O’Connor to Conner

Congratulations to skipper Dennis Conner and his crew on Stars & Stripes for winning back the America’s Cup.

The victory has secured a place for San Diego in yachting history. They now join the ranks of San Diego sports greats like Archie Moore in boxing, Maureen Connolly in tennis and Florence Chadwick in channel swimming.

How times have changed since a pair of gloves, a tennis racket and a tank suit were all the equipment you needed to be a champ. The boat cost for Stars & Stripes exceeds $13 million.

We are thrilled that the America’s Cup is coming home--to San Diego--where it belongs.

The America’s Cup passage from its home of 132 years in New York, to what we believe will be its home for the next 132 years in San Diego, is also a symbolic transfer.

Just as New York led the Atlantic cultural and financial community in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, so now is San Diego taking the lead for the Pacific community in the approaching 21st Century.

The San Diego business community and the Sail America Foundation that bankrolled the San Diego Yacht Club’s visionary quest to “bring back the Cup” deserve enormous credit. They had the dream, rallied the support and backed the venture with donations from corporations and private enterprise.

That is the best of all possible worlds. Private enterprise can and should continue the dream of bringing not just the Cup, but the races to San Diego.

Just as the business community in Los Angeles financed the 1984 Olympic Games with all private funds, so, too, can San Diego’s business community prove that it has come of age and underwrite the America’s Cup competition in 1990-91.

I have every confidence that they will succeed, and I have every confidence that Supervisor Brian Bilbray, Councilman Bill Cleator and businessman Malin Burnham will take the lead and complete the job they have so admirably begun.

The mayor’s office will support all of their efforts short of spending city tax funds. Our first priority must be finding the $1 billion needed to repair our aging sewer system, the over $140 million needed to restore our declining parks, and dozens of more millions needed to aid the homeless and combat the surge of drugs. To commit any precious city funds to other than these emergency budget items would be both imprudent and irresponsible.

The proper agency to help private enterprise bring the America’s Cup races to San Diego is the Port District. They have the pier space needed, they would benefit from the boat slip rentals and the hotel leases on bayfront land. They have an estimated $175 million in the bank earning approximately $50,000 in interest a week.

In short, the port is the richest public agency with the most to gain from the Cup coming to San Diego (other than private enterprise) and in the best position to help bring the Cup races here.

We all applaud the Stars & Stripes. We cheer Dennis Conner and his crew. We will cheer them when they meet the President and cheer when they finally bolt down the coveted America’s Cup at the San Diego Yacht Club.

MAUREEN O’CONNOR

Mayor

City of San Diego