Professor McDaniel Comments on Politics at Play in Push for SF to Buy Theatre Site

KQED NEWS -- Two San Francisco supervisors want the city to buy the site of the old Pagoda Palace Theater in North Beach to help pave the way for a possible future expansion of the city’s Central Subway. The push to purchase the site comes as its owner moves forward on turning the area into a home for 19 luxury condominiums, a move some believe could slow efforts to extend the Central Subway Project all the way to Fisherman’s Wharf. Supervisors Julie Christensen and Scott Wiener on Thursday directed the San Francisco Department of Real Estate to appraise the site so that city officials could start talks with the owner. Christensen’s proposal could help her election chances, said Jason McDaniel, a political science professor at San Francisco State University. “It clearly signals her strong support for the Central Subway, which is very popular in that district and especially in the Asian-American community,” McDaniel said in an e-mail.