Cox presses for base housing

Deirdre Newman

Rep. Chris Cox has sent two letters to the chief Defense Department

official in charge of the former El Toro Marine Air Base reuse, in a

continuing effort to air the concerns of military families regarding

reopening a commissary and reusing the housing.

The letters seek information relating to the department’s decision

to close the commissary and the feasibility of opening the vacant

housing to active military personnel.

While some military family advocates say they feel positive about

Cox’s latest action, they don’t feel he is doing enough.

“We are encouraged by the content of the news release, however we

have seen this type of activity on the part of the congressman

before, with no results,” said Ken Lee, spokesman for ocmil.com, a

group that supports Southern California military families. “We

believe he alone has the ability to make this happen if he would

focus and maintain this as one of his top priority issues.”

Cox says that’s exactly what he’s doing.

“We’ve made this as high a priority as possible,” Cox said. “I

have met at the highest levels of the Pentagon a couple of times,

asked very detailed questions, questions that have been provided by

the advocates themselves. We’re doing 100% of what is possible.”

Cox sent the two letters to H.T. Johnson, assistant secretary for

installations and environment for the Navy. He said these letters

were just the latest in a series of meetings and correspondence he

has had with Johnson on the twin El Toro issues.

The base was closed in July 1999. Cox convinced the Defense

Department not to close the commissary at that time, but it only

stayed open for 15 months.

The first letter to Johnson, about the feasibility of reopening

the commissary, is dated April 16, the same day as a protest against

Cox by military family supporters. The protest, in front of Cox’s

Newport Beach office, was meant to illustrate support for reopening

the military housing at El Toro and the disregard the protesters feel

toward what they perceive as Cox’s own disregard for the welfare of

military families.

The letter seeks more detailed information on the assumptions used

by the Defense Department, which predicted annual operating losses at

almost $1 million if the commissary is reopened.

The second letter is dated April 20 and asks a number of questions

about the former military housing on the base. Originally the Defense

Department considered allowing military personnel stationed at Camp

Pendleton in San Diego County to live in the El Toro houses, but

later officials changed their minds since, they said, the housing is

substandard, would be too costly to renovate and would require too

long a commute to Camp Pendleton.

Cox’s letter asks how the department arrived at its cost estimates

and how it calculated commuting times.

The Navy and the city of Irvine are creating a plan to auction off

all the base property later this summer. Cox said those auctions will

be done in a series and the housing portion probably won’t be

auctioned off for “many months.”

Lee said the exorbitant home prices in the area necessitate a

speedy solution to the housing issue.

“Our military families deserve this housing -- they need this

housing,” he said. “And it is a major issue to our troops and their

families. And they are looking for a quick resolution to this issue,

not more waiting.”