Decision on Queen Mary Is Delayed

The Queen Mary, at least for now, is staying in Long Beach.

The Long Beach City Council voted Tuesday night to delay a decision for at least 60 days on whether to allow the operator of the famed ship to tow it to Japan and base it there for three to five years to raise money for repairs and restoration.

In a session punctuated by references to the Titanic and “Ship of Fools,” the nine-member City Council decided it wanted to know a lot more about the proposal by Queen Mary operator Joseph F. Prevratil to move the ship to Japan.

Prevratil said the trip to Tokyo, where the ship would be operated as a hotel-casino and tourist attraction, is the best way he knows to come up with the $40 million he contends is needed to make repairs and restore the ship to vintage 1936 condition.

The businessman has tied the request to take the ship to Japan with a request that the city give him a new, 66-year lease on a city-owned, 55-acre parcel of land next to the pier where the Queen Mary is docked, a proposal that proved as troubling to some council members as the plan to take the ship to Japan.

But after nearly two hours of debate, the council decided to keep the entire matter open, in large part because members said they know of no other way to pay for the repairs.

After the vote, Prevratil said that although he was concerned that delays would jeopardize his financing, he was pleased that the council is continuing to consider his plan.

Prevratil has challenged the City Council to come up with a viable plan to find the $20 million to $40 million he says will be necessary to repair the ship if it ultimately turns him down.

He told the council Tuesday that the $40 million for refurbishing and repair would come from loans and commitments from major sponsors who have indicated they would be willing to underwrite part of the cost of the trip to Japan.

He has lined up a loan of about $20 million from a construction firm, along with what he estimates are sponsorships that could be worth $40 million, Prevratil said.

He said Coca-Cola of Japan has expressed willingness to pay $3 million for the exclusive right to sell the beverage on the ship and market a Queen Mary brand of tea in Coke machines.

City officials have raised questions about whether Japan allows the kind of slot machine gambling that Prevratil said he wants to have on the ship if it goes to Tokyo.

He told the council members that a Japanese gaming firm had promised to spend $10 million to build a slot machine casino on the ship.

“I have been in card parlors in Tokyo and I have sat in front of slot machines in Tokyo,” he told skeptical members of the council. “I can assure you they are legitimate. Gaming is controlled by the police department.”

City Manager James C. Hankla said Prevratil also has given the city proposed contracts and agreements indicating that Japanese interests have in fact made serious commitments to finance the trip.

City leaders made it clear during the meeting that there is no city money to repair the Queen Mary. Councilman Les Robbins said Long Beach is faced with more than $1 billion in repairs for sea walls that are leaking, beaches that are eroding, and streets, gutters and sewers that are deteriorating.

Noting that city voters turned down a ballot measure to raise a special tax for rebuilding Long Beach’s antiquated 911 emergency response system, Robbins said residents were in no mood to raise taxes to meet city needs, much less pay to restore the Queen Mary.

Questioning Prevratil’s financing, Robbins said, “I need more information.”

Councilman Doug Drummond called Prevratil’s plan, which also would pay the city $5 million a year each year the ship is gone, “a tremendous offer.”

At one point, Councilman Jerry Shultz said “the Queen Mary is to Long Beach what the Eiffel Tower is to Paris,” and compared it to other man-made wonders, like the Golden Gate Bridge and the Statue of Liberty.

Councilman Jeffrey A. Kellogg, noting that the Queen Mary had swallowed up $70 million in public and private investment funds for restoration, responded that the city could have purchased many Eiffel Towers for what had already been spent on the ship.

A group of Queen Mary preservationists and members of local historical societies showed up to condemn the proposed move.

Liz Langlois, a member of a small, loosely knit band of watchdogs dedicated to keeping the ship in Long Beach, called Prevratil’s proposal “blackmail, pure and simple.”