Long Beach Panel Backs Proposal for Aquarium

The Long Beach Harbor Commission took one more step Monday toward ensuring that the city will get a proposed $100-million aquarium by passing a measure pledging its support for the project.

The unanimous vote of the commission means that Long Beach, which wants the aquarium as part of an economic recovery plan, is maintaining its lead over numerous rivals. Throughout Southern California, there are proposals for five new multimillion-dollar aquariums and the expansion of two more, all of them in various stages of development.

The next step for Long Beach is tonight’s anticipated vote by the City Council authorizing the sale of revenue bonds to raise money for the aquarium.

In September, when the bonds are actually put up for sale, the city will find out whether there is enough investor interest in the project to make it come about, said Bob Paternoster, the city official who is heading the project.

The resolution passed by the Harbor Commission was intended to make the bonds more attractive to investors by promising indirect financial support. The commission agreed to grant the city a delay in repaying municipal funds to the port, and said it will also consider each year whether to supplement a fund that has been earmarked as backup collateral on the aquarium bonds.

Former commission member Joel Friedland spoke out against the measure, saying it would force the port to bear an obligation toward paying off the debt service on the aquarium.

“Every dollar that the port transfers to a city department diverts money needed for port operations, expansion and debt service,” he said. “The port cannot lead the Long Beach economy if it does not have reinvestment capital which it generates itself without taxpayer contribution.”

Friedland was a commissioner until February, when he reluctantly resigned after the city’s redevelopment agency refused to buy a piece of property from him because it was seen as a conflict of interest.

Commission member Alex Bellehumeur said it was time to push forward with the project, noting the early risks involved in two other now-successful projects, the World Trade Center and the Convention Center.

“We can really contribute more than anyone else can,” he said.