City Council Urges Panel to Keep Queen Mary Open

The Queen Mary attraction in Long Beach received a boost this week when the Long Beach City Council recommended that the luxury liner remain open.

The council voted 6 to 3 Tuesday to recommend that the city’s Board of Harbor Commissioners fund the liner and its facilities, including the Spruce Goose, while officials find a new operator or determine what would replace the attraction on the site.

But the fate of the Queen Mary and its nearly 1,000 employees remains in the hands of a split Harbor Commission, which is scheduled to vote Monday on its future. Three of five harbor commissioners say they are against subsidizing the Walt Disney Co. to continue to manage the Queen Mary and its companion, the giant Spruce Goose flying boat.

Disney officials have said they will drop the company’s lease when it expires Sept. 30 but are willing to operate the attraction through the end of the year if the port pays for its losses. That would cost the commission $2.7 million, according to a consultant’s report.

Commission President Joel Friedland thanked the Disney Co. for spending more than $50 million on the site in the five years it has managed the attraction. “It’s not their fault,” he said.