Speakers at Hearing Urge Navy to Keep Shipyard
Community leaders in Long Beach say thousands of high-tech jobs would be lost, hundreds of workers and their families dislocated, and the local economy severely hurt if the Navy shuts down its shipyard here.
“We shouldn’t make our shipyard workers an endangered species,” said City Councilman Evan Braude at a Navy hearing Wednesday on the fate of the Terminal Island yard in Long Beach Harbor.
During the hearing on the economic, social and environmental impact of the yard’s closure, three dozen speakers backed by 100 spectators presented their case for keeping the yard open.
A report will be submitted to Congress in January to help determine which military facilities might be closed.
The yard is the city’s fifth-largest employer, with 4,100 workers. It is one of many military facilities that could be closed to trim defense spending.
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