Some three decades since the Cow Palace began hosting the Crossroads of the West’s annual gun shows, the facility’s board voted unanimously Tuesday to discontinue all gun shows at the Daly City venue as of Jan. 1, 2020.
Barbara Wanvig, vice president of the Cow Palace board, said the seven-member board’s decision comes after months of dialogue with gun control advocates and seemed fitting given the mood of the public at this time. Though board members considered adding to the resolution a section stating no gun used in a violent incident has been traced to a gun show held at the Cow Palace, they opted to vote on the item separately at a future meeting, said Wanvig.
Describing those with the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence who voiced concerns about the five events Crossroads of the West holds at the Cow Palace annually as a sincere and responsible group that has backed its positions with research, Wanvig felt the board’s vote was evidence of its responsiveness to community needs.
“We have listened to them very carefully and we respect them very much,” she said. “It’s been an issue for so long that it really didn’t need debating.”
The board’s vote to end firearms sales at the 68-acre event space also comes more than two months after state Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, proposed Senate Bill 281, legislation aimed at banning gun and ammunition sales at the Daly City venue and putting in place a locally-controlled governing body. The proposal marks the second time Wiener has authored legislation banning gun shows at the Cow Palace, which long has hosted the Grand National Rodeo, the Great Dickens Fair and the Crossroads of the West gun show, among other large-scale events.
Though SB 281 has been largely viewed by local officials as a chance for the community surrounding the Cow Palace to weigh in on its future, the bill has also sparked concerns among members of the Cow Palace’s board and event coordinators who believe the bill signals the demolition of the venue to make way for housing.
Currently governed by the 1-A District Agricultural Association within the California Department of Food and Agriculture, the site would be transferred to a district represented by three Daly City officials, two officials from the city and county of San Francisco and two San Mateo County supervisors, according to the most recent version of the bill.
‘Need for fundamental change’
In a statement he released Tuesday, Wiener said he is happy the Cow Palace’s Board of Directors voted to end gun shows at the facility, but felt it shouldn’t have taken them decades to make the decision.
Acknowledging the local community has been asking for the venue to stop hosting gun shows for years, Wiener said he is the third state senator over the past 15 years to author a bill banning gun shows at the Cow Palace, noting SB 281’s proposed transfer of the Cow Palace’s land to local control has finally caught the board’s attention.
“It shouldn’t have taken our legislation to get the Cow Palace to pay attention,” he said. “Today’s decision to end the gun shows, while welcome, does not change the need for fundamental change at the Cow Palace.”
Having served on the Cow Palace board for some 12 years, Wanvig has seen the venue capable of holding some 16,000 people host annual events such as the Grand National Rodeo and more recently hold events for tech companies like Facebook and Salesforce as well as family-friendly activities like the Garden Bros Circus.
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Though Cow Palace board members and staff have previously worried about the financial impact of ending gun shows at the venue, Wanvig said they have overcome that concern given the financial strength of the facility in recent years. She said Cow Palace staff have fielded a growing number of requests from corporations, organizations and concession companies to lease space at the venue for parking, and noted previously the facility has had assets in excess of current liability growing substantially in less than three years. It also has reserves allowing the venue to make repairs and do deferred maintenance.
Unique site
Kevin Patterson, executive director of the Save the Cow Palace Coalition, hoped Wiener would see the Cow Palace’s board made the right decision in banning gun shows and support that decision by amending SB 281 to focus only on banning firearms sales at the facility. Having coordinated the five-weekend Great Dickens Fair at the venue for the last 19 years, Patterson said the coalition’s position was always that they would support the bill if it was solely focused on banning gun shows.
“We believe that the state fairground system is the best way to serve the community … and hope that this is supported by the Legislature should any further decisions come before them,” he said.
Patterson previously voiced concerns about the loss of the Cow Palace as an events venue under SB 281 and noted its unique configuration is capable of hosting agricultural shows and provide emergency services in the event of a major disaster. He was also encouraged by the board’s vote to enter into a long-term development ground lease for the Cow Palace’s upper parking lot, which, combined with adjacent properties owned by Daly City and a local developer, could become the site of a 25-acre, mixed-use development offering commercial space and residential units.
‘Huge win’
Though San Mateo County Supervisor David Canepa commended the Cow Palace board members for their decision, he felt their vote was long overdue given the number of officials who have called for similar bans. Though Canepa indicated he would wait and see the path SB 281 takes after the board’s decision Tuesday, he said he largely supported local representation on the Cow Palace board, noting none of the current board members lives in Daly City.
Canepa applauded Wiener and other elected officials for voicing their concerns about the gun shows at the Cow Palace, noting their vote was particularly meaningful to communities surrounding the Cow Palace and that have suffered from gun violence.
“It’s a huge win for our communities,” he said. “I’m just sorry that it took so long to get here.”
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" A free people ought not only be armed and disciplined, but they should have sufficient arms and ammunition to maintain a status of independence from any who might attempt to abuse them, which would include their own government "
- George Washington ..... Know you Country history ..
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