Opponents of the 49ers' stadium plan said that a poll
they conducted before stadium campaign manager Jack Davis'
"infamous" birthday party "showed voters soundly rejecting"
the proposed $525M stadium-mall complex, according to
Opatrny & Raine in the S.F. EXAMINER. The poll, which was
conducted in early April, showed 29% favored a stadium
partially funded by the public, while 60% opposed the plan,
and 11% were not sure(S.F. EXAMINER, 5/10).
POST-PARTY BITS: Fallout from Davis' party continued to
receive much of attention, some of it national. In a N.Y.
TIMES front-page feature, Tim Golden wrote, "The city's
biggest political battle in months -- over a campaign run by
Mr. Davis to win zoning rights and public funds for a new,
$525-million football stadium complex -- has suddenly been
thrown into doubt. Its ever-suave Mayor, Willie L. Brown,
Jr., has led municipal leaders in a mad dash for political
cover" (N.Y. TIMES, 5/10). In S.F., Katherine Seligman
wrote that Davis' party was "the most talked-about social
event from here to New York" (S.F. EXAMINER, 5/11). In
S.F., Edward Epstein wrote that a stadium campaign stop in
Chinatown Saturday that the 49ers said was the "kickoff of a
campaign aimed at wooing" the city's Chinese American
voters, "was dogged by second-guessing and by varying
accounts of what led up to" Davis' apology for the party
(S.F. CHRONICLE, 5/11).
