Building Jobs and Solvency on Navy Turf : Long Beach: Saving historic facilities is financially impossible; the shipyard best fits the port.

While our economic future has taken a positive turn, the city of Long Beach is still staggering from the economic hits it has taken in recent years. With the recession, the closure of the Long Beach Naval Station in 1991 and the closure of the shipyard scheduled for 1997, more than 27,500 Navy jobs will have been lost. Combined with the downsizing of the aerospace industry, this means a loss of more than 50,000 jobs. More than $4 billion annually in economic impact will be felt in the Long Beach area and millions of dollars in city revenues will disappear.

If Long Beach were a state, we would be the fifth-hardest-hit in terms of job loss due to base closures. But we have a fighting spirit and have developed plans to overcome these devastating setbacks.

The reuse proposals for all naval properties in Long Beach--including the development of a new port terminal--are primary economic engines of our revitalization efforts. With the reuse plans, we can have high-paying jobs and improve our recreation facilities and libraries and strengthen public safety.

Some citizens want to preserve the naval station’s historic buildings and maintain the park grounds. For 50 years the entire taxpaying population of the United States has paid for and maintained the complex. But if the buildings are to be preserved and the facilities maintained, the city of Long Beach alone will have to pick up the tab, and we cannot do that without placing our police, fire, parks and library services in jeopardy.

The buildings do not meet current earthquake or other building codes, and none are accessible for the disabled (a federal requirement). The expense just to remove lead paint and asbestos would be $15 million.

People say government should operate more like business. In this case, Long Beach could keep the complex, with repair costs easily exceeding tens of millions of dollars and an annual cost to Long Beach taxpayers of $1.9 million just for maintenance, or, the city could develop a port terminal creating thousands of jobs and generating $1 million every year in city revenues. From a business, bottom-line perspective, the answer is easy.

Even if it were financially feasible, maintaining the property as a recreational facility in the center of a heavily industrial area is unwise and unsafe for children. Parks belong in neighborhoods, not in the middle of an industrial complex.

Restrictive state and local regulations also limit the type of development permissible on the site (the federal government generally does not have to comply with state and local statutes). Once the property is returned to the city, the site can only be used for harbor, commerce, navigation and water-dependent recreation. Further, state law gives “highest priority” to use of existing land within harbor districts for port-related purposes. This, in essence, is to ensure that port development happens only in designated areas, rightly seeking to preserve the bulk of the coastline for public recreational use.

The Navy, the city and the port of Long Beach have been working with federal, state and local historical groups to compile the necessary documentation assessing the historical significance of certain buildings. Working with local historical preservationists, the city and port have developed a comprehensive plan to ensure that the buildings are memorialized and to chronicle the Navy’s importance to the growth of Southern California.

For five years, the citizen Economic Development Commission and the City Council have solicited public input, held meetings and sought alternative uses for the site. Of the nine proposals submitted, the port authority’s was the most well-conceived and economically feasible. The proposed cargo terminal will not cost city taxpayers a cent, but will generate tax revenues to help maintain and expand recreational facilities in neighborhoods where they belong. The port has agreed to contribute $2 million to the development of a much needed park in the southwest portion of the city.

The Navy is no longer the economic mainstay of our community. Instead, trade, tourism and new technology will drive our economy into the next century. The naval station reuse plans will put people back to work and provide valuable resources to improve our public safety, parks, libraries and other essential services.