The Tidelands Archive

The trilateral tugging over San Diego International Airport has made more hops toward its transfer from the San Diego Unified Port District to the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority.

Amendments to State Sen. Steve Peace’s bill — the cleanup legislation ordered by Gov. Gray Davis last fall in approving the transfer — spell out more clearly the transition from this December through 2005, says Peace’s chief of staff Art Castanares.

“We basically expanded on who’s being drawn out of the port — 75 people from (senior director of aviation) Thella Bowens on down — to the airport authority in December,” he says. The authority will buy any further airport services as needed from port employees who have split their time among the port’s airport, maritime and real estate divisions, he adds. The airport generated $81.9 million of the port’s $163.1 million operating revenue last fiscal year.

To lessen the financial impact, another transfer modification has the port leasing 90 acres of former General Dynamics property to the airport authority at $4.7 million a year for what would become a 10-gate terminal.

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Horizon Air, sister airline to Alaska Airlines, has begun the first nonstop jet service between San Diego and Boise, Idaho, arriving here at 1:30 p.m. and departing at 2 p.m.

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With the California National Guard pulling out of patrolling San Diego International Airport on May 5, San Diego Assemblywoman Christine Kehoe is pushing in Sacramento this month for her Port Protection Act (Assembly Bill 1782).

If approved by the legislature, the act would appear on the November ballot as a $350 million bond measure for increased fencing, cameras, alarms, lighting and security equipment at California ports. The San Diego Unified Port District supports the plan.

“Unlike airports, which are heavily regulated for safety precautions, the land side responsibilities of the ports are not,” says Kehoe. “Though the Coast Guard plays a significant role in assessing the security at each port and makes recommendations based on their findings, the Coast Guard does not provide funding to the ports to institute these recommendations.”

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The San Diego-based aircraft carrier Stennis and its carrier group, which have been on deployment to the Arabian Sea for nearly six months, will return “soon,” says the Navy. Of the two other North Island carriers, the Nimitz starts sea trials this month for the first time since its November arrival following two years of upgrading and nuclear refueling in Norfolk, Va. The Constellation also will be on maneuvers off the coast at times through the summer. Away from its homeport of Everett, Wash., the Lincoln is in Southern California waters, readying for a scheduled summer deployment that will include three San Diego-based Navy squadrons, totaling 550 personnel.

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National Steel and Shipbuilding Co. has launched the Soderman, the final strategic sealift ship built for the Navy by NASSCO as part of a 10-year program that included four ship conversions and eight new ships. Next for the Soderman is two to four months of finishing in dock, followed by three to six weeks of sea trials. Delivery will be in October, says company spokesman Dan Peoples. At a length of 950 feet and with a beam of 105 feet, they are the largest ships that can fit through the Panama Canal. The ship is named for the late Pfc. William Soderman, a World War II recipient of the Medal of Honor.

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The San Diego Port Tenants Association holds its annual Operation Clean Sweep the morning of June 1. This year’s effort targets the waters off Chula Vista Marina, Crosby Street Park, the A-8 anchorage in San Diego Bay west of Sweetwater Channel and adjacent waterfront. The morning concludes with a party at Pepper Park, on the National City side of Sweetwater Channel, with prizes for unusual trash found. Contributing are the Navy, Port District, NASSCO, Continental Maritime, Foss Maritime, Southwest Marine, San Diego Bay Pilots and Southern California Professional Divers Association. To help, call (619) 226-6546.

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A donation of a new or gently used blanket or towel admits you and your pooch-on-a-leash to a free one-hour harbor tour for Hornblower Cruises’ Pet Day on the Bay, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. May 15 from the Embarcadero. The blankets and towels will go to the Helen Woodward Animal Center. For the poop, call (619) 686-8700

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Scheduled to arrive this month at the B Street Pier Cruise Ship Terminal are Princess Cruises’ Star Princess May 5; Celebrity Cruises’ Infinity May 10; Holland America Line’s Volendam May 1, Statendam May 2 and 9 and Ryndam May 4 and 14; and Royal Caribbean International’s Vision of the Seas May 5 and 12 and Grandeur of the Seas May 19 and 26. With its first arrival, the 2,446-passenger Grandeur of the Seas begins a weekly series on Sundays through September of 19 round-trip cruises, mostly to Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta on the Mexican Riviera — the first time in 10 years for such summer cruises from San Diego.

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Frank Urtasun says he will resign from the board of Port Commissioners effective June 15 because he is moving from Imperial Beach, the city he has represented on the board since 1992, to a new home he’s built in Coronado. Urtasun remains a public affairs manager for San Diego Gas & Electric.

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Wayne Darbeau has been promoted to deputy executive director, administration for the port. Replacing him as senior director of organization effectiveness is Jose Mesa, who previously was a personnel executive with several Los Angeles area agencies. Also promoted is Steven Shultz, to assistant director of communications for the port.

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Coordinated Maritime Services launches San Diego MariFest for its third year with the Maritime Day Luncheon at 11 a.m. May 24 at the Holiday Inn on the Bay, 1355 N. Harbor Drive. Tickets are $40. A tugboat parade on San Diego Bay follows at 2 p.m. From 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. May 25 the Holiday Inn hosts the free Maritime Career Expo and Fair, which includes Merchant Marine, Navy, Coast Guard, sportfishing, tug, yacht, charter and allied fields. The weekend concludes with the Maritime Heritage Dance and Taste of the Waterfront from 5:30 to 11:30 p.m. May 26 aboard the San Diego Maritime Museum’s Berkeley ferryboat. Tickets are $25. For more information, call (760) 434-9573.

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The California Art Club and San Diego Maritime Museum are hosting a plein-air painting festival with outdoor landscape painters at various locales on San Diego Bay, including the Star of India May 11 through 17. The week concludes with a reception and sale at 6:30 p.m. May 17 aboard the Berkeley. The exhibition of the completed paintings opens to the public aboard ship May 18. For more information, call (619) 562-2847.

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The Maritime Museum has added one more ship to its fleet — the 1914, locally built, 52-foot wooden Pilot, which escorted large commercial vessels through the harbor over decades. It was relaunched from Knight & Carver YachtCenter’s 300-ton capacity Travelift haul-out system, following a three-year, $300,000 restoration, mostly by volunteers. “We did a full paint job and cleaning,” says Knight & Carver spokesman John Freeman. The Pilot will continue as the oldest active U.S. pilot boat for special occasions and begin hosting school groups on educational voyages this summer. The museum’s 1904 steam yacht Medea also finished less extensive maintenance at Knight & Carver.

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Another historic ship — a replica, anyway, of Christopher Columbus’ Niña — is due to clear in at San Diego Bay and Oceanside Harbor from late May through early June. The 94-foot-long, square-rigged, four-mast caravel was hand-built in Brazil in 1991 for the quincentennial of Columbus’ discovery voyage by the Columbus Foundation, which did not rebuild the Pinta or Santa Maria.

It will be open for admission, at $3-$4. To find out exactly when the Niña sails the ocean blue, visit www.thenina.com.