San Diego Harbor

San Diego needs a new central library; the current one is a disgrace. On that point, there's agreement. There's less agreement on where to put it. Mayor Maureen O'Connor, to her credit, has shown leadership in trying to build momentum for this important and overdue project. Her proposal for a central library on Port District property along the San Diego harbor front would eliminate substantial land costs.

One commissioned officer, 18 soldiers and a dog named Bozo were responsible for defending San Diego's coast at Fort Rosecrans in 1935. Six years later, when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, San Diego's coastal defenders were greater in number but scarcely more ready. Within the county, several thousand troops were poised at the north and at the south to protect against inland invaders. But shoddy equipment left the coast largely unprotected--U.S.

She pestered. She badgered. She nagged. Five years later, she succeeded. After what seemed like a long exercise in futility, world-class triathlete Joy Hansen got her way. Twin sister Joan, she of track and field fame, now is a bonafide triathlete. Finally. Joan Hansen, a 1984 Olympian and former world-record holder in the indoor 2-mile, came full circle a year ago when she succumbed to Joy's enduring persuasion.

The Pride of San Diego, a locally based cruise ship that offers daylong cruises to Ensenada, has been forced to suspend service temporarily because of a cash problem, sources who are familiar with the ship's operations said. Daily cruises on the ship, one of two competing vessels operating out of San Diego Harbor, could be restored as soon as today, according to the sources, who asked that their names not be used.

Morris B. Taubman, developer of San Diego's popular waterfront Seaport Village, has died of cancer. He was 70. Taubman, who maintained residences in Los Angeles and San Diego, died Thursday at his Los Angeles home. Along with his partner, Roger Manfred, Taubman had been honored by various civic leaders in San Diego over the past few years for pioneering the redevelopment of the city's downtown waterfront area.

The old fisherman died in the spring, and his son and grandson agree on one thing: San Diego harbor without a Zolezzi-family tuna-fishing boat would have broken the old man's heart. Once a thriving tuna-fishing community, the harbor has only a handful of tuna vessels left. John Zolezzi, who was 81 when he died in April, was a believer in the family tradition. He never would have believed this. "He'd probably be glad not to be around to see it," said John Zolezzi III.

Delayed first by environmentalists and then by the environment itself, the former Exxon Valdez left San Diego Bay six hours later than planned Wednesday, returning to service after 14 months of repairs with a new name, a new route and yet another encounter with Greenpeace under its belt. In an elaborate pre-dawn send-off, members of the environmental activist group scaled the side of the tanker, rechristened the Exxon Mediterranean, and unfurled a banner that read "Sane Energy: When?"

Three Soviet warships sailed into the once-forbidden waters of San Diego Harbor and into history Tuesday, marking the first such military visit to the West Coast in more than a century. Against the backdrop of the Coronado Bridge and docked U.S. Navy vessels, the two Soviet destroyers and an oiler pulled into Pier 2 at the 32nd Street Naval Station after they exchanged 17- and 21-gun salutes with their U.S. counterparts.