Mayor Williams got his wish. After planning to consolidate regional hearings in Baltimore, the Defense Department will hold Base Realignment and Closure Commission hearings in the District to look at the impact of the proposed closure or realignment of Defense Department facilities in D.C.
From the mayor:
“I am pleased that Secretary Rumsfeld and BRAC Chairman Principi have heeded my call to engage in a dialog with District residents on how closing Walter Reed will affect the city,” said Mayor Williams, who on May 23 voiced his concern about the lack of input from the residents of Washington. “The members of the Commission need to hear from residents who work at Walter Reed and who live near the facility regarding how important the hospital is to them and to their neighborhood.”
Under the Pentagon’s original plan, the Walter Reed Army Medical Center on 16th Street NW, where many of the wounded from the current Iraq conflict are rehabilitated would be closed and its operations moved elsewhere, like the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda. Parts of the Naval District of Washington and the Bolling Air Force Base just across the South Capitol Street Bridge are slated for realignment or closure. About 6,000 D.C. jobs could be affected.
(Photo above is of Walter Reed himself)
