Candlestick's impending implosion raises health concerns

In a debate over plans to implode legendary stadium Candlestick Park in San Francisco, residents nearby fear what the demolition could mean for their health.

The stadium fans affectionately called "The Stick" opened in 1960. It was the scene of both great games and great shows, but now it's nothing more than an empty shell waiting to be demolished.

The stadium was built with cancer-causing compounds like asbestos and lead paint, which must be removed before a blast brings it down.

Other stadiums like Seattle's Kingdome, have been safely imploded in the past in more commercial districts. But Candlestick's neighbors are concerned that the area's swirling, unpredictable winds could disperse a cloud of toxic dust. Shirley Moore, vice president of the Bayview Hill Neighborhood Association, lives right next door.

"The particulates in the dust will seep into the cracks and crevices in people's homes," Moore said. "They have brought a health threat to our doors."

Lennar Corporation plans to build a massive mixed-use development on the site. It will bring some 12,000 housing units, a high-end shopping mall and 10,000 permanent jobs to the area. Lennar is trying to get a permit to implode the stadium.

At a community meeting Monday night, a representative for Lennar downplayed concerns over dangerous dust.

"Conventional demolition or the implosion option does not lead to any risk to health," Lennar official B.H. Bronson Johnson said at the meeting.

But many living nearby, most of whom are minorities, feel their fears are falling on deaf ears.

"I think it's a ... 'black lives matter' situation," said Marlee-I Hand, who lives nearby. "I think that environmental justice is something they don't consider in poor black neighborhoods."

Candlestick's neighbors said they have good reason for concern. In 2008, the same developer was fined more than $500,000 following a construction project in a Bay Area naval shipyard when asbestos-filled dust settled into the nearby neighborhood. Still, the president of Lennar's Bay-area urban division said public safety in the Candlestick tear-down is his top priority.

"I've heard the concerns ... and we believe that it's really important to ensure that we are indeed dealing with it in not only the most efficient manner but in the safest manner for the community," Lennar Urban President Kofi Bonner said.

Lennar insists all hazardous materials will be removed from the park before they implode the structure. The city of San Francisco must make the final decision on whether Candlestick will be torched or snuffed out some other way.