Port District

Here we go again. Bowing to black pressure, the gutless San Diego City Council approved the incredibly awkward and wholly inappropriate name "The San Diego Martin Luther King Convention Center." If the timid port commissioners also approve the name, a tragic scenario will surely unfold. Once again petitions will circulate, this time to drop Dr. King's name from the convention center. Given that the polls say 80% oppose the council's vote, it seems there is a good chance that the referendum will pass.

The Oxnard Harbor District has bought the city's stake in their joint membership in an association of 371 trade centers worldwide. The two entities acquired the membership in the New York-based World Trade Centers Assn. in March 1986. The district, which operates the Port of Hueneme, said it is taking sole control to better use the affiliation as a marketing tool. The city spent about $51,000 in the deal, mostly to pay off outstanding debts of the membership.

Ventura Port District officials voted Thursday to file for bankruptcy today, following a state Supreme Court decision not to hear a case appealed by the district in hopes that it could avoid payment of a $15.6-million judgment. The judgment was awarded to Ocean Services, a bankrupt development company that successfully sued the port district for not acting in good faith during negotiations about development of Ventura Harbor Village.

Free electricity. It's a perk enjoyed by private and commercial boat owners at the Ventura Harbor Village Marina for as long as anyone can remember. And it's about to end. The statewide power crunch that has swelled monthly electricity bills for residents and business owners has forced the Ventura Port District to end its longtime practice of paying monthly energy bills for boats docked at the 167-slip marina.

Ventura Port District commissioners have accepted $127,000 from their insurance companies in return for releasing the insurers from claims arising out of the Ventura Keys lawsuits. The commission on Wednesday voted unanimously to accept the settlement agreement with eight of the district's insurance companies. Commissioner Richard Hambleton was absent.

The Centre City Planning Committee on Thursday approved a set of design principles to guide development along San Diego's downtown bayfront by imposing constraints on the size of buildings while attempting to preserve views and create a 10-acre park at the foot of Broadway. The key to the plan's success is the San Diego Unified Port District, which controls about 80% of the land in question.

More than six years after the Ventura Port District was ordered to pay a $15.7-million judgment to a development firm, pressure from courts and creditors has finally forced the financially strapped agency to figure out how to pay it. By the end of the month, the district must file a debt adjustment plan with U.S. Bankruptcy Court explaining how it intends to pay its creditors. Ventura Port District General Manager Edward Wohlenberg said the court-ordered deadline was set months ago, after a U.S.

A computer consultant pleaded guilty Monday to grand theft in the false billing of equipment and his services to the San Diego Unified Port District. Ronald Barry Lewis, 45, of Spring Valley pleaded guilty to two counts of grand theft just as his preliminary hearing was set to begin before Municipal Judge Frederick Link. The judge set sentencing for Nov. 16 and Lewis remains free on his own recognizance. Deputy Dist. Atty.

A new security gate for the Navy's Civil Engineering Laboratory that will reduce traffic near a refrigerated warehouse under construction at the Port of Hueneme is planned after the Oxnard Port District agreed to the plan. The three-way agreement between the city of Port Hueneme, the port and the Navy calls for the port district to spend an estimated $200,000 to build a new entrance to the 33-acre Navy facility 300 yards east of the existing security gate.

A $36-million claim against the Ventura Port District was rejected Wednesday by port commissioners, who dismissed the claim by a Chatsworth businessman as frivolous. Victor Sampson, owner of the Don Ricardos Management Co., contended that officials failed to honor an agreement and mishandled the way they awarded the new lease of the Harbortown Marina Resort Hotel.

In a decision involving a Ventura Harbor marina development bankruptcy, the state Supreme Court said Thursday that local governments cannot be forced to pay for lawsuit settlements by raising property taxes. Taxpayer advocates praised the decision, saying a ruling favorable to the Ventura Port District's creditors would have paved the way for tax increases statewide and would have virtually overturned portions of Proposition 13, which limits property tax increases. Timothy A.

In a decision involving a Ventura Harbor marina development bankruptcy, the state Supreme Court said Thursday that local governments cannot be forced to pay for lawsuit settlements by raising property taxes. Taxpayer advocates praised the decision, saying that a ruling favorable to the Ventura Port District's creditors would have paved the way for tax increases statewide and virtually overturned portions of Proposition 13, which limits property tax increases.

A new patrol boat, more earthquake insurance, an upgrade to slips at Village Marina and $30,000 to restart the downtown/harbor trolley service are top priorities in the Ventura Port District's 2000-01 budget proposal. The estimated spending plan shows a balanced budget of $4.9 million, with a possible $500,000 surplus, from combining overhead at the port district and Ventura Harbor Village, said Anita Lambie, finance director for the district.

The property manager of the Ventura Port District will become its general manager July 1, overseeing a newly consolidated district and receiving a higher salary for the job's expanded responsibilities. Oscar Pena had been appointed general manager by the Port District Commission. He will be paid $103,000, almost $20,000 more than his predecessor, Ed Wohlenberg, who resigned in March.

Ventura Port District General Manager Ed Wohlenberg has resigned his $84,660-a-year job, just days after port commissioners put him on leave. The Board of Port Commissioners announced Wohlenberg's resignation Wednesday night after a closed session preceding its monthly meeting. He will remain on paid leave until April 8. Board Chairman Gary Jacobs would not say why Wohlenberg resigned. Wohlenberg, who did not attend the meeting, could not be reached for comment Thursday.

From the second floor of the Channel Islands National Park headquarters, a vivid imagination is needed to envision a new environmental education center on a 2-acre lot at the entrance to Ventura Harbor. The site is cluttered with slabs of busted concrete, jetty supports standing like towering chess pieces, and outhouses. The islands are lost in a curtain of fog. But in her mind's eye, Carol J.

The Ventura Port District has lost a court bid to force an insurance company to take responsibility for a multimillion-dollar judgment against the district. The state Court of Appeal in Ventura ruled on Wednesday that Fireman's Fund Insurance Co. was legally justified when it refused to defend the port district in a lawsuit brought by a former developer that went bankrupt while trying to build the Ventura Harbor Village.

The four alleged masterminds behind a purchasing scam that authorities say cheated the San Diego Unified Port District out of at least $700,000 were charged Thursday with multiple felony charges of fraud and theft. The men allegedly used the money to pay for a variety of private merchandise such as auto repairs, televisions, stereos and computers.

San Diego Gas & Electric unveiled plans Thursday to sell its Chula Vista power plant--and donate the nearly 200 acres of valuable bayfront property on which it sits--to the San Diego Unified Port District, which hopes eventually to close the plant and turn the area into a recreation, entertainment and shopping complex. The transaction is a first in the restructuring of California's electricity industry.