Advocate editorial board opinion: US Navy should be a good neighbor as it said it would be
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The U.S. Navy ought to work harder and do the right thing.
We know the Navy has tried three times to make a deal with Goliad County to acquire the Goliad Airpark. In this case, more should be done.
Work toward a deal that is in Goliad County's best interest . make the case for the property, don't take it.
The Navy's last offer of $2.3 million - based on the land's appraised value - for the Goliad Airpark near Berclair sounds good, but after realizing what the deal really means, maybe the amount is a pittance. We think Goliad County knows this, and it wasn't being unpatriotic in denying the Navy's offer, as well as its previous lesser offers.
The U.S. Navy plans on training pilots with a new T-6 aircraft there with touch-and-go landings to the tune of 500 times a day. That means a staggering 42 landings an hour. This would be a constant stream of touch-and-go landings. We cannot imagine the noise this will create.
But since Goliad rejected the $2.3 million, the Navy says it will work toward claiming the land through eminent domain - in other words, it will take the property.
What would Goliad be getting if it accepted the latest offer? We think Goliad County would get an ongoing economic loss - no property taxes and no revenue generated. And just how many jobs would maintenance of a landing strip require? We think not many.
A one-time payment of $2.3 million is not pleasing to Goliad County. Perhaps the U.S. Navy should try harder at negotiating. Maybe the land should be leased and the amount based on the number of touch-and-go landings. Just an idea that could be one of several. Maybe the deal should favor the community, not the entity that wants the property.
Seems Corpus Christi has much to gain from the Navy using the Goliad landing strips - employment of personnel at the U.S. Navy training facility in Corpus Christi - where the plans are based - for maintenance of the trainers and other associated jobs and infrastructure. But Goliad really has nothing to gain except a continual drone of trainer planes touching and going.
This issue has been ongoing - even the city of Corpus Christi offered to buy the Goliad Airpark. Understandably.
It's wrong for any governmental entity to bully its way through a deal without making a supreme effort to please everybody involved. If the Navy really wants to be a good neighbor, then it should conduct itself in that manner.
We also think forcibly taking the Goliad Airpark is an infringement of private property rights.
An assessment should be made of the environmental impact, and the Navy could have that done. There is ecotourism in the vicinity of the landing strips and there is the community of Berclair and surrounding property owners. All need to be considered and respected.
This editorial reflects the views of the Victoria Advocate's editorial board.
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Aye! Panic!!! 500 jets a day!!!!
Well, not true, but who cares what the truth is in Goliad. Like, for instance