In the 1990's, we were told that if we closed Army bases, the Federal Government would save money. In 1994, Fort Ord, California, home of the 7th Infantry (Light) Division closed. For the next 25 years, the Army budget would continue to be drained in the costs of giving away the land. Those costs were scheduled to be completed in 2019. For the last 20 years, the Monterey area has salivated over the prospects of what to do with the gift from Uncle Sam, and fought over what to do with it.
For more than 15 years, they've had the ability to do something with it, and watched it rot.
Pictured: Fort Ord, 2012, main post, courtesy of a Veteran in the area.
"Some of the issues people are asking the plan review to address include: impacts of the economic downtown, targeted job creation, incentives for developing previously developed area, and FORA's own process for determining that projects are consistent with the reuse plan, an agency statement said." Monterey Herald, 4/16/2012, Larry Parsons
It hasn't been an argument over how to honor those that trained to keep Our Nation safe, but how to remove the "blight" of the memory of those that served. Not even the "environmentally-friendly" concept of Public Transportation can outweigh their desire to use the bonanza for other purposes.
"It is always used as a justification for outlandish development plans. Problem is, the 1997 Base Reuse Plan exists in a bubble as it was drafted with no pubic input…but it is the blueprint for what parcels can be developed and how they can be developed." End of Fort Ord Reuse
While the Californians have argued over how to remove the "blight" of old military buildings and use their Federal gift, the buildings and post has fallen into a state of rot. Few of their high-minded ideas came to fruition. California State University took over some of the land and opened the Panetta Institute of Public Policy, run by Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and his wife, in 1997. At the time, he had been the Clinton Chief of Staff for two and half years. It serves as platform for speakers like Arianna Huffington, of the Huffing Post.
Of course, the Panetta Institute isn't the only part of the California State University Campus on the Former Fort Ord. And the campus enjoys the facilities the Military built with DoD budget dollars like the sports field and tracks, but students weave the rotting corpses of all the military buildings to get there.
Sure, the locals enjoy using the old Fort Ord Golf Course, but I didn't find any discounts for Veterans or Troops at the club that was built for them. The Monterey area developed because of the Military. It's earliest roots trace to the Presidio of Monterey, which was at one time of Spanish Fort and later a US Cavalry post. It's other historical lineage is that of the Catholic Church, which sought to convert the natives of the area.
And it didn't take long for the politicians to see that getting what they wanted meant they had slaughtered their Golden Goose:
"1991 decision of the Department of Defense to place Fort Ord on its official closure list, as part of an overall budget reduction program, was reflected in a sudden downturn of economic activity and decrease in service levels to the military personnel which began to leave the base. Although Fort Ord was initially downsized, rather than completely closed, the large population loss has considerably affected the surrounding communities." Fort Ord Reuse Authority, 1997, page 214 Download Fort Ord Reuse 1997
The city of Marina was given Fort Ord's airport, but the locals lamented that only 5,000 of their 28,000 acre gift were developed. The city of Seaside took possession of 4 schools as part of its bounty, and two golf courses, as well as beaches.
Eventually, in the area history, a railroad connected the Presidio to parts inland. Panetta's Carmel Beach was used in centuries past for Cavalry horsemanship competitions and training. Fort Ord came later, when the Cavalry post expanded into a full blown Infantry Division. But in the 1980's and 90's, Californians, even those in Monterey found the Troops distasteful. While the Veterans and Retirees that had settled around Fort Ord and Monterey still supported the Troops, the general consensus of the population was that the Troops were not what they wanted in the neighborhood. It was prime real estate. It was a natural for the first rounds of base closures. And had it been done responsibly, it could have helped pay off the National Debt, along with such prime real estate as the Presidio of San Francisco and Treasure Island.
But instead of selling the land, the government gave it away. Instead of merely giving it away, the government has spent Billions of dollars, over a period of what will be 25 years, to give away prime real estate. The biggest obstacle to the absolute treasure trove of real estate were the locals, and greed over what to do with the gift. The greed would paralyze the plans and result in the area rotting away, while the area suffered from the loss of the money 31,000 US Troops and their families had once spent at local businesses.
