August 25, 2005
Walter, We Hardly Knew Ye
In a huge blow to the region’s economy, a federal commission charged with choosing which armed forces bases to close decided Walter Reed Army Medical Center (named after the Civil War doctor and major at right) will likely admit its last patient soon. The closure, which includes the Northwest center as well as office space in Northern Virginia, means 9,000 jobs will go elsewhere.
The decision means that those jobs will shift to exurban bases, such as Fort Belvoir in Fairfax County, Quantico in Prince William and Fort Meade in Anne Arundel County. Those injured men and women returning from abroad will have to find care at an expanded National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda.
Also in peril is the National Museum of Health and Medicine, located on the Walter Reed grounds. Visit this weekend to see human remains and the near-barbaric medical tools of the Civil War era. You might not get another chance.
On the local side, many weighed in on what should be done with the 113-acre campus located between Georgia Avenue and 16th Street in Northwest. A federal center? Give the property to the city? Mixed-use development?
“We've got to act quick," Councilman and mayoral candidate Adrian Fenty told the Post, clearly forgetting that when quick modifies a verb, it should have an ‘ly’ at the end. "If would be very bad to come out with a big federal office building on that site. . . . We need to act quickly [Whew! Nice save, Mr. Fenty!] so that whatever the community wants is at the front of the consideration line, regardless of whatever some congressperson from some other place in the country thinks should go there."
It’s all speculation at the moment. The commission hands its report over to President Bush Sept. 8. He puts his two cents in, and then Congress will get its turn.
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DC residents, call your Senators at 202-224-3121 and get them to save Walter Reed and local jobs!
I am at least as anxious as the next Washingtonian for Walter Reed to remain open or possibly more so, since I have spent many many days there with sick and dying relatives. Still I have to say that it is a bit of stretch to imply that moving jobs & patients to Bethesda Naval will in any way impair medical services to the military or will seriously impact the regional ecomony. Bethesda is an excellent hospital, and it is certainly well within any reasonable definiton of the Washington region. (Granted, Quantico and Ft Meade are ndeed well outside our immediate circle.)
Well they're going to move it to Bethesda, right? So it's not really a blow to the region, just the city.
Whoops, I need to read the comments before I post one.
"clearly forgetting that when quick modifies a verb, it should have an ‘ly’ at the end"
Is it so hard to write the word "adverb" now? Come on, kids.
No.
Fenty means to modify the VERB ("act").
There's nowhere in the quoted text where the word "adverb" can be accurately used.
Though, one could write an entirely different sentence, e.g. "...clearly forgetting to use the adverb form of the word 'quick' to modify the verb 'act'..."
But the sentence that was used was more witty and concise.
B.A. English, University of Virginia. You're welcome.
To me, it sounds as if Fenty was using "act" as a state-of-being verb ("we must be quick"), thus making "quick" an adjectival complement and grammatically correct.
It's hard to believe with almost a century of caring for the military that Walter Reed would close. The National Museum of Health and Medicine used to be housed as part of the Smithsonian Institution. I wonder where it will land next, if Walter Reed does shut it's doors, and that would appear to be the case. Has anyone heard anything further about this?
The Walter Reed closure has symbolic impact but the closing but the BRAC decisions regarding northern Virginia will clearly have more economic (and transportation) impact in the region.
Maybe this is just the opportunity Rep. Henry Bonilla (TX) has been waiting for. . Stay tuned for his plans to convert Walter Reed into the Ronald Reagan Theme Park and Pony Ride Arena to compliment the renamed 16th Street.
Am I the only one here who thinks that having these bases so close to us is a potential security problem and moving them just outside the region (or consolidating in the case of Walter Reed) is a GOOD thing?
Returning that land to civilian use will benefit the private sector employment, and probably the environment (the military has a TERRIBLE record when it comes to toxic dumping).
So while it's sad to loose Walter Reed, my father stayed there himself when returning from Germany in the 60s, I have lived in the Chicago area when they closed Glenview and the Bay Area when they closed the bases there.
It only benefited the local economy, providing much needed infill area for housing, and transit stations and cleaned up extensively polluted lands.
Grammar Gooroo's explanation doesn't work unless Fenty was saying we need to give the appearance of quickness without actually being quick.
But Fenty is still correct. Check your dictionary. "Quick" is an adverb meaning "in a quick manner".
“We've got to act quick," Councilman and mayoral candidate Adrian Fenty told the Post, clearly forgetting that when quick modifies a verb, it should have an ‘ly’ at the end. "If would be very bad to come out with a big federal office building on that site. . . . We need to act quickly [Whew! Nice save, Mr. Fenty!]...
Hmmm, I wonder if someone has something against Fenty. I'm sure one could find all manner of minor grammar deficiencies by the other mayoral candidates, indeed all politicians, as well.
DC has much more to gain from that land on the property tax rolls than it does to keet is as a place of employment for a bunch of military folks who generally aren't DC residents (ie, not paying taxes to DC anyway).
Besides, those who do live in DC will still have the same jobs in Bethesda, so their DC will still collect income tax from them. I don't get all hubub? Its actually a good thing for DC.