Florida Governor Proposes Airport to Replace U.S. Base

Gov. Lawton Chiles said Friday that getting money from Congress to rebuild hurricane-ravaged Homestead Air Force Base may be a lost battle, and he suggested a less expensive commercial airport in its place.

The base accounted for more than 25% of an economy flattened by Hurricane Andrew, and it provided more than 5,000 jobs and homes for 1,800 people.

Residents were hoping for $480 million to restore the military operations, but a Senate committee rejected the request Thursday. It approved only $26 million to remove rubble and plan for possible reconstruction of the base.

“If we can’t get the votes on Homestead Air Force Base, then we’ll need to get dollars to turn it into a commercial airport,” Chiles said. “We’ve got to be prepared to move to other plans.”

In other developments:

--Transportation Secretary Andrew H. Card Jr., who heads President Bush’s hurricane relief task force, said Friday that donations of building supplies are still welcome, but that water and clothing are no longer needed.

--Dade County Commissioner Mary Collins examined some of the more than 133,000 destroyed or damaged homes and threatened to “throw people out of the business” for violating building codes.

The newly homeless have sent state investigators more than 500 complaints of substandard housing, and homeowners are suing developers of several subdivisions.

--An oceanographer said the hurricane also reached 100 feet below the sea, tossing around sunken ships and breaking up artificial reefs.

“Some looked like they had actually moved a hundred meters,” said the University of Miami’s Mark Harwell after divers inspected wrecks off Miami Beach and Key Biscayne, Fla. “The magnitude of that is surprising.”