Council Sends Panel an SOS: Save Our Ship

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

The Council voted 6 to 3 Tuesday to recommend that the 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 will vote Monday on the future of the ship.

Three of five harbor commissioners said they do not intend to ask the Walt Disney Co., which manages the Queen Mary and Spruce Goose attractions, to continue in Long Beach through the end of the year. What happens after that is uncertain.

Disney officials, who have said they will drop the company’s lease when it expires Sept. 30, offered to continue operating the attraction through the end of the year, but only if the port picks up the losses. That would cost the Port of Long Beach about $2.7 million, according to a consultant’s report.

In addition, under the arrangement, Disney insists that the port pay for any Queen Mary workers’ compensation claims between September and December, which harbor authorities estimate could cost between $3.8 million and $9.2 million.

Councilman Doug Drummond called Disney’s demand that it not be liable for workers’ compensation claims a “poison pill” the port should not swallow.

Councilman Warren Harwood said the Queen Mary is a valuable asset to the city and to lose it will cost Long Beach in the long run.

He introduced the resolution recommending that harbor commissioners keep the Queen Mary open beyond Sept. 30. The measure gives no time limits or specific recommendations regarding Disney’s proposal or who should operate the attraction.

Harwood received support from Councilmen Evan Anderson Braude, Tom Clark, Ray Grabinski, Les Robbins and Clarence Smith. Harwood said his message to the harbor commissioners is: “It’s your baby. Take care of it.”

Grabinski, noting the ship has lost money since it docked in Long Beach in 1967, said: “It was brought here to be a museum. Museums historically don’t make money.”

Said Braude: “We need to maintain the Queen Mary not only as an attraction but a monument. . . . There is life before and after Disney.”

Drummond, Wallace Edgerton and Vice Mayor Jeffrey A. Kellogg voted against Harwood’s resolution, saying the port cannot afford such losses. Mayor Ernie Kell agreed, calling the costs to the port astronomical losses.

Although port authorities have until September to find a new operator, Disney officials have set Wednesday as the deadline for deciding whether it should manage the Queen Mary and Spruce Goose through the end of the year.

Harbor Commissioner Alex Bellehumeur said because of Disney’s proposal regarding workers’ compensation, it is a “virtual certainty” the commission will not ask Disney to continue past Sept. 30.

Commission President Joel Friedland and Commissioner David L. Hauser agreed.

But the commissioners are split on whether to close the attraction. Friedland and Hauser said they would vote to shut it down. Bellehumeur and Commissioner Carmen Perez, however, said they hope another operator can be found. The fifth commissioner, Roy Hearrean, said he does not know how he will vote.

“I haven’t made up my mind,” Hearrean said.

Since a consultant estimated the losses at nearly $1 million a month, Friedland and Hauser have come out as the strongest proponents for closing the Queen Mary.

Calling the Queen Mary “a giant sinkhole of money and an impediment to development,” Friedland said he wanted to publicly thank 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.”

Friedland and Hauser said the attraction has been a continual money loser and a better alternative can be found for the valuable oceanfront site. Another consultant’s report is expected later this summer with suggested uses for the land. The options are likely to include a cruise terminal, an international marketplace and an aquarium.

But Queen Mary supporters argue that the luxury liner-turned-hotel could be profitable once it is part of a larger complex. On Tuesday, nearly 100 Queen Mary workers and supporters gathered in the City Council chambers.

“Our next battle is going before the Harbor Commission and convincing them,” said David R. Rubin, vice president of the Queen Mary Foundation.