The Ax Has Fallen: It’s Time to Plan : Collective action needed in face of base closings

California has played a crucial role in meeting America’s national security and foreign policy objectives. But now, in hard times and in a changed world, it is paying a price for its dependence on a military-based economy.

Even the most optimistic projections for defense conversion will not be very reassuring in light of the virtual certainty now that the state will lose seven more military bases. This is going to hurt a lot.

Recommendations approved over the weekend by the federal Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission will go to President Clinton and Congress for approval or rejection.

No doubt the enormous federal deficit, the new realities of the post-Cold War world and the justifiable effort to spread the pain nationwide make it impossible to quarrel with consolidation and streamlining in a state so heavily involved in defense.

The use of an independent commission was intended to take some of the politics out of tough choices. Still, California took a very large share of the hit. There were bright tidings for San Diego and Long Beach in the panel’s report but harsh news for many other communities. El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, for example, will close despite questions about the true cost savings, and the Bay Area is going to lose thousands of jobs, even as a white elephant like Homestead Air Force Base in Florida is spared.

Those affected in California must somehow focus on what comes next. If they bicker, they probably will suffer the kind of impasse that followed the closing of George Air Force Base in San Bernardino County. Communities will also need help from Washington to supplement good efforts already being made in Sacramento.

It’s not likely that every conversion effort will fly. There are intriguing ideas, such as converting Ft. Ord, near Monterey, to a Cal State campus, and there are ideas that may never be much more than a television sound bite. For example, the notion of a commercial air base floated for El Toro faces a host of hurdles, including strong community opposition.

President Clinton’s defense conversion plan, announced last March as this latest round of closings was first considered, now takes on additional urgency. At best it is a long-term plan, and untested. The communities experiencing base closings must get on with their planning; although it will take several years before all the bases actually close, there is little time to restructure local economies that depend on bases.

The closings contribute to an already difficult economic environment, fueled by earlier shutdowns and the loss of aerospace jobs. In a state struggling to climb out of a persistent recession, the announcements come as yet another blow. For California--and for the nation--the stakes are high.