Candlestick Park To Come Down By Wrecking Ball After SF Residents Worry Over Implosion Risks
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- A plan to implode Candlestick Park is now off the table after several hundred San Francisco residents opposed the idea citing health and environmental risks.
Development group Lennar Corporation announced the 54-year-old stadium will be demolished by a wrecking ball to make way for a new high-end shopping center, hotel and housing complex.
Environmentalists feared the noise and the spread of toxic dust if the stick were to be imploded.
Last week, a Bayview-Hunters Point neighborhood group launched a petition to prevent Lennar from demolishing the stadium by implosion.
The petition, which has about 800 online signatures, said imploding the stadium would release a dust plume that would endanger the health of Bayview residents, especially with the swirling winds the Candlestick area is known for.
The wrecking ball demolition begins next week and will take two months, compared to an implosion which would have taken 20 seconds.