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Air Force Base spared from latest
BRAC list
By Jennifer Evans
May 19, 2005
A weight was lifted off the South Bay's shoulders last week when the
Pentagon announced the Base Realignment Closure list that spares the
Los Angeles Air Force Base in El Segundo.
The base, which employs a total of 4,493 military, civilian and
civilian contract employees and supports as many as 50,000 South Bay
jobs, is the home of the Space and Missile Systems Center which
manages the research, design, development, acquisition and support
of satellite and missile launches.
"We cannot be more pleased with the news and thanks to the help of
people like John Parsons, Jane Harman and Don Knabe, Washington
understands the unique military value of the Los Angeles Air Force
Base," said El Segundo Mayor Kelly McDowell.
Redondo Beach Councilman John Parsons, who serves as the co-chair
for the LAAFB Regional Alliance, the community group that focused on
protecting the base from being closed, commended the community for
generating the necessary support and awareness for the base and
added that the fight is still not over. "Obviously I'm very happy
with the outcome," Parsons said. "But we remain vigilant, we are not
letting our guard down yet."
The list, which is being reviewed by the BRAC Commission, will be
sent to the president for approval Sept. 8. The president will then
have up to 15 days to approve the list or send it back to the
commission. If approved by the president, the list will then be sent
to Congress, which will have 45 days to accept or decline the list.
According to Parsons, the BRAC list has been accepted by Congress in
the last four BRAC rounds.
Assemblyman Mike Gordon, who worked closely with Parsons as a
founding member of the LAAFB Regional Alliance, said he was proud of
the work put in by the community to save the base from the BRAC
list.
"I am delighted that the LAAFB was not recommended for closure in
the BRAC list released," Gordon said. "I congratulate the LAAFB
Regional Alliance and the leaders of the South Bay for all their
efforts over the past two years to convince federal officials of the
military value of keeping the base right here in our community."
It was several years ago when military officials agreed that the
50-year-old base needed to be updated so that it would meet current
seismic requirements.
South Bay city officials determined that without the modernization,
the base would leave itself vulnerable to making the BRAC closure
list.
A joint venture was created between the LAAFB, El Segundo, Hawthorne
and private developers. In exchange for land, private developers
would construct a new facility for the base. The cost of the base's
modernization was estimated at $160 million.
The construction for the new facility started two years ago. To
date, the Consolidated Base Support Center and the Child Development
Center have been completed with the entire facility scheduled to be
completed by April 2006.
The partnership of developers including Kearny Real Estate, Morgan
Stanley, Catellus and SAMS Venture LLC agreed to modernize the base
at the cost of $115 million in exchange for three parcels of federal
land located in Hawthorne and El Segundo.
"I am extremely proud of the work the community did to promote the
value of the innovative land swap deal that is paving the way for
the construction of state-of-the-art military facilities at LAAFB
all without a dime of federal money," Gordon said. "In an era of
tight budgets, the land swap was a phenomenal accomplishment that
demonstrated our commitment to this community."
Besides the LAAFB, several other California bases faced the
possibility of closing including bases such as the Joint Training
Center in Los Alamitos, Naval Base Ventura County, March Air Reserve
Base in Riverside County, Barstow Marine Corps Logistics Base, Fort
Irwin Army National Training Center, Marine Corps Twentynine Palms
and the Air Ground Combat Center. Affected by the Pentagon's list
was the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Corona and the Naval Medical
Center in San Diego that will shift 1,600 employees to other
facilities.
In all about 2,000 jobs were lost in California due to the list.
"It is a miniscule loss from a financial standpoint compared to the
last rounds," said Parsons. "The state of California did much better
this time."
According to an Economic Impact Report, conducted by the Los Angeles
Economic Development Corporation, the LAAFB is responsible for
50,000 jobs in Los Angeles County, has an $8 billion annual impact
on the Los Angeles economy and a $16.2 billion annual impact at the
state level. The report indicated that the loss of the LAAFB would
have resulted in a loss of $13 million in tax revenue in the Los
Angeles area economy.
Aerospace employee and El Segundo resident Dave Jonta said that
there was a sense of relief among Aerospace employees.
"We were very pleased that the base was not closed, but we were
prepared to stand by and support the Space and Missiles Center no
matter what the outcome," Jonta said. The 11-year Aerospace employee
said he doesn't know if his job would have been affected had the
base been on the list, but does know that the waiting is not over
yet. "Everybody was greatly relieved but at the same time we are
mindful that this is a long process and it's not over yet." |