Cruise Ship Consortium’s Power Diluted
Saying they want more control over San Diego’s growing cruise-ship industry, the Board of Port Commissioners voted Tuesday to reduce the powers of the local Cruise Ship Consortium from that of a largely independent body to one that reports directly to the board.
Commissioner Dan Larsen was the only member of the board to vote against a series of changes affecting the cruise ship industry, which receives about $100,000 a year from the port. The other commissioners backed the redesigned Cruise Ship Consortium in a 5 to 1 vote.
“We should keep the consortium as it is,” Larsen said. “To be successful, it has to have a degree of independence. They must have the freedom to choose their own course of action. If there’s nothing wrong with it, why change it?”
The Cruise Ship Consortium was set up eight years ago by the San Diego Convention & Visitors Bureau to try to bring major cruise lines into San Diego Bay. Former City Councilman Bill Cleator, who helped set up and manage the consortium, called it a first for San Diego.
“We tried to get people to come here, and before or after they went out on a ship, to stay here for a few days,” Cleator said at Tuesday’s meeting. “We figured they’d come here and spend quite a bit of money, and they did. They have. We think it’s been a big success.”
Cleator, whose long-time friend and associate, Larsen, argued strongly on his behalf, said he had “no idea” how the port’s revision of the consortium would affect it, but he agreed “that it’s taking something that isn’t broken, and . . . .”
He paused for a second, then added, “Who knows? They’re taking something that works fine and just fiddling with it.”
The other commissioners argued that its newly appointed advisory committee, consisting of most of the present members of the Cruise Ship Consortium, would report directly to the Board of Port Commissioners, which the consortium had not done before.
Cleator said he feared the changes would unnecessarily “bureaucratize” the process. He said that, in the past, if a cruise ship executive encountered a problem with longshoremen, harbor conditions, etc., the consortium could act independently to remedy the problem.
Now, he said, the new setup calls for the complaint to be channeled through a newly hired member of the port staff--Rita Vandergaw--who will then forward the complaint to the Board of Port Commissioners, who will act on it when the opportunity arises.
“Some of these speakers wouldn’t be here today if they weren’t fearful of some kind of damage,” Larsen said.
Commissioner Lynn Schenk, who voted for the change, countered by saying that, as she grew older, she, too, disliked change of any kind but felt the board had “a fiduciary duty to take a strong, pro-active role on how our funds are expended.
“This isn’t a grant we’re talking about,” she said. “We have to be in charge (of port monies) day in and day out.”
Schenk and other commissioners noted the consortium was not being “frozen out” or fired but would simply be supported more vigorously by the board than it had been in the past. However, Don Harrison, who had been executive director of the consortium, will now serve as a mere member of the newly formed advisory committee, reporting to the board.
“I don’t know,” Cleator said after the meeting. “It’s hard to figure out what their motives might be. Our organization and goals were admirable. I just don’t know that it was necessary . . . to tinker with the menu.”
Cleator said that “no official study” has been completed, but he estimated that about 600,000 cruise ship patrons now visit the city each year and spend a minimum average of $20 a person. He said eight cruise lines now schedule regular trips into and out of San Diego.
Asked if the group’s role had been compromised, Cleator said, “We felt independence was the cornerstone of our organization. If we saw something wrong, we could change it. But now, they’ve jerked the authority out from underneath us. Who knows how it will work now?”
