An Introduction to the Unified Port of San Diego

San Diego's Unified Port district was established in 1963 as a self-supporting public benefit corporation by an act of the state legislature, according to its website. The port oversees the public properties along the bay, as well as Imperial Beach, and more than 600 waterfront businesses.

The port's public art program has been involved in dressing up San Diego's waterfront for more than 10 years. The art is intended to not only beautify the waterfront, but also to attract tourists to the area. Of the annual budget of $2.6 million (of the Port's roughly $130 million) to support the small staff and acquisitions and maintenance of these public projects, approximately $600,000 was set aside this fiscal year to buy and borrow new art, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.

The various installations and public projects have occasionally sparked controversy over the past decade, and some proposed projects were pulled because of public outcry. One installation, a montage of fiberglass boats, was abandoned in 1999 after the public said it too closely resembled a shipwreck. A more recent addition, Unconditional Surrender, which is a 25 foot color representation of the famous V-Day in Times Square photograph by Alfred Eisenstaedt, has brought the wrath of UT Art Critic Robert L. Pincus, among others.