Southeast : Cal State Long Beach Gets $1.7 Million Defense Grant
The White House on Thursday awarded a $1.7-million Defense Department grant to Cal State Long Beach to set up a research center for the study of transportation technologies. The center will develop academic models for large-scale military deployments, such as Operation Desert Storm.
The Administration made the announcement to a group of Long Beach officials and civic leaders, led by Mayor Beverly O’Neill, who had been invited to the White House to discuss the recovery of the city’s economy, hit hard by several rounds of military base closings.
“We didn’t come here for a handout but for a handshake,” O’Neill said. “We want to be a model base-reuse city for the country.”
Long Beach is the 32nd largest city in the country, but its economy--when construed as a state--was the fifth-hardest hit nationwide, O’Neill said.
After meeting with representatives of the Pentagon, the Navy and the Labor Department, President Clinton and White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta made a brief appearance before the group.
O’Neill invited the President to visit Long Beach, but Clinton made no commitment.
Earlier this year, the federal base closing commission shut down the Long Beach Naval Shipyard.
In previous base closing rounds, the Long Beach Naval Station and Navy Hospital were also shuttered.
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