Jim Bacon mentioned the DP story, “Rift between city, state threatens Fort Monroe plans’ (Daily Press October 10, 2006) . The heart of the issue is who will be in charge of planning and managing the transition of Ft Monroe to other uses.

The Hampton City Council wants to be in charge. But, Ft. Monroe was never part of Hampton. So, the land should revert to the Commonwealth – the original owner.

The City has a plan that, at first glance, looks like a nice vision. But, there is another vision held by the Citizens for a Fort Monroe National Park (www.CFMNP.org).

Both visions point to the Presidio of San Francisco, California as the model for how to proceed.

But, the CFMNP argue “under the BRAC process applicable to closing military bases, Hampton has been designated the Local Redevelopment Authority by the Pentagon, and in turn Hampton has created a Federal Area Development Authority of seven Hampton residents to recommend to Hampton City Council a Fort Monroe reuse plan. Such plan would eventually be forwarded to the governor of Virginia for his review and ultimately to the federal government for its approval. However, this process is concurrent with completing other legally required processes, under the Historic Preservation Act and the National Environmental Policy Act, both of which require that all feasible alternatives for the Fort be considered. Citizens for a Fort Monroe National Park will (and we believe citizens should) participate in all these processes, but none of these procedures preclude individual citizens and groups from directly calling on Congress, the governor, state legislators, and other political leaders to support a national park at Fort Monroe.”

Sen. (R-sorta) Marty Williams supports handing Ft. Monroe over to Hampton.

Del. (R) Tom Gear is working with the CFMNP organization.

Marty and the Hampton City Council are allies in advocating increasing our taxes for transportation, establishing unelected, unaccountable, undivided powerful Regional Governments, etc.

Tom is against them. Furthermore, as a former Hampton City Council member, Tom opposed Hampton’s tax and spend schemes for 20 years. Hampton has a litany of big dollar projects, poorly managed and questionably awarded. This Hampton City Council bought new chairs for themselves – at about $7k a pieces. This City Council inappropriately fired the City Manager and had to settle a $5m lawsuit. The words ‘stewards of the public trust’ are never used in the same sentence with these elected officials.

Since, the voters of Hampton put these folks in office, they deserve the city government and schools they get. But, it’s unreasonable to give a national treasure and region gemstone over to these politicians and punish the rest of Tidewater and the Commonwealth.

Questions about the other vision? Contact Steven T. Corneliussen at Corneliussen@alumni.Duke.edu