The Party Must Go On
Despite a dramatic downturn that will see its work force slashed to less than 1,500 by year’s end, National Steel & Shipbuilding Co. officials are proceeding with plans to host a gala dinner reception for local dignitaries and military brass next month at the Hotel del Coronado.
The shindig, part of Nassco’s completion of a Navy hospital ship, nearly was canceled because of the drought of work at the bay-front shipyard. Bad image and all. But management huddled and concluded that it was “appropriate to carry on with the traditional dinner” that typically follows a contract completion, according to one Nassco source.
The dinner could also prove functional: Nassco is still hopeful of securing future Navy contracts and, make no mistake, there will be lots of military brass on hand to christen the hospital ship Mercy.
Breaking the champagne bottle: Publisher Helen Copley, who tapped Mayor Maureen O’Connor as her “matron of honor” to assist in the ceremony.
Miami Nice(er)
Miller Reports, a real estate limited partnership and syndication firm in the Golden Triangle, will close shop later this month, the victim, officials claim, of tax shelter elimination in the recently passed tax reform legislation.
In addition, company principal Scott G. Miller is unhappy with the “flow of money on this end of the Sunbelt,” according to office manager Dave Phillips.
Miller, who once employed eight people here, is moving to Miami.
Dominelli Makes Minus List
The downside of last week’s release of the Forbes’ magazine list of the 400 wealthiest people is what the publication called the “minus centi-millionaires,” the “kings of bankruptcy.”
And guess who’s included in the 14 kingly failures? Yup, J. David (Jerry) Dominelli, whose fraudulent J. David & Co.’s liabilities are listed at $263 million and assets at only $40 million.
The Quiche Will Rise Again
The leveraged buy out by management of Vicorp Specialty Restaurants from parent Vicorp Restaurants in Denver is set to close Oct. 26, according to Stan Erickson, Vicorp legal counsel who’s included in the buy out.
Included in the spinoff are 13 specialty restaurant chains owned by Vicorp, including Piret’s, Carlos Murphy’s, Hungry Hunter, the Boathouse and Monterey Whaling Co.
Saving Energy
Utility Consumers Action Network (UCAN), the SDG&E; watchdog group, is peering at its adversary more closely these days.
UCAN late last month moved its offices from a storefront in Point Loma to an office building at 6th and Ash streets--just an electric meter’s throw from SDG&E;’s headquarters at 2nd and Ash.
All the better to keep an eye on SDG&E;, eh?
Wasn’t even a consideration, according to Michael Shames, UCAN’s executive director.
The bottom line: “We cut our rent by one-third,” Shames said.
Planning Ahead
No one would ever accuse National University of not seizing opportunities. So it’s not too surprising that National’s School of Law chose the issue of mandatory drug testing for its fifth annual F. Lee Bailey Moot Court Competition.
National’s public relations folks are lining up interviews with the reknown Bailey, and they’re confident that the controversial drug testing issue won’t go away anytime soon.
The competition is scheduled for late March.
