Not for Job Corps

“What is it exactly that makes (Mt. Laguna) unsuitable” for a Job Corps Training Center? posed Sheila A. Sada in her letter to the editor April 15. Perhaps, the most important, bottom-line answer: extraordinary cost to taxpayers.

The site chosen is located on the top of a mountain in the Cleveland National Forest, at 6,000 feet, where temperatures frequently fall below freezing and winds often reach 100 m.p.h. One can expect building and operating costs for year-round heating, transportation and power to be excessive. The U.S. Forest Service proposes to renovate the gutted Air Force buildings, removing asbestos, PCBs and lead paint: another great cost to taxpayers.

The Job Corps complex (estimated population 400) will need to build its own sewage treatment facility, find a reliable water source, generate its own power and establish self-sufficient support services, such as medical care, fire protection, law enforcement, child care and entertainment.

Community services in the tiny village of Mt. Laguna (population 75) are essentially non-existent. All food, trash, clothing, waste chemicals/toxics will need to be trucked in/out from 40-50 miles away, using a winding mountain road that is often closed in the winter. Additional taxpayer funds will be required for road maintenance and patrol due to the increased year-round, non-recreational traffic.

With so many military bases closing around the country, there is no shortage of cost-effective facilities located in established communities that could benefit economically from a large Job Corps complex.

NADINE SIDRICK

San Diego