San Francisco has its own method of dealing with unwanted shipyards by turning them into shopping malls .At least that's what Flower Power city has done with the Candlestick Point/Hunters Point yard.
The shopping mall, officially termed "commercial and retail space" covering almost 4 million square feet, will be the anchor of a residential area of 10,500 homes. Costing $7 billion and due for completion in 2032, the project is expected to bring in $50 million in tax payments. Construction would create 5,000 jobs and create $8 billion in construction value – while the completed project will have an annual payroll of $750 million for 10,000 jobs.
There is one nagging difficulty with the shipyard, its history. A US naval base during World War Two (and vacated by the navy in 1994) the 640 acre site has been contaminated by all the usual muck associated with this type of activity, such as heavy metals and pesticides. Methane has also been knocking around.
But Hunters Point was also the transfer point for the components of the first atomic bombs dropped on Japan, with the ill-fated USS Indianapolis taking the materials to Hawaii. Thereafter, it seems that the military had a nuclear fascination with the city, because the navy's Radiation Defense Laboratory was established there.
Radiation there certainly was, as tests and experiments were carried out at the laboratory over the years to determine the effects of fall-out. Some environmental groups claim that cesium and strontium-90 are still present. A mysterious underground fire that broke out in 2001 and a surface fire a year earlier are said to have released more than just smoke from chemicals.
A Federal EPA report says the navy has undertaken considerable detoxification and cleaning procedures. The report also says: "The Navy has also conducted numerous removal actions to address soil and buildings contaminated with radionuclides, principally radium 226 and cesium 137. Early actions to address radiation contamination on the shipyard are ongoing."
Local communities allege that illnesses are on the rise, with a letter to the EPA director from a community leader saying there have been increases in asthma, cancer and infant mortality.
The lesson to be learned from this is that whether in Los Angeles or San Francisco, messing about with defunct shipyards inevitably leads to huge headaches for all concerned, with the taxpayer footing the bill in the end.