Posted on 07/29/2009 7:36:06 PM PDT by jazusamo
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is eyeing treasure in a massive Pentagon bill that could benefit her district greatly.
Pelosi is among dozens of House lawmakers pressing for a little-known provision in the defense policy bill that would speed up the transfer of military bases to private developers.
One of those shuttered bases has been the subject of years of failed negotiations between San Francisco, the city Pelosi represents, and the Navy.
The two parties have been at a stalemate over Treasure Island, a Navy base that closed in 1993 and sits atop a man-made island in the San Francisco Bay that has city planners seeing dollar signs.
They have squabbled over the price. The Navy estimates it is worth $240 million; the city offered a tenth of that value.
Pelosi has personally fought and negotiated with the Navy over the land transfer, but those negotiations broke down.
Now, under the provision in the House bill, lawmakers could force the Navy to wave a white flag and accept a sweetheart deal for the city that involves no immediate payment for the land.
Instead of negotiating the value and paying the Pentagon upfront, the military services would transfer the land at no cost to local authorities for economic development. Cities and other local authorities can put off paying for that land until it is developed and the value will be determined at that point.
The House provision likely will face stiff opposition from the Senate as the two chambers start conference negotiations on the final 2010 defense authorization bill. The Senate version of the bill does not include a similar provision and contains a “sense of the Senate” provision challenging the House language.
Senate critics fear the Pentagon will ultimately receive a lot less money — if any at all — for the property and that payment will come at an uncertain time more than five years after the real estate transfer.
Pelosi’s office points out that the Speaker is not directly involved in the fate of the provision. It was drafted by Rep. Sam Farr (D-Calif.) with bipartisan support and would benefit about 24 districts from Maine to California. But the Speaker is closely monitoring it, a spokesman said.
“The Speaker did not request the language, but supports it and hopes that it is maintained in conference,” said Drew Hammill, Pelosi’s spokesman.
Pelosi failed to get a provision in the defense policy bill last year that would have forced the Navy to sell the property at a price the city offered.
This year the Speaker engaged the White House on the issue of conveying military land for no cost, particularly after Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) urged the Obama administration to support such an approach, according to a Pelosi aide. The Speaker has also recently engaged the new secretary of the Navy, Ray Mabus, on the matter.
The city of San Francisco submitted a request to buy the Treasure Island property for an economic development project, and has been negotiating with the Navy over a fair market price for the last six years.
The Navy has appraised the cost at $240 million, while San Francisco appraised it at $14 million. The city recently commissioned an independent appraisal by auditor KPMG that concluded the value at $22 million, which the city offered to pay to the Navy. The Navy had consistently argued that the city is not offering a fair market price for the land.
It is yet unclear where the Obama administration and the new deputy undersecretary of Defense for installations, Dorothy Robyn, stand on this issue. Robyn was a senior economic adviser to the Clinton administration.
The Clinton administration pushed for the legislative authority to allow the military to have the option to do no-cost conveyances in order to spur economic redevelopment and job creation at closing military installations. The current law allows the Pentagon to choose a no-cost option.
Robyn’s predecessor, Wayne Arny, a Bush appointee, made his opposition to the House provision very clear last month. Arny told a Senate Armed Services Committee last month that transferring land at no cost would reduce funding used to accelerate base closure cleanup and would be unfair to the taxpayer. Arny said that mandating no-cost transfer would only advantage some locations and effectively take money away from taxpayers.
The provision “would essentially be giving a particular community that normally wouldn’t qualify for it a windfall profit that would divert money from the taxpayers,” Arny said in his testimony.
The Navy has particularly relied on the use of land sales for cleaning up for its bases slated for closure.
The Pentagon last month also sent official opposition to the House provision, but that opposition was not included in the White House statements of administration policy it issues for bills under consideration. The Pentagon opposition states that the provision would “fundamentally change the existing base closure property economic development conveyance authority by requiring no-cost conveyance for redevelopment that may not produce any long-term job generation.”
A Pentagon spokeswoman said on Wednesday that the Pentagon and Robyn’s office will not comment on pending legislation.
When the House included the provision in its version of the 2010 defense authorization bill, Pelosi released a statement hailing it.