Of course, closing Fort Ord also had a negative impact on the Troops stationed at the Military Schools in the area. Neither the Naval Postgraduate School, nor the Presidio of Monterey are big enough to contain the necessary housing and other support programs necessary for their operation. And there are a large number of Military Retirees in the area. So, the Commissary and a reduced Post Exchange were kept open at the former Fort Ord. While, Fort Ord Housing was once a no-cost option for those stationed in Monterey, private companies now rent government built homes on government owned land to Troops for upwards of $1800/month on the low end and as much as $3231. The properties which once cost the government only the costs of maintenance, are now part of the "rising" personnel costs in the military, as the Department of Defense pays the money out to Troops who then pay the same amount to the private companies. And that is accounted for as personnel costs, that Panetta then says is why we have to charge Military Retirees for their benefits.
Added to the 2013 DoD budget request is payment directly to Public Schools from DoD, as well. Because those property taxes included in the homes they rent evidently aren't sufficient to overcome the "decreased" property value to those school districts.
But behind the efforts to bring home the bacon has always been Leon Panetta. He endorsed the will of the residents to get rid of the dirty, nasty Infantrymen, but remains the primary patron of maintaining the Defense Language Institute at the Presidio of Monterey and Navy Postgraduate School in his former Congressional District. The City of Monterey gets Millions of Dollars a year straight out of DoD budgets just to "maintain" the infrastructure of the small post at the Presidio of Monterey, while many Troops still learn a language in buildings built in the early 1900's.
And those schools remain a convenient excuse for Leon Panetta to take a free, $32,000 executive jet ride home for the weekend, such as when he had the Troops stand in formation for a campaign speech on August 23rd, 2011.
On 20 April 2012, Barack Obama declared the least usable land of the former Fort Ord as a National Monument, ensuring that the Federal Government will continue paying for the land, permanently. The result is giving the Panetta area a lot of what they want, on the federal taxpayer's dime. The area affected are the parts that were once used for Military training. Half of it is still being cleared of munitions on ranges the military can no longer use. It will become a bicycling and hikers paradise, but will not resemble anything close to a monument to the History of the 7th ID or the Military History of Fort Ord.
The "excuse" for making 15,000 acres a National Monument hinges more on the Spanish Conquest than the blood and sweat of the 7th Infantry Division. But even that is weak:
"In 1775-1776, Anza established the first overland route from "New Spain," as Mexico was then known, to San Francisco, opening the way for expanded Spanish settlement of California. The diaries kept on this nearly 2,000-mile journey were used to identify the Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail, approximately 6 miles of which pass through the Fort Ord area." Barack Obama, in his declaration making it a National Monument.
It will ensure that the Federal Government pays for new roads and trails to be cut, developed, and maintained for the local residents of Monterey, while Panetta's Congressional replacement, Sam Farr, gleefully explains that the name "National Monument" will mean that tourists spend more money in the area. It comes at a time when Governor Jerry Brown is closing state parks and for all intents and purposes it is a Federal park for use of the locals and the tourists they can bring in.
"By bicycle, horse, and foot visitors can explore the Fort Ord area's scenic and natural resources along trails that wind over lush grasslands, between gnarled oaks, and through scrub-lined canyons. Within the boundaries of the Fort Ord area, visitors admire the landscape and scenery and are exposed to wildlife and a diverse group of rare and endemic plants and animals. Because visitors travel from areas near and far, these lands support a growing travel and tourism sector that is a source of economic opportunity for the community, especially businesses in the region. They also help to attract new residents, retirees, and businesses that will further diversify the local economy." Obama, ibid.
The "National Monument" completely ignores Our (evicted) Troops.
It is far from the more appealing land of main post and Highway 1 and the coast and beaches. It is the "east part" but will be connected to the coastal areas, for maximum stimulus and pork value of Leon Panetta's hometown community.
The very expensive 12 acres Leon Panetta owns and visits weekly in Carmel, California may not be publicly accessible, but he has continued to bring home the bacon to the tune of Billions of Department of Defense dollars, long after he left Congress. He maintains the power and influence to keep the current President spending money in his district, even as he calls for Troops to be charged for their own health care and be thrown on the streets and a new round of base closures, even before the costs of giving away prime real estate in the 90's hasn't been paid for. If anything, he is more effective at pork barrel spending as a political appointee, than he was as a member of Congress.
We cannot afford another round of base closures, not militarily and not fiscally. We cannot afford future rounds of training grounds turned into Federally Funded bike trails. We cannot afford to subsidize the weekly $32,000 trips. And we cannot afford this kind of fiduciary malfeasance.
For more on the older history of California Missions and Presidio histories, please visit MSG Dale Day's website: A Soldier's Stories and Father Serra's Legacy. It is certainly worth reading the history he has clearly worked hard researching, not for money, but out of a passion to know his roots.
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