BRAC report is released
8:36 a.m. The 29 page Pentagon base closure/reduction report has just been released moments ago.
Out of the current 6400 jobs, the R.I. Arsenal is to lose 1,263 jobs net with 1,417 civilian jobs lost and 154 military jobs added.
The Rock Island Arsenal is on the Pentagon's list of base realignments, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin's office said this morning.The recommendations will now go to the 9 member Base Realignment and Closure commission which will look at the report and make their own recommendations to the White House.
A Quad-City Development Group official confirms that the Pentagon’s list of base closures and realignments would cost the Rock Island Arsenal 1,263 jobs.
Ron Summers, a spokesman, said that 1,417 civilian jobs would be lost, though 154 military jobs would be gained if Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's recommendations would be enacted. Development group and congressional staffs were analyzing the recommendations this morning, so no further details were available.
posted by The Inside Dope @ 5/13/2005
5 comments
5 Comments:
LL is on to something. Arsenal Island is an amazingly valuable and versitile piece of real estate. The only rub is that the federal government owns ever inch of it which would pose it's own set of obstacles.
And even aside from leasing manufacturing facilities to private business, which is the simplests solution, the recreation and tourism potential is huge. It's a prime spot for a resort type of operation. It's already got a really fine golf course, and it's natural setting is unique and incredibly beautiful.
What better draw than an idylic resort set on a beautiful island in the middle of the Mighty Mississippi?
Just a pipe dream, but still.
And in answer to LL's question "Were is the money going", we know that an enormous part of it is going to provide tax cuts for millionaires in this country. Bush will not budge from this, despite the loss of trillions of dollars in revenue for the government.
One recommendation in the report seems to go against what Rove/Bush might have prefered. South Dakota tossed out Senate leader Tom Daschle in favor of Republican John Thune, who crowed during his campaign that the area needed someone close to Bush in order to save Ellsworth Air Force base, an enormous military installation, home of the B-1B bombers and the largest employer in the state.
Oooops. Elsworth is recommended to be closed completely. Way to go Dakotans!
As leader, Daschle was allowed to make an appointment to the BRAC commmission, so it's almost certain that if South Dakota would have kept Daschle, they wouldn't have lost the base.
Amen on that.
But it seems that the writing is on the wall. We can't continue to rely on the Arsenal being an anchor of our local economy. As pointed out above, the number of jobs has steadily dwindled over time and will likely continue.
While it's a massive loss, it seems that it may be wise to face facts and realize that the Arsenal as we know it is being phased out.
Better to have it gradually shrink away than have it close all at once. And this gives the area an opportunity.
Rather than have the area largely dependent on military spending and the support of war, why not begin now to implement a plan to replace the war machinery with something more progressive and far-sighted?
Why not try to convert parts of the Arsenal to more scientific pursuits? Why not try to secure a research center which studies renewable energy sources or perhaps medical research?
It would be a difficult, but not impossible challenge to work to transform the Arsenal. But I think it would be desirable to replace the shrinking federal dollars given to the Arsenal for it's military role and try to initiate an alternative facility with government support.
It may sound pie-in-the-sky, but why not? Beat those swords into plowshares and replace the military related jobs and budget with technical jobs and money for non-military government projects.
FAA safety research, FDA research, alternative fuels research, the possibilities are endless.
And it severs our ties to the sinking ship of the military Arsenal before it's too late.
As long as you have a President that wants to cut jobs then offer funding back to counties that lost the jobs. Job retraining to everyone that lost his or her job. Last month congress blew another 80 billion dollars to Iraqi. No all these base closing Rummie the Dummie says will save 20 billion over 40 years. In six months he and George W. a murdering psychopath, who lied about why we went to war, will be requesting 80 billion more.
Shalom,
---Leland Milton Goldblatt, Ph.D. ®
http://www.prof.faithweb.com
Post a Comment
<< Home