“Once transfer of the land is complete, the city can quickly move forward with substantial redevelopment plans that include essential infrastructure, open space, affordable housing and extensive commercial activities, including retail, restaurants and entertainment,” she said. “In total, more than $5 billion in public and private investments will create more than 2,500 permanent jobs, five times the number of civilian jobs that were lost with the closure of the base. Another 2,000 jobs will be created annually during construction.”
Pelosi also praised the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Rep. Ike Skelton (D-Mo.), for including the provision in the bill. Farr says the provision is necessary.
“Taxpayers have already forfeited these lands so bases could be built,” Farr said in a statement when he introduced his legislation earlier this year. “Then, they subsidized the construction of the installations. Today, we’re paying even more to have bases scrubbed of toxic and hazardous waste. But rather than offering these lands to communities that desperately need economic development, the Department of Defense wants to squeeze more money by demanding communities pay once more for the land.”
Corrupt Democrats in the House? Naaah...
Darnit, those Democrats are just too good at this corruption business. They’re so good they can do it right out in the open and people don’t even balk at the blatant misuse of government powers for private advantage.
These liberal socialists will steal anything from anyone and call it legal.
On a clear sunny day you could be outside and watch a fog bank coming at you. In a few moments you would go from sunny and pleasant to foggy and cold. Still, it would be a shame to have to turn it over to greedy developers.
Navy: You sure you want that radioactive island now SFO?
Treasure Island.
This photo shows Treasure Island to the right, in relation to Yerba Buena Island (left), the Oakland-San Francisco Bay Bridge, and San Francisco in the background.
-PJ
LOL!
If they can’t get away with stealing it illegally they just pass a new law to make the theft legal.
Yes, the value the Navy has on it is far closer to it’s actual value.
Thanks for posting the pics, everyone can see for themselves.
Don’t rule out Feinswine’s husband having his hand in there too. He is the “B” in CBRE.
Shipmate, you and I probably sat in that Chief’s club at the same time. I was on a Frigate that was home ported at the pier (8 o’clock in the picture) — Some of the coldest mid-watches I have ever stood where on that damn pier on the quarterdeck of that damn Frigate....
Good point...I sure wouldn’t bet any money against it.
Pelosi should remember what happened to Captain Flint and Long John Silver.
The ‘Rats eyes on the prize...are the Boomers 401K’s...available via estate taxation...after the “DeathCare Bill” kicks in...
When I was a real young ‘un I did training on USS Walton. I did a fan tail watch for a couple of hours and was it ever COLD! I got a nasty infection in my knee from a scratch and the medics pumped me chock full of penicillin. (And no, I didn’t have something ELSE that needed that much penicillin)
A few years ago, Willie Brown tried to take the Admiral Nimitz House on Yerba Buena Island and turn it into a Mayor's Mansion for hosting dignitaries.
And then let's not forget how San Francisco took the Presidio and gave it to George Lucas for his studios.
-PJ
(OT....nice sign up date!)
Willie Brown had his mistress shacked up there.
Yep, Pelosi and Alcatraz has a ring to it.
The USS-Pampanito is still berthed at Pier 45. The SS Jeremiah O'Brien is moored there, too.
Oakland has the USS Hornet docked at the decommissioned Alameda Naval Air Station.
The USS Iowa is still sitting in the "Mothball Fleet" in Suisun Bay, waiting for a home for its museum.
-PJ
LOL! Wonder no more, Jaz, this thing is a family affair! The Pelosi's have been after this jewel for some time.
LOL!!
Thanks, Smooth. Looks like Pelosi is out Murthaing Murtha.
The whole family is involved. Her husband, son and nephew (Mayor Gavin Newsom). Talk about blatant corruption, it just doesn’t get much worse than this.
“Taxpayers have already forfeited these lands so bases could be built,” Farr said in a statement when he introduced his legislation earlier this year.
Ummmm.... excuse me, but Treasure Island is a MAN MADE island. The taxpayers did not forfeit any land to create this base.
I lived at Hunters Point Naval Shipyard (HPNS) in the 1960’s ... Treasure Island (TI) was an annex of same. HPNS had a housing complex up on a hill and my house had a BIG bay window with a million dollar view of the bay.
