When the Army comes back to Middletown on Tuesday, it will be with a show of scrambled eggs and epaulets of some of the Army's top brass. Bringing a war hero to town to plea the pathetic case the Army has made so far is a typical Pentagon public relations move.
I've heard unconfirmed reports, which I tried to confirm with Congresswoman Rosa Delauro's office yesterday (my call was not returned), that Army Secretary Pete Geren has written a long letter to Rosa Delauro saying that the Army will reinitiate a site search in Middletown based on the Governor's realignment of the base realignment. Rell, as commander-in-chief, has asked the Army to remove the New London guard base from the consolidation, creating a smaller base footprint. Hence, the Army Reserve Training Center needs less acreage, and perhaps a smaller site can be found.
If the Army refuses to build on a brownfield, I think Middletown should ask the Army to look elsewhere.
The meeting is Tuesday, August 19, 6:30 pm in Council Chambers. Apparently in another attempt to keep information from the public, it is for invited guests only. Westfield residents have been invited, but not other concerned residents.
1 comment:
I have been mistaken for a Westfield Resident in the past...
That nice 18th century farmhouse probably has its own genuine brownfield since toilets were not common until a couple of hundred years later. Would that mean it is a good site for an Army Base? NO! The point being that even a bonafide brownfield is not necessarily a good site for an Army base. This includes the genuine brownfield "contaminated" site at Pratt and Whitney on the Connecticut River waterfront.
The City's pet River Road site, which in an often repeated fib has been referred to as a brownfield, is a phoney. Fake brownfields should not be considered even if the word brownfield has been used to describe them! I agree, Middletown should ask the Army to look elsewhere.
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