Revitalizing Fort Monmouth for life

Because Fort Monmouth is a valuable asset, you will hear all kinds of reasoning put forth for various agendas of those who want to control, at least, a part of this unexpectedly available piece of real estate. But the citizens who paid for it are being limited to three minutes - a big 180 seconds - of input at the public meetings of the Fort Monmouth Economic Revitalization Planning Authority, dominated by 10 selected people (some elected to towns where the fort is located), each, one might assume, having his/her own agenda.

The mayors, for instance, if other local mayors can be used as examples, could be looking for ratables (the motive for the use or misuse of eminent domain) or job opportunities. Why their new office will be miles down the road at the edge of Eatontown (but near the hotel) and why their webmaster was not available at a meeting where the audience was told that if they wanted more input, they could use an e-mail site not yet open, are just some of the decisions that, with the limited speech requirement, seem to be making the use of "our" property theirs alone.

The most outrageous comment in that regard was the director's response to a question about whether the committee was following a law that requires surplus government material to be offered to charitable organizations.

With some exasperation, he replied that the Army would decide one way or the other.

Have we become a police state that ignores laws? When it is apparent to all news followers that there will be need of more, not less, veterans' medical care, the precipitant attempt to close the clinic on this base aroused enough ire for the decision to be postponed.

In fact, there was, according to a veteran speaker, a representative there from each of the services' veterans, inquiring about use of the PX, etc.

Yet another speaker felt that medical care should be expanded to mental health - a good suggestion when post-traumatic stress syndrome is considered. Many of the homeless Vietnam veterans were sufferers of this disorder.

If, as the president finally admitted, the Iraq invasion had an oil motive, it seems imperative that we develop a renewable energy alternative that will now save lives (unlike nuclear) as well as oil and gas. Those who object to the esthetics of windmills at sea (although we have all lived for decades with poles and wires plus towers now) should consider them suitable at the fort if all the housing there is for less fussy low-income people who would also appreciate relatively free utilities.

One speaker mentioned that limiting affordable housing to 20 percent would not fulfill all the needs in this county. Why provide any housing on base to people who can afford current real estate prices (which are declining currently anyway)?

Considering renewable energy, last year we visited Sun Run School for Sustainable Living in Canada. On this 50-acre property the main house had solar panels and the organic garden held a very high windmill plus cisterns and a holding pond for water. Their heat source was propane gas because the property was off the electric grid, but they still survived the harsh Canadian weather and were world famous for their school to teach others how to use renewable sources.

So could we! Government aid for housing under more benign presidents used to be provided for the elderly and handicapped. When my daughter was a rental agent for an SSI (Supplemental Security Income) building, the apartments that were provided at a percentage of their income opened affordable housing for others up the chain as well as for the economically challenged occupants.

In the richest country in the world, the government should be ashamed that there are homeless.

If Fort Monmouth retains the homeless singles' housing and also provides family housing, the working poor will be enabled to live like the middle class, obtaining the American dream for a segment of society too often neglected.

If the fort, in addition, becomes a beacon of sustainable living with renewable energy in our own country, this contribution to everyone's well-being would truly make it a worthwhile economic revitalization.

Amanda Porter

Bradley Beach