Monday, December 9, 2002 The Queen Mary epic   Anniversary: The romantics and the critics haven't seen eye to eye, but that should change If you've been following the local news lately, you can't have missed the fact that this week Long Beach's most recognizable asset and icon, the Queen Mary, is celebrating the 35th anniversary of leaving England forever to tie up locally as a tourist attraction. Columnists and the ship's fans have been holding forth joyfully. That's the romantic part of the story. Of course the Queen Mary has generated its share of controversy, too. Until recent years, a number of critics, editorial writers and even a few public officials agitated to get rid of the ship. A couple of former harbor commissioners, for example, argued passionately in 1995 that instead of signing a long-term lease with the ship's operator the city should snatch up an offer by a Hong Kong group and get rid of the ship. Just as passionately, local residents and people in the convention business argued that the stately old veteran of the high seas was vital to the city's economic future. The critics were right about one thing. If city officials had known 35 years ago what they were getting into, the Queen Mary never would have ended up in Long Beach. Not because of the purchase price: $3.4 million for one of the biggest and most storied vessels afloat seemed a bargain. It was the extras. Refitting the ship for the tourist trade turned out to be far more difficult than imagined, and ended up costing $77.2 million. Then operating losses by a series of owners, including a stint that proved costly to the Disney Corp., came to millions more. For the first 20 years, the total, in private and public funds, amounted to more than $170 million. To this day, those numbers get used as evidence against the Queen Mary. But at this point, that's the wrong way to look at it. There is no way to recoup the sunken costs, if you'll pardon the expression. Once you accept that fact, the romantics have it right. The ship is gorgeous, even if a bit worn in places, and powerfully symbolic. Just as important, from a taxpayer's point of view, the numbers are positive. Last year, the city collected $1.3 million in rent from the ship's operator, Queen's Seaport Development Inc., minus $677,514 in credits for work performed in the area adjacent to the vessel. The city also gets bed taxes from the Queen's hotel operations, which yield several hundred thousand dollars a year. Then there are the ancillary benefits that thousands of visitors bring to local businesses. The operator appears to be struggling at the moment, but that is likely to change for the better. Carnival Cruise ships soon will begin docking nearby with thousands of cruise passengers, who will pick up their tickets aboard the Queen Mary. When all of that comes together, the romance and the numbers will truly add up.