Aug 31, 2008

Hangar One advocates say Navy plan not good enough

Menlo Park rescue task force heads to national conventions

The Phantom

SOPHOMORE EFFORT: The U.S. Navy's latest plan for dealing with toxins at Hangar One received a cool reception at a public hearing Tuesday. "Not good enough," was the message delivered by the roughly 45 people who spoke.

The Navy's scheme calls for stripping off the hangar's siding and coating the underlying steel frame, which would be left in place. While unpopular with Tuesday's restoration-minded crowd, it's been hailed as a far sight better than the Navy's previous proposal to demolish the structure.

Several of the speakers wanted a better explanation of the Navy's $14.9 million estimate for "additional historic mitigation," including a new cover.

Save Hangar One Committee member Lenny Siegel speculates the Navy wanted to sidestep another demolition proposal and thus moved the cost of restoration into another category. About $500,000 cheaper than demolition, the $25.8 million "removal action" is a "no-brainer" for the Navy, according to Siegel.

By treating the removal action and restoration as separate projects, the Navy is actually driving up the cost of preservation, says Siegel, adding that millions could be saved through a combined job.

"Thus, if we are to cost-effectively preserve the Hangar, we must act quickly to ensure that both steps are done together," he wrote in an e-mail to fellow preservationists last week. "The Navy hopes to begin work by next spring. As it plans that work, it is important that it consider the entire job, or we (taxpayers, donors, users, etc.) will have to pay extra for re-mobilization."



VEEP SEARCH HELPERS? Guess where Menlo Park-based California Urban Search and Rescue Task Force 3 is headed this week? That's right, the Twin Cities for the Republican National Convention. In fact, the task force just wrapped up a stint at the Democratic National Convention in Denver. No word on whether they helped presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain find their running mates.



COMMISSIONER NO MORE: In an apparently partisan move, the Menlo Park City Council on Tuesday night rejected Planning Commissioner Louis Deziel's application to serve another term on the second-most important civic body in the city.

Only Council Member John Boyle gave a nod to Deziel, who was appointed to the commission with a 3-2 vote in 2004. Was he passed over for a more qualified candidate? Or was the decision a poke in the eye of the old guard - former council members Mickie Winkler, Lee Duboc and Nicholas Jellins, the majority who gave him the seat?



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