S.F. Marathon hits Gate Bridge hurdle
The future of foot races over the Golden Gate Bridge takes center stage this week, as bridge directors will be asked to ban shutdowns of northbound traffic like the ones that accommodate the San Francisco Marathon.
“The world has changed,” said Denis Mulligan, general manager of the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District. “In the wake of car terror attacks on Nice, London and most recently Barcelona, we can no longer mix cars and people on the
road.”
For years, the bridge district has allowed the San Francisco Marathon in July and Rock ’N’ Roll half marathon in April to use two northbound lanes of the bridge as part of their courses, with runners separated from traffic by cones.
After the use of vehicles in terror attacks in France and London, bridge officials decided that cones alone were not enough. So when thousands of runners gathered to take part in the marathon the morning of July 23, they closed the northbound lanes to virtually all traffic for three hours.
“It was a one-time decision,” Mulligan said. “The race was just weeks away. It was sold out, and people were coming in from all over the country.”
Now, with the race in the rearview mirror, district staffers are calling for a “reaffirmation” of the old policy of keeping the bridge open to cars in both directions — a move that would leave marathon organizers with two options.
One would be inconvenient, the other potentially costly.
Option one would be to stagger race start times and have the runners stick to the bridge’s protected sidewalks, which is what smaller races do.
Option two would be for race organizers to find a way to erect their own protective barrier to separate two lanes of traffic for runners — and still allow two lanes of northbound traffic during a race. Afterward, it would be on the organizers to take the barrier down.
“We would be receptive to that,” Mulligan said.
While the barricade option could prove both expensive and logistically challenging, marathon spokesman Sam Singer said organizers are “prepared to do that” if it preserves the 40-year-old race.
“The Golden Gate Bridge is an iconic and essential part of the San Francisco Marathon, in the way that the Tour de France wouldn’t be the same if it didn’t end on the Champs-Elysees,” Singer said.
At least some of the the bridge directors appear to be listening.
“I’m not ready to say ‘yes’ to saying ‘no’ to the race,” said San Francisco Supervisor Jeff Sheehy, who sits on the bridge board. “It’s an important civic event that brings in thousands of people from around the world.
“We have 11 months to work on this,” he said. “There is no reason to rush.”
In the huddle: It’s still the preseason, but Santa Clara officials are suiting up for a full contact game with the hometown 49ers — and they’re putting some new players on their team.
First up: Former Oakland City Administrator Deanna Santana will be coming on board as Santa Clara’s new city manager — a job that includes serving as the Levi’s Stadium Authority executive director.
Santana has spent the past three years as city manager in neighboring Sunnyvale, but may be best known as the hardnosed Oakland city administrator who left in 2014 after a falling-out with then-Mayor Jean Quan.
“I have a lot to learn,” Santana, who doesn’t watch football, told us Tuesday.
Santana confirmed that she is talking with Scott McKibben, head of the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Authority, about taking the newly created job of chief stadium authority operator at Levi’s. The position will oversee the city’s partnership with the 49ers.
You can understand why McKibben would be looking around — he’s facing the likelihood of the Raiders, Warriors and A’s all leaving the Coliseum complex in the next few years. He declined to comment to us about the Santa Clara job.
The hope is that a professional sports manager like McKibben could help bring an end to the rancor between the 49ers and City Hall over the costs of managing Levi’s Stadium. There’s been no shortage of that.
A new city-commissioned audit concludes that the Niners owe Santa Clara $1.8 million for public safety and other stadium costs that the city has shelled out over the past three years — findings that the team ridiculed as both “riddled with errors” and an attempt by Mayor Lisa Gillmor to generate headlines.
“In fact, they were forced to admit major errors and make significant changes to the draft report,” said team President Al Guido, referring to the city’s preliminary audit that described an even bigger problem. He said the city had “wasted over $200,000” on the audit.
The feuding comes as the city and team are in arbitration over the Niners’ request for a $5 million reduction in their annual stadium rent, which now totals about $25 million.
Gillmor confirmed that the city’s new Levi’s team is intended to take a more aggressive posture toward the Niners.
The new players’ pay doesn’t match NFL standards, but they are not coming cheap.
Santana will be paid $424,486 annually, including car and housing allowances.
The salary for McKibben, who now earns about $250,000, hasn’t been divulged — but Santana said it would be “competitive.”