Peace Talk — Autumn 2005

This is a time for careful planning. We need to work hard to build enthusiasm among our friends, neighbors and legislators. We need to be active in our support for proposals being developed that will encourage sustainable uses of the 3,200 acres of prime real estate that, for the past 62 years, has been used for military purposes.

All of us with an interest in the use of this land need to be paying close attention and finding our way onto the local and state planning commissions that will be making decisions about its re-use. We know that permanent and sustainable jobs can bring strong economic growth to the area. Quoting VFP member John Wirtz in the August 31 Portland Press Herald:

“The new facility at the former Eglund Air Force Base in Alexandria, Va., has created 1,800 jobs, more than double the number of civilian jobs at the time of base closing. Bergstrom Air Force Base in Austin, Texas lost 927 jobs when it was closed in 1995; it now employs 3,000 workers. The former Presidio in San Francisco is well on its way to being converted to industrial and upscale residential use.

“In Charleston, S.C., a one-time Bath Iron Works-type shipyard is now a thriving industrial park and commercial shipbuilding/refitting facility. And when the Naval Air Warfare Station in Indianapolis was privatized, over 1,700 jobs were created, along with a technology park, adding another 2,500 workers.

Overall, between 1989 and 1995, the Defense Department closed some 100 installations in 28 states. The consequences of these shut-downs? In the affected communities, the majority that opted to convert former bases to new nonmilitary uses more than made up the number of lost jobs.”

Already two strong proposals are in their initial stages and have been reported in the winter and spring issues of this quarterly. One, from Herschel Sternlieb and an active committee, proposes the creation of the Brunswick Commons Park, a world-class garden/park that could become one of Maine’s foremost tourist attractions. Proposed is a combination of beautiful nature trails, orchards, fields of wild flowers, formal gardens, mazes, a blueberry barren, maple sugar bush, community vegetable gardens, playing fields and picnic groves. In the winter it would be a destination for cross-country skiers. Its possibilities would be limited only by our creative imaginations.

The other, from Walt Rosen and his committee, proposes creation of a National Institute for Sustainable Technologies. It would promote research, education, training and demonstration of alternative energy technologies, making Maine a magnet for the kinds of innovations our energy policy must and will develop.

Together these proposals could turn those 3,200 acres into an economic asset, a life sustaining model for the nation, and a complement to the cultural activities at Bowdoin College.

What is needed now is your energy and commitment to ensure that these proposals will not be buried under the more predictable, big business suggestions for taking over the base land. Much of that land was once the Brunswick Commons. Let’s take it back to be used for sustainability of all kinds.