[JES]

Agreed

Instead of spending billions on expanding our terrorist hunting special forces why don’t we spend the money on rec centers and bike lanes so that every San Diegan can train to be a triathlete.

After all, it’s not as if we have any enemies in the world. And if we do it’s only because the current administration made them our enemies. 9/11 was our fault, and groups like Al Qeada and Hezbolla are generally very nice people. It’s just that we misunderstand them and their culture.

No way. If any needs should be secondary it should be the self absorbed needs of many in SoCal to live life for the sole purpose of aquiring a bigger house, more expensive car and a lifestyle they can flaunt. 18 year old American heroes at Miramar and Pendleton who are mostly dirt poor and come from humble beginnings but still managed to raise their hand to volunteer for something greater than themselves are whose well being we should be concerned with.

Every time I see someone driving a Mercedes or BMW I think to myself that they could have bought a Toyota and dotated the $10,000 difference to charity, or God forbid to the Wounded Warriors Project, a group that buys necessities for wounded troops and flys their families out to see them at the hospital.

[JES]

That is a crazy rate for Boise!

[JES]

These are 550+ very well paid engineers no less, and some support staff etc I imagine. Many will find jobs elsewhere in the city though.

[JES]

Perry, if you truly believe that then it is up to like minded people like you to convince the Marine Corps to move out of San Diego to some yet to be determined coastal city, not up to the Marine Corps to convince you otherwise. They’re a bit busy right now fighting a war in Iraq.

[JES]

Moving Miramar Marines and aircraft to Pendleton is another option that I would like to look into further. There is already a large air station at Pendleton and it could be expanded. Seems to me that although it would be complicated and involve moving 10,000 Marines and hundreds of aircraft, it would be a feasible option. The military in general will not be open to this becasue once they are it would indicate that they are willing to close Miramar. However, for the military this may be preferable to sharing Miramar.

[JES]

(Last reply was to Perry)

[JES]

The fact that the Marine Corps by its nature is a sea, air and land force vastly complicates that argument. It is in fact necessary to have bases near coastal areas. Amphibious assaults practiced at Pendleton utilize aircraft from Miramar, and virtually every training exercise has a sea based element attached to it that involves the Navy and the Marine Corps working together. By way of analogy, many wireless companies locate themselves in San Diego to be near Qualcomm, and the Marine Corps needs to be close to the Navy even though a place like Kansas would be cheaper.

Operationally, when Marines deploy – often including Miramar Marines with their aircraft – they embark on ships stationed in San Diego and deploy to places like Iraq. In the end the argument is not whether we could move Miramar, but where we would move it to. You need a coastal city, located near the Navy, with 5000 acres open to build.

It is also worth noting that the military industrial complex in San Diego to include employers like Northrop, ViaSat, SpaWar etc. all have important interactions with a base like Miramar. And lastly, the bases pump a large amount of $$ into the local economies.

I do believe that the military is protecting its turf, but rightfully so in some cases.

[JES]

The military has an obligation to tell us why the bases need to be in their current locations and why alternative locations, or just closing them, are not suitable.

Perry, I’m assuming that you appreciate that we need a place to train recruits and that we need air bases to station aircraft and that you don’t need to be convinced of that.

[JES]

I’m cautious about the Miramar proposal because of the reasons you mentioned, but moving MCRD is less of an issue IMO. The real issue with closing MCRD is whether the current airport could even use that land. I am assuming that because it is directly adjacent to the airport and is almost the size of the current airport, that they could. I’m no expert though.

I am an expert about Camp Pendleton though as I served there for a number of years. For starters, last time I checked over 5000 acres of the base were leased to state beaches and agricultural fields. The agricultural fields alone could probably house numerous MCRDs. Environmental issues also limit alot of what can be done at the base, and current training does take up a large portion of the base. So I would never advocate putting the airport there, but integrating MCRD into the area of the base that already does recruit training, or somewhere else, would make sense to me.

[JES]

By the way, Lindberg field is currently approx 600 acres, so aquiring the 400 acre MCRD property – which for anyone who doesn’t know is located right next to the current runway – would be significant.

[JES]

Why not start by closing down MCRD (400 acres right next to the airport) and moving recruit training to Camp Pendleton. Camp Pendleton is 125,000 acres and contrary to what military officials will tell you I believe there is room to move MCRD there. They already do 1-2 weeks of recruit training at Pendleton – mostly the rifle range, field training and Crucible. A new 500 acre training area would still leave 124,500 acres, and if you include the practically empty Naval Weapons Station Fallbrook there is even more room.

[JES]

I met this guy once who works for a builder and they get these marketing reports weekly, or maybe monthly, that show data for all the new home communities in detail in the counties of their choosing. These things are thick and show data like traffic through model homes per week, sales per model per week for each community, sale prices and even incentives I believe. One look at it and you can see everything you need to know about every new home community in the area.

[JES]

“Open house, and open bar, from 3-6pm”

That should work…

[JES]

Instead of ‘seller will entertain offers between xxx and xxx’ it will be ‘seller is begging to entertain anyone willing to come by and look at the property.’

[JES]

I laughed earlier today when I saw a spread of 675-750k. The first thing I would do right now is take the lower number and deduct 10%!

To echo what was already said, in a year we wont see this anymore…

[Author]

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