid.<\/p>\n Now those sources are about tapped out. So Mayor\u00a0Ed Lee<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>has personally taken up the drive to raise\u00a0money.<\/p>\n “He’s optimistic that with a concerted effort, he can keep fundraising on par with expenses as they come in,” said Lee’s spokeswoman,\u00a0Ch<\/strong>ristine Falvey<\/strong>.<\/p>\n The mayor is also enlisting help from Sen.\u00a0Dianne Feinstein<\/a><\/strong>,\u00a0House Democratic<\/a>\u00a0leader\u00a0Nancy Pelosi<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>and Board of Supervisors President\u00a0David Chiu<\/a><\/strong>.\u00a0<\/strong>In other words, everyone is on this and hoping it works out. But if it ends in a bailout, the feeling at City Hall seems to be that it’s worth\u00a0it.<\/p>\n “Between the money that will come in from tourists and the crowds and the sales taxes it will generate,” Buell said, “I still think that, no matter what, it will come out a boon for the\u00a0city.”<\/p>\n Still, time is short, money is tight – and those who have been working the phones tell us it’s not easy asking for money to help finance a yacht race being put on by\u00a0Larry Ellison<\/a>,<\/strong>\u00a0one of the richest men in the\u00a0world.<\/p>\n Texas treat:\u00a0<\/strong>Publicly, Gov.\u00a0Jerry Brown<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0is calling Texas Gov.\u00a0Rick Perry<\/a>‘s\u00a0<\/strong>three-day trip to try to lure California businesses to the Lone Star State “barely a fart.” But privately, he’s kind of happy about it – figuring the poaching threat plays right into his desire to streamline California’s environmental laws to make the state more business-friendly.<\/p>\n “The stage is set – he’s opened the umbrella wider than any other Democratic governor has ever done before,” said one key aide. “Now he’ll stand back and let the Legislature make their\u00a0moves.”<\/p>\n Betting line:<\/strong>\u00a0Now that San Francisco Mayor\u00a0Ed L<\/strong>ee<\/strong>\u00a0has announced he intends to appoint Supervisor\u00a0Carmen Chu<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>as city assessor, speculation is growing about her likely replacement in District\u00a0Four.<\/p>\n The mayor said he plans to spend the next month hearing from the community and various political constituencies before announcing his pick, but we’re hearing he may be leaning toward Chu’s aide,\u00a0Katy Tang<\/strong>. She is well-regarded in progressive circles and would have a strong chance of being re-elected in a district where Asian Americans make up the\u00a0majority.<\/p>\n Another top contender is former prosecutor\u00a0Suzy Loftus<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>– who not only would be the lone white woman and mother on the board, but is seen as someone not afraid to speak her\u00a0mind.<\/p>\n Burned:\u00a0<\/strong>Peninsula school districts weren’t the only losers in a failed lawsuit against San Mateo County seeking to recover $20 million in lost Lehman Bros. investments – so were the county’s\u00a0taxpayers.<\/p>\n A dozen school districts accused the late county Treasurer\u00a0Lee Buffington<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>of ignoring prudent investment standards by putting so much of their money into Lehman before the company’s 2008\u00a0collapse.<\/p>\n A three-judge state appeals court panel, however, ruled\u00a0otherwise.<\/p>\n So now, in addition to the $20 million loss, taxpayers are on the hook for the county’s legal bills – which, as of Dec. 31, totaled $1.2 million to the high-powered San Francisco law firm Keker and Van Nest, which the county hired to fend off the school\u00a0suit.<\/p>\n Keker was brought in because the county counsel’s office works for both the county and the school\u00a0district.<\/p>\n “That was our point all along,” said winning lawyer\u00a0Stuart Gasner<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>of Keker’s firm – it “was a lot of robbing Peter to pay Paul. What a waste of\u00a0time.”<\/p>\n By the way, there may be more legal\u00a0bills.<\/p>\n Farley Neuman<\/a><\/strong>, the San Francisco attorney who filed the case on behalf of the schools – and who gets paid only if he wins – said he is still mulling an appeal to the state\u00a0Supreme Court<\/a>.<\/p>\n “In our view, there is an important public policy issue here,” he\u00a0said.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n San Francisco Chronicle<\/a>\u00a0columnists\u00a0Phillip Matier<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Andrew Ross<\/a>\u00a0appear Sundays, Mondays and Wednesdays. Matier can be seen on the KPIX-TV morning and evening news. He can also be heard on KCBS radio Monday through Friday at 7:50 a.m. and 5:50 p.m. Got a tip? Call (415) 777-8815, or e-mail\u00a0matierandross@sfchronicle.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n Read more:\u00a0http:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/bayarea\/matier-ross\/article\/America-s-Cup-could-cost-S-F-millions-4265828.php#ixzz2Kayi5L72<\/a><\/p>\n For those of us who still follow the America’s Cup, this is not really a surprise. The Cup is barely recognizable. Sailing it seems is secondary to the events surrounding it. \u00a0How many concerts? How much advertising? Doesn’t all that mean it should be able to stand on it’s own?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Stalled efforts to bring in big donors could put San Francisco taxpayers on the hook for upward of $20 million for the America’s\u00a0Cup. With the 55 days of steroidal sailing just six months away, fundraising efforts to cover the estimated $31 million to $34 million cost for police, cleanup, transportation and other expenses have pretty … Continue reading SAN FRANCISCO AND AMERICA’S CUP WOES<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[632],"tags":[525],"class_list":["post-5444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-americas-cup-34-2","tag-americas-cup-34"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stephenlirakis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stephenlirakis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stephenlirakis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stephenlirakis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stephenlirakis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5444"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stephenlirakis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5444\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5445,"href":"https:\/\/stephenlirakis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5444\/revisions\/5445"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stephenlirakis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stephenlirakis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stephenlirakis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}