It’s Going to Happen Sooner or Later
By James Preston Allen, Publisher

     Every few years during the last decade, if not more, the specter of losing the Los Angeles Air Force Base raises its ugly head and everyone goes scrambling into panic mode. Yes, the Aerospace industry was pretty much born in Southern California and came to prominence during WWII, and it does spend a wad of money; but it has been surpassed as “the mainstay” of our economy, we simply have to accept this. Sooner or later the huge federal subsidies that have built this industry will be parceled out through Congressional patronage to other, less expensive, places to do business. Much of it already has and not just nationally but globally. The writing is already on the wall.
     The main problem of maintaining our dependency on aerospace is its “boom and bust” tendency, which is often reliant on whether our nation is at war, of course it has been pretty good for the fifty years except for a few bumpy years of relative peace. The space side of the industry was supposed to solve this, except for the lack of consistent Congressional will to fund it, so Star Wars was invented. Even so, the free enterprise side of aerospace—the side that is not government funded—has continued to excel with the recent flight of Spaceship One. A ship whose aeronautical design the Air Force would probably never conceive of building.
     Having said all of this and by the way not disagreeing with the estimates of base closure or the hardships that it would inevitably cause, we must be prepared to replace certain key elements of our military-industrial economy with peace time equivalents that are not dependent on the winds of war. Telecommunications, energy technology alternatives and advanced medical research come to mind first for replacements for Southern California as a whole. Here, in the San Pedro Harbor Area, I can be a bit more specific­education.
     Fort MacArthur (lower reservation), which would be jettisoned with any base closure at El Segundo, would be the perfect site for a university for marine science, technology and design. It would support the other regional economy of this area, the multi-billion dollar import/export trade of the LA and Long Beach harbors. As this industry becomes increasingly dependent on hi-tech solutions, the workers are going to need ever higher education and skills. Even more so, this site overlooks our very own Cabrillo Marine Aquarium and is but a short distance to both the Marine Mammal Care and Bird centers at Angels Gate Park––community treasures that would add immense value to any marine science curriculum.
     The value of a higher education industry that is maritime oriented seems obvious for the Harbor Area. It would replace many times over whatever losses that are incurred by the Air Force leaving by creating well paid professorial and administration jobs and a multitude of support staff while creating a continual stream of students who would need everything from housing, to books, to computers and who would support various small businesses throughout our communities. It is an important part of the discussion of LAAFB closure. We need to think outside of the “panic mode” and envision the “what if” scenario.
     Even as this base closure issue rises again, the Port of LA is moving ahead with its plans for the Bridge to Breakwater redevelopment. They are rightly guided with the directive of low impact commercial development. They should be port related as well as creating public access to the waterfront. The maritime institute concept could be included in this Port planning, as all such universities attract peripheral businesses of a design, research and development nature that would be the model tenants that would not compete with San Pedro’s retail, arts and restaurants areas.
     The Fort MacArthur base land is historic, almost priceless, to our community and it needs to be used for its best and highest purpose. Obviously, defense of the port in its antiquated form is no longer its role. We now need to look to the future of what can be, and not what has been. I am also available to debate this issue publicly for any community or civic groups that are interested.