State Sesquicentennial Takes a New Tack

In yet another twist in California’s on-again, off-again sesquicentennial celebrations, a tall ships race that was canceled in February will be held next month after all--and the commission that killed it is on the verge of receiving the death penalty itself.

A scaled-down version of the San Francisco-to-Long Beach race will get underway July 5, when five tall sailing ships and roughly half a dozen smaller ones will ply the coastal waters.

Originally planned to include 30 or more ships, the race was to be one of the highlights of California’s 150th birthday celebration.

But the sesquicentennial efforts have been troubled by fund-raising problems and political squabbling. The ship race was dropped for lack of money by the commission organizing the events.

More than $1 million had already been spent in arranging the race. It was revived when interested parties realized it was too late to change the itinerary of several of the ships, owned by foreign governments and used as training vessels for naval and maritime cadets.

“We said, ‘Well, they’re all coming. We are going to have to set out some sort of a welcome,’ ” explained Elmar Baxter, who is helping to organize the ships’ stop in Long Beach.

Port cities, maritime groups and sailing buffs have coordinated a more modest set of events than once contemplated, and are hoping for reimbursement from the state.

A line in the state budget now on Gov. Gray Davis’ desk would appropriate $530,000 to help cover costs incurred by the host cities and the ships.

The same budget item, approved by the Democrat-controlled Legislature this month, eliminates $960,000 in annual funding for sesquicentennial planning and staffing in Secretary of State Bill Jones’ office.

Republican Jones, who was appointed by former Gov. Pete Wilson to revive the flagging sesquicentennial project more than a year ago, was also removed from that position.

Beth Miller, spokeswoman for Jones, said the sesquicentennial’s nine-member staff is being disbanded and its files archived. An advisory commission is also folding.

“Clearly the governor and the Legislature have made their wishes known through their actions and we wish them well,” said Miller, noting that months ago Jones had offered his resignation from the sesquicentennial post.

Wilson intended corporate giving rather than state funding to be the major source of money for the state birthday bash, and Jones has been criticized for failure to get companies to write big checks.

Jones has said that his critics were motivated by partisan politics and complained that his fund-raising attempts were hampered by a lack of support from the Democratic governor, who took office this year.

A Davis spokesman said the governor has been preoccupied with the budget but is consulting Darius Anderson, who oversaw his inaugural celebration, about what might still be done to observe the 150th anniversary of California’s statehood, which falls in September of next year.

The sesquicentennial foundation, a nonprofit organization set up to help raise money and oversee the celebration, remains in existence, awaiting cues from Davis.

“I think the prudent thing to do is to wait for the new governor to establish the direction he wants to go in,” said foundation President Donald Geiger, a Stockton attorney.

In the meantime, tall ships will sail into San Francisco for a stopover during the July 4 weekend, then race to Long Beach, where they are expected to arrive July 8. They will continue on at a more leisurely pace to San Diego, where they will dock for several days.

Though not as grand as once hoped, the assemblage of sailing ships still will be an impressive one for the West Coast, Baxter said.

“Our little show will stand up very well because we haven’t seen anything bigger before,” he said.