Candlestick park demolition begins

Crews have started tearing down San Francisco’s Candlestick Park so houses, a hotel and a shopping center can be built on the site.

A project spokesman says the demolition started Monday and media will be allowed into the park for a last time Wednesday as crews push forward on tearing down the ramps. Demolition of the upper portions of the stadium will follow.

The decision was made last month to tear down rather than implode the iconic stadium following concerns that a planned implosion might create health problems for people living nearby.

An environmental law clinic and a neighborhood association objected to the implosion on the grounds that it would raise clouds of concrete dust that could prove harmful to local communities.

The stadium will be taken down over many weeks with a long-armed excavator.