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TIME: Almanac 1990
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1990 Time Magazine Compact Almanac, The (1991)(Time).iso
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010989
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1990-09-17
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NATION, Page 28Taps for Old BasesDespite protests, the Pentagon plan may not cost many jobs
At the first early warnings last October that the Pentagon
might shut down a number of obsolete military bases, communities
across the U.S. launched pre-emptive strikes against the plan. The
issue had less to do with military utility than with economic
survival. In areas where the local economy depends on the payrolls
of soldiers and civilian employees, citizens and public officials
pleaded with Washington to spare their installations from
extinction.
Despite the anticipatory howls, the Defense Secretary's
Commission on Base Realignment and Closure last week recommended
86 military bases for termination within the next six years. The
Pentagon figures that shutting them down, while partially closing
five more and realigning 54 others, will save $693.6 million a
year. In the short run, the closings will result in the
elimination of 24,000 civilian jobs. But Les Aspin, chairman of the
House Armed Services Committee, estimates there ultimately will be
a net loss of only 8,000 nonmilitary positions.
Though they included such historic military sites as New
Jersey's Fort Dix, there is no question that the bases on the
commission's roll call had outlived their strategic purposes. San
Francisco's Presidio army base, for example, was once a crucial
Pacific outpost where officers were trained during World War I.
Today the Presidio, with its tree-shaded trails and historic
architecture, is a popular tourist destination. Illinois' Fort
Sheridan processed 500,000 soldiers during World War II. These
days, the base is most famous for a lush golf course.
While Congress recognized the need for the closings, lawmakers
were gun-shy about the protests they were certain to provoke. So
the legislators found a way to face the issue without having to
make the painful choices themselves: they passed a bill endorsing
the creation of a twelve-man bipartisan commission that would
decide on the sites for closure. The commission submitted its
recommendations to Defense Secretary Frank Carlucci last week; both
he and the Joint Chiefs of Staff were reportedly prepared to
approve them. The list will next go to Congress where it must be
considered on a take-it-or-leave-it basis. Hence, lawmakers from
affected communities can blame the closures on the commission.
Despite all the hand wringing, base closings often do less harm
than good to a community. A Pentagon study found that among 100
base closings between 1961 and 1986, civilians lost 93,424 jobs
but gained 138,138 new ones when the installations were turned to
other uses. Communities across the country have found imaginative
ways to transform the old bases. Forty-two former Pentagon
airfields have become local airports. When the government closed
Kincheloe Air Force Base near Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., eleven years
ago, 700 civilian jobs vanished and the surrounding community in
the Upper Peninsula lost 33% of its population. Today an industrial
park at the old base site provides work to four times as many
civilians as Kincheloe employed. Success stories like these give
credence to the view of Republican Congressman Dick Armey who
authored the legislation on installation shutdowns: "There is
indeed life after base closings."