Nearly Half of Job Shifts Would Be Within State : Personnel: About 30,000 employees would be moved to other installations. San Diego would benefit heavily from the transfers.
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon list of base cutbacks released Friday targets eight California bases for closure, but that is only part of the story.
The Pentagon has proposed changes at 47 military commands in California and some recommendations involve increases or transfers within the state--realignment in military lingo.
According to figures released Friday, 61,591 jobs are proposed to be cut at bases, shipyards, hospitals and training centers statewide. Through transfers and redeployments, 29,844 of those jobs will be shifted to other installations. That leaves a net loss of 31,747 military and civilian jobs for California.
Still, the proposed cutbacks are a major blow to the state.
“(This news) is going to bring a great deal of hardship to working men and women in California. The bases (on the list) will suffer tremendous economic devastation,†said Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.)
Gov. Pete Wilson estimated that the annual direct payroll and contract reductions would total $1.95 billion. However, Wilson’s office of planning and research, which prepared the estimate, did not take into account the realignments outlined in the Pentagon list.
Some of the 47 changes recommended by the Pentagon involve only a handful of workers. For instance, the Naval Reserve Center at Pacific Grove is slated to lose one civilian and six military jobs.
The largest proposed job loss is at the Alameda Naval Air Station, where 10,586 military and 556 civilian slots are on the block.
The Bay Area took the brunt of the planned cuts with six facilities showing up on the closure list.
By contrast, the San Diego area, where the Navy intends to cluster more of its activities in a megaport, stands to enjoy a net gain in jobs as personnel and operations are shifted from closed or slimmed-down bases elsewhere.
Reps. Duncan Hunter (R-El Cajon) and Randy (Duke) Cunningham (R-San Diego) said the San Diego military community would benefit by a net increase of 7,900 jobs.
San Diego may even do better, Cunningham said.
If carriers berthed in the Bay Area are home-ported in San Diego, their crews--not counted in the Pentagon figures--would come with them. “One aircraft carrier alone would bring 5,000 military personnel,†Cunningham said.
Also expected to move south to San Diego’s Miramar Naval Air Station are fighter and helicopter squadrons from El Toro Marine Air Station, which remained on the list to be shut down.
For San Diego, the good news was tempered by a painful surprise on the Pentagon list, which recommended shutting down the Naval Training Center. Two years ago, the facility dodged a bullet when the Navy sought to close one of three such training centers nationwide. According to the new Pentagon plan, the San Diego training center and the Orlando training center would be closed down, leaving only the Great Lakes Naval Training Center near Chicago.
“They must have had a memory lapse,†said Rep. Lynn Schenk (D-La Jolla), whose district includes the training center. “We’ll make the strong argument that was made last time. It’s the only one of the three with a deep-water port and access to the fleet. The trainees can practically cross the street and walk on the ship.â€
Schenk, who was flying back to California, did not learn of the development until Friday afternoon.
“I was stunned when I heard the news. All politics and chauvinism aside, this move doesn’t make any sense. I immediately wrote to (base closure commission) Chairman (Jim) Courter to ask for a hearing in San Diego. We’re going to refresh their memory.â€
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