S.D. ‘Steps Into 21st Century’ : Start of Convention Center Construction Lauded

Although the convention center project encountered many obstacles along the way to Wednesday’s ground-breaking ceremonies, San Diego Mayor Roger Hedgecock and other supporters of the center predicted a trouble-free future as they took shovels in hand and heaped praise on the “world-class” facility.

“Today, San Diego takes a giant step into the 21st Century,” Hedgecock said, telling the hundreds in attendance that the convention center will “become the premier meeting ground of our post-industrial Pacific Rim economies, economies that are now the driving engines of world prosperity.”

On a day marked by boisterous brass bands and thunderous cannon salutes, Hedgecock’s acclaim for the project was almost reserved by comparison.

Rep. Bill Lowery (R-San Diego) said the convention center will be the cornerstone of a “revitalized” downtown area that will not only generate up to $130 million a year in additional tourist revenue but “become a shining example to light the way into the 21st Century.”

“Our ambition should be no less than to be the urban envy of the nation,” Lowery said. “We have all it takes to do it with style, elegance and sophistication. Our golden age is before us, and this convention center is the pathway to that future.”

Preceding Hedgecock and Lowery at the podium were William Rick, Port Commission chairman; Sue Stephens Cox, president of the Convention and Visitors Bureau, and the mayors of Chula Vista, Coronado and Imperial Beach. The speakers hailed the center’s revenue-generating capacity, the building’s innovative design and the fact that the project is being funded solely by the San Diego Unified Port District.

Amid the assurances of a shining future, there was little mention of the project’s past and present uncertainties.

Estimated at $95 million when the convention center was approved by voters in November, 1983, construction costs are now expected to reach $125 million by the building’s completion in 1987. Additionally, developer Doug Manchester has been unable to secure financing to build two hotels near the center, raising the possibility of a lodging shortage.

Watching the festivities from his seat near the back of the crowd, former City Councilman Fred Schnaubelt, one of the center’s leading opponents, remarked: “I think it’s very exciting. In the private sector, if a company runs $30 million over budget, they get fired. Here, they have a party.”

In his speech, Hedgecock acknowledged that getting the center to the ground-breaking stage was “not easily done.” However, the mayor limited his discussion of the project’s troubled past to the defeats of six previous convention center propositions since 1947, specifically a referendum he had fervently supported as a county supervisor in 1981.

After the speech, Hedgecock denied that he had downplayed the project’s difficulties.

“I pointed out that it was defeated six times and that there were all these problems,” he said. “I think I played that out. I didn’t want to dwell on it because we have overcome those.

“I don’t see any (problems) with the convention center. The hotels and all that are something else the port will have to deal with.”

Hedgecock added that he saw nothing wrong with the center’s expected cost overrun.

“If the extra money had been bonded debt or if we didn’t have it, that would be a negative,” he said. “The money will be used to enhance the beauty of the building and make it the landmark building in San Diego.

“I think people are in favor of it. They don’t want a concrete box on the waterfront, and they’re not going to get one. They’re going to get a beautiful building instead, and if it costs $30 million more, let’s do it!”