Tuesday, December 12, 2006 Hear it for the Queen Mary   Taxpayers should have a voice in what happens to their ship and its waterfront environs. How long has it been since you've heard a politician say they've had a long love affair with the Queen Mary? Especially one who represents the home council district of the troubled former ocean liner. Politically, it's a whole lot easier to talk about the trouble than the affection, which makes it doubly refreshing to hear Long Beach's 2nd District Councilwoman Suja Lowenthal step forward with some ideas about how to make the ship and its surroundings more successful. At tonight's council meeting, Lowenthal intends to propose that a 14-member Downtown Visioning Committee turn its gaze on the venerable Queen and 45 adjoining acres of waterfront property. Lowenthal wants as many eyes as possible on the future of the ship and the acreage, including those of residents in general. She's right. Taxpayers own the ship and the 45 acres, which are assets of the Tidelands Trust, managed by the city on behalf of the state, and the owners deserve a say in what happens next. What happened last is that Queen's Seaport Development, which has a lease on the ship and adjacent property, went into bankruptcy as a result of a dispute with City Hall over how to allocate rent credits. The bankruptcy trustee, Howard Ehrenberg, after months of negotiation got the two sides to agree on a settlement of $4.9 million, and has lined up 17 bids to take over the QSDI lease. That was a tour de force, since QSDI and City Hall weren't on speaking terms. We suspect that Joseph Prevratil, the CEO of QSDI, would have settled long ago for the same terms, but it took Ehrenberg to make it happen. The bankruptcy could end up a blessing in several ways. Prevratil will have a chance to retire gracefully, the city will get much of its back rent, QSDI creditors should come out reasonably whole, taxpayers will have the court's scrutiny on the whole process, and a new developer can come up with a dazzling proposal. Dazzle is the challenging part, but there will be great opportunities to preserve and further restore the Queen Mary, and develop the adjacent property in ways that tie in nicely with the nearby Convention Center, Pike project, increasingly lively Pine Avenue, and East Village. Long Beach's shoreline has become spectacular territory, and deserves a strong complement on the Queen Mary side of the bay. This is a chance to make it happen. It's also a chance for townsfolk in the next few months to make their wishes heard. We can probably guess what will be toward the top of their list: More "wow" factor, please. Don't you love it?