Wikipedians have done a great job writing about the port.
The port's website is http://sfport.com and their address is Pier 1 The Embarcadero, San Francisco, CA 94111.
The Port of San Francisco owns seven miles of waterfront real estate facing the San Francisco Bay. Most of this is former tideland. This land is subject to a "Public Trust" under common law. The Public Trust Doctrine on SPUR
The water itself is governed by the Bay Conservation and Development Commission, not the port.
Corruption
A civil grand jury report published in June, 2014 found a lot of political influence and real estate developer influence in the way things go down with the port.
Here are a few juicy quotes:
- Planning by the Port and the Mayor’s Office for the America’s Cup failed to include agreements that protected the City’s interests and failed to maximize the benefits that the City might have achieved. The usual agreement for sharing revenue from the proceeds of use of Port facilities was not included in the agreement.
- A new cruise ship terminal, built at considerable Port cost, was made available with no return to the City even though the America’s Cup sponsors promoted concerts and viewing suites that potentially resulted in large profits for the sponsors and nothing to the Port.
- The Port and the City lost a combined $11.5M on the event.
Proposed Golden State Warriors Arena
Although no longer planned for construction on Piers 30-32, the trajectory of the proposal merits attention.
- Attempted fast-tracking of the approval process by the Mayor’s Office to have a “legacy project”
- Very little outreach to community members and neighborhood groups that would have been affected
- Increased traffic flow and transit needs on the Embarcadero were glossed over
- Hiring former mayoral staffers to facilitate the approval process, leading to the impression that the public role was secondary to the Mayor’s interest.
- Strongly pushed for approval by the Mayor’s office, including testimonials in TV commercials by the Mayor.
- Substantial contributions were made to non-profit organizations by the developer. These organizations subsequently endorsed the project.
- Defeated in two ballot measures by a 2:1 margin" [KQED]
News & stuff
- 2014-06-19: "S.F. Port: Too Much Private Money, Too Little Public Input, Grand Jury Finds" KQED