Going on, TI is ENORMOUSLY valuable to real estate developers - it is secluded and COULD be turned into a gated community for the FABULOUSLY rich in SF. One could commute to work by motor launch on nice days and by car via the Bay Bridge on lousy days ...
ALSO, HPNS has been turned over to SF and there are plans (not finalized or approved yet) for up to 10000 condo units there - prolly for like $600K each. Also shops, restaurants, boutiques, etc. They MAY even build a new Candlestick Park there for the 49ers (the current Candlestick Park is just across the inlet from HPNS).
The old housing complex has been bulldozed and my house is gone ... see the current progress at Google Earth.
I am EXTREMELY saddened ...
Ping to Pelosi family! #26
Thank you both for the info. Check out post #26.
Hey Nancy, before you grab this plumb piece of land, why don’t you first finish up developing the the old Hunter’s Point Naval Shipyard on the east side of SF that you have already sunk your claws into?? What’s that you say?? Hunters Point is located right next to a high-crime black neighborhood, and none of your liberal denizens want to have to drive through THAT in order to get to their new bay side homes?? Huh!! You don’t say!!
If this property was owned by a private company they would put it out to bid. See what the market would bear.
In other countries the govt sells land to the highest bidder. They may put restrictions on its development,,but it goes to open bid. Why not this piece?
BTTT !!
Yep, apparently his only role in all this is to strong-arm the Pentagon to give up the land. I guess Pelosi returns the favor by bottling up the PMA investigation in the ethics committee. Just another case of Murtha selling out our military. And of course the Pelosi's stand to get a whole lot richer.
bttt
Thanks for linking #26 on the other thread, sweetiepiezer!
My mistake, someone else linked it. :)
“ALSO, HPNS has been turned over to SF and there are plans (not finalized or approved yet) for up to 10000 condo units there - prolly for like $600K each. Also shops, restaurants, boutiques, etc. They MAY even build a new Candlestick Park there for the 49ers (the current Candlestick Park is just across the inlet from HPNS).
The old housing complex has been bulldozed and my house is gone ... see the current progress at Google Earth.
I am EXTREMELY saddened ...”
It’ll be a while before they can develop the former HPNS, given that they are still a long way from done on the environmental remediation. Small issue with fission-fragment isotopes in some of the dirt around there from decontamination experiments dating all the way back to Operation Crossroads. If that isn’t enough, there’s also the matter of a great deal of chemical contamination from dumped solvents and the like. I read about the whole cleanup effort some time ago on the EPA’s site and a few other places. My understanding is that they pretty much have to scrape off the entire top layer of dirt in the whole facility, down to several feet depth.
My late Mom was a Navy WAVE stationed there during the war. She was a technologist in the hospital lab. She always felt great affection for the place.
This year the Speaker engaged the White House on the issue of conveying military land for no cost, particularly after Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) urged the Obama administration to support such an approach, according to a Pelosi aide. The Speaker has also recently engaged the new secretary of the Navy, Ray Mabus, on the matter.
He was the Gov. of Mississippi, the Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, a senior adviser to Obama and oh.... Nostradamus may have mentioned him by name...
"'Mabus' then will soon die, there will come Of people and beasts a horrible rout: Then suddenly one will see vengeance, Hundred, hand, thirst, hunger when the comet will run."
Let's hope Ray doesn't die soon.
Use Google Earth and type in “hunters point, san francisco, ca” ...
Image date is July 2007 ...
Zoom in to 2271 feet and keep the “Roads” function on ...
Innes Avenue is the old entrance to the base ...
The base housing area was bordered by Donahue St, Kirkwood Ave, Coleman St, and an unamed street in the pic ( you may have to zoom in closer to get all the names) ...
If you look at the box created by Donahue, Kirkwood, Friedell, and Jerrold - you will see what they were doing (you need to zoom in to see the steam shovel) ...
Base housing area looks like a fu*kin’ strip mine ...
Anyone know about the World’s Fair story behind TI ? I was at TI for months, at a Navy school. Navy/Pentagon needs to get every penny they can. Pelosi needs to take a hike.
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