In a post that appears on the America's Cup website, Livingston makes a compelling case for why city lawmakers should push ahead with the estimated $163 million investment needed to upgrade San Francisco's waterfront for the 2013 event.

'Envisioning a waterfront reborn,' he notes, "Before the America's Cup came to town, there was no Plan A for our deteriorating Piers 30-32. Without the America's Cup, there is no Plan B."

Likening the improvements that will be left behind to those in Fremantle, Auckland, and Valencia, Livingston says that regardless of cost, the project could pay dividends for years to come.

And in case you're wondering, Livingston speaks with the authority having covered every America’s Cup since 1980.

Here's how he frames it:

"We've heard the promise that America's Cup will pick up where other efforts leave off, to build a commercially viable San Francisco waterfront. A reasonable person could wonder, so let's consider precedents.

Case 1 -  Toward the end of the first-ever America's Cup races outside America—Fremantle, Australia 1987—it was clear that Dennis Conner was about to recapture the Cup and bring it home to the USA. People quipped, "Will the last American in Fremantle please turn out the lights." But, 24 years later, Fremantle is still a gem, still a destination justifying the huge investments placed in what had previously been a seedy little port town. The America's Cup transformed Fremantle for good.

Case 2 -  Like San Francisco, the city of Auckland, New Zealand had a section of waterfront in dire need of renovation, within walking distance of prime downtown real estate. Like San Francisco, Auckland had a small population for a city, 1 million people, and financial limitations.

There were, amazingly enough, competing interests and agendas and a need for government coordination to drive the process of re-imagining Auckland's Viaduct Basin.

And then, there was a result: A vibrant new neighborhood that continues to thrive a decade later, drawing local and international visitors to waterfront property that once was walled off. Shops and restaurants operate year-round.

The America's Cup has moved on, but the Viaduct Basin is integrated into the life of the city. It also has served well for successive world events: Auckland estimates that 200,000 people thronged its waterfront on opening night of the 2011 Rugby World Cup.

Case 3 -  Valencia, Spain "won" the Cup in a bidding war—after Switzerland won it on the water, the first time that the Cup venue had been put out to bid—then invested in radical makeovers for a 2007 event. The Avenue of the Port was rebuilt to presentation standards. A portion of the commercial port was repurposed, with public buildings and public parks (there had never been public access) and a long-term eye toward laying down a racetrack. So here's a gratuitous question:  Would Formula One have come to Valencia without the America's Cup?

And one more question:  Is there a theme here?

Before the America's Cup came to town, there was no Plan A for our deteriorating Piers 30-32. Without the America's Cup, there is no Plan B. The Port of San Francisco has been successful at revitalizing much of its waterfront—the Embarcadero is emerging as a gem—but 30-32 are the poster kids for the parts that are not working.

Michael Cohen, former Director of the city's Office of Economic and Workforce Development, now working in commercial real estate with the Strada Investment Group, says, "The profound impact of the America's Cup will be the investment in substructure on piers that are rotting away and would otherwise be impossible to reuse. Look at Piers 30-32. Years ago the city put them out to bid, and some very savvy real estate investors looked at the package and wanted to like it, but they could not make the numbers work. Now America's Cup needs the space. The Event Authority will pay the costs up front of improving the substructure. To offset the cost of making the piers useful again, the city offered long-term development rights.  For more than a decade, the private sector has proved itself unwilling to take that deal.  It took the America’s Cup to make something happen."

With the tech sector driving activity and keeping commercial rents in San Francisco 20-25 percent higher than in most US cities, and with increasing focus south of Market, Piers 30-32 fall right in line. South of the Bay Bridge, they are slated to hold the team bases—where boats will be housed and serviced—and this is potentially premium real estate.

The system by which America's Cup money would rebuild the piers, in return for longterm leasing rights, is "our standard tool, it's how we did the Ferry Building and the ballpark," says Port Director Monique Moyer. The Ferry Building and AT&T Park are highly visible, however. To the critical work needed on the substructure of 30-32, Moyer says, "you're not going to see where the money went."

But if nothing is done, it will be all-too-obvious, in this decade, where the money did not go.

Under the Bay Bridge, in the historic zone, Piers 26 and 28 are occupied, Moyer says, but not at a rate that justifies a large investment. "If we can't breathe life into them, they'll go dark."

North of the bridge and north of Market, the piers closest to the Ferry Building are filled with life, and at Pier 15 some 500 construction workers are on the job day and night (re-sleeving pilings at every low tide) to keep the Exploratorium on pace to open its new, 9-acre facility ahead of the America's Cup.  Demonstrating that, yes, these things can move quickly. The Exploratorium had a 9-month turnaround on its Environmental Impact Report (EIR), "and the contractors are quick with the workarounds as needed," says Executive Director Dennis Bartels. "We're hoping to have some time to celebrate the Exploratorium, before America's Cup racing kicks off."

Other benefits of America's Cup fit into the planned Cruise Ship Terminal at Piers 27-29, where the city's intent is to replace the Pier 27 shed with a new building that will be fitted out, temporarily, as the main public interaction space for the 34th America's Cup. Beyond that, whether the Cup stays in San Francisco or not, it will be refitted as a combination Cruise Ship Terminal and public space. "Working with San Francisco Travel, the Port has identified a need for more meeting space on the waterfront," Moyer says. "The America's Cup is our first customer, to prove the model. The cruise industry being seasonal, we need to have additional uses. This is a wonderful property that will be within reach of the public for the first time. It's going to be great to see it alive with people."