The Tidelands Archive

Spring cleanup legislation ordered last fall by Gov. Gray Davis could make for a clean sweep of San Diego International Airport from the San Diego Unified Port District this year. Newly introduced Senate Bill 1896 by State Sen. Steve Peace would recast what real property is to be transferred to the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority, require the port to fund the authority for at least $1 million annually until transfer, demand a financial audit of the airport, and call for a proposition to go before voters on the November 2004 ballot if a site other than Lindbergh Field is proposed for a new airport. The vote would not apply to expanding Lindbergh Field, which counters the governor’s October proviso.

The port would transfer the airport in December of this year. The original timetable called for two to five years.

“I’m very pleased to see the careful attention to delineating airport and non-airport property,” says Richard Cloward, executive director of the San Diego Port Tenants Association. “I have questions about the funding of the authority.” He says funding under the legislation by Peace and signed by the governor last October was to have come from the airport budget. “Now it’s unclear.” Cloward says the bill’s potential financial impact to the port budget is up to $6 million over three years.

For the fiscal year ending June 2001, total operating revenue for the port was $163.1 million. Of that, $81.9 million was airport generated.

“It does not fully comport with the governor’s signing message, and our commission is committed to following through with that signing message,” says Port Chairman Stephen P. Cushman, who highlights the advanced turnover date as a prime concern. “We want to talk about the lack of ability to do that. Obviously, there are changes and modifications we’d like to see.” He says Peace believes the bill has the two-thirds majority it needs to pass the state legislature.

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A city charter amendment to allocate Mission Bay Park lease revenue back into Mission Bay has been proposed to go before voters in November by City Council members Byron Wear, Donna Frye and Toni Atkins. The Mission Bay revenue now goes into the city’s general fund. The amendment would require monies in excess of the current amount be allocated specifically for parks, with two-thirds to Mission Bay Park.

“This is talking about the lease revenue, not the sales tax and the TOT (hotel tax),” says Frye. “As for revenue from leaseholds, it’s probably $17 million to $18 million right now and that would continue to go up.”

SeaWorld is the prime Mission Bay leaseholder with 189 acres. The remainder largely consists of hotels. To qualify for the ballot, the initiative needs 90,000 valid signatures from registered voters in the city.

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Two longtime major tidelands businessmen have added another waterfront institution to their holdings. Bill Poole and Frank LoPreste acquired majority interest for undisclosed considerations in Point Loma Sportfishing from Dan Sansome, who is moving to Clear Lake in Northern California. The two own Fisherman’s Landing, also in Point Loma, and have controlling interest as well in Seaforth Sportfishing on Mission Bay. Yet another interest for LoPreste is Sun Harbor Marina and for Poole, Marina Cortez.

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Royal Caribbean International launches a series of 18 round-trip seven-night cruises to the Mexican Riviera from San Diego aboard the 2,446-passenger Grandeur of the Seas in May. Scheduled this month at the B Street Pier are Holland America Line’s Statendam March 7, 13 and 23; Princess Cruises’ Crown Princess March 10; and Royal Caribbean International’s Vision of the Seas March 10, 17 and 31.

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While the San Diego-based carrier Stennis remains on deployment, the Constellation and Lincoln, which is based in Everett, Wash., will be engaged in airwing operations and training exercises off the Southern California coast from North Island this month. The Nimitz remains at North Island for maintenance prior to its probable deployment later this spring.

Making the final Pearl Harbor to 32nd Street leg of the voyage back from the Arabian Sea are the amphibious ships Peleliu, Dubuque and Comstock, which brought the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit from Camp Pendleton to Afghanistan.

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Another unmistakable portion of traffic on San Diego Bay consists of sand barges to and from the 10th Avenue Marine Terminal and Navy projects at 32nd Street and North Island, where dredging and marine construction of replacement piers and a new carrier berth, respectively, continue. More floating platforms on the bay are engaged in the ongoing seismic retrofit of the Coronado Bridge. The removal and replacement project of the Harbor Police and transient docks on the west end of Shelter Island, which began in October, concludes this month.

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Bill Hall is Chula Vista’s new representative on the San Diego Port Commission, replacing David Malcolm, who resigned. The term expires Jan. 3, 2003, but Hall says he would look forward to serving a full term beyond. Hall is COO and director of Corrosion Engineering Services Inc. with offices in Chula Vista, Mira Mesa and Morena. He holds a bachelor’s degree in analytical management from the U.S. Naval Academy and remains a Naval Reserve captain.

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Jeffrey McEntee officially has been named treasurer and senior director of business and financial services for the Port of San Diego; he had been serving on an interim basis since September. A certified public accountant, he joined the port in 1988.

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About 50 students from Mar Vista High School have signed on for the new merchant seaman training program at the Imperial Beach school. The students will spend three semesters studying U.S. Coast Guard safety courses, including shipboard fighting and personal survival, and six weeks at sea aboard U.S. flag merchant vessels, culminating in a paid internship and immediate job opportunities for graduates in June 2003. The San Diego Workforce Partnership and Sweetwater Union High School District lead the initiative.