Posted on 05/09/2005 7:22:25 AM PDT by auzerais
Hornet looking for money to stay afloat
Power could be shut off Monday, eviction may follow
- Janine DeFao, Chronicle Staff Writer Sunday, May 8, 2005
The historic aircraft carrier Hornet, docked in Alameda, is in danger of having its electricity cut off Monday and could face eviction from its 10-year home at the former Alameda Naval Air Station.
While the nonprofit organization that has operated a museum on the craft for six years has struggled financially from the start, it is now facing "a perfect storm" of events that could doom the attraction, Scott Armanini, CEO of Friends of the Hornet, said Saturday.
On Thursday, Armanini said, he received a notice from Alameda Power and Telecom, the city-owned utility, saying power would be cut Monday if he didn't pay $26,000 in past and current charges. It may come within a few months, or it may come within six months or a year."
Armanini said the organization had fallen behind on its payments during the winter months, which see few tourists paying the $14 adult admission. He managed to pay the power company much of the tab but still owes $9,000, one month's bill.
He said he hoped the Hornet would be given a grace period, during which a benefactor could emerge.
If he can't keep the lights on Monday, he will have to shutter the 900- foot-long carrier known as the "Gray Ghost," which was instrumental in World War II's Pacific theater and recovered the first men to walk on the moon.
"It would be an absolute tragedy if this thing closes," he said.
E-mail Janine DeFao at jdefao@sfchronicle.com.
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URL: San Francisco Chronicle
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They must have moved the Hornet from North Island as I use to fish around it when I was stationed there.
It's in a bad location for attracting tourists. There is talk of moving the Hornet to Pier 48 in San Francisco, which might work better.
They should move it to Pearl Harbor next to the Arizona. If that is the same USS Hornet that fought in the Battle for Midway it would fit right in. The Arizona symbolizes the beginning of the war, the Hornet was at the turning point, also need the USS Missouri for the end.
I agree, about possibly moving it to Pier48 in SF as nobody goes to Alameda because it's too close to Oakland, [there's no 'there' there, as they say].
BVMPVS MAXIMVS
I don't think this is "the" Hornet that fought in most of the carrier battles of WWII. If it is the original it must be saved.
They should take some nice pictures, scrap it and make some razor blades. Maybe then I'll be able to afford the new Schick Quatro.
Come on folks, it's a floating hulk. We spend more effort and money this kind of crap than the people who worked on it. They go to the VA and may get help for their problems, and maybe not. The sailors are what matter not the device used.
That Hornet was sunk six months later off Santa Cruz
Keep pitying yourself.
We have a similar problem with the battleship New Jersey, berthed in Camden as a museum. Camden is currently a dangerous and unattractive ciy to visit. If she was moved to the Jersey City/Bayonne/Hoboken area, attendance would skyrocket.
My battleship license plates help subsidize her, by the way.
That Hornet was sunk shortly thereafter, but this one picked up Neil Armstrong and the boys after Apollo 11, so it has plenty of historical value. It's way out in the middle of nowhere in Alameda. Museums have to go where the tourists are, and the Hornet would be a big hit on the San Francisco waterfront (once a few local Leftists get over their whining about it being "a symbol of the warmongering US Government", that is...)
I went on the Hornet last year. It is hard to find, Alameda is well hidden. San Francisco would be a better location.
Also, Melanie said she's getting calls saying that Alameda Power & Light[?], not PG&E is the co. responsible for Alameda, but it would still be a goodwill gesture for PG&E to donate as well.
My father's Air Group did its initial workups off the Atlantic Coast aboard the Hornet shortly after she was commissioned and then sailed out to Pearl Harbor aboard her in early 1944. Air Group 15 would go on to compile an outstanding record aboard the USS Essex in the Pacific during 1944.
Scrap
Yes I thought so. Too bad they didn't save the Big E, which did survive the war.
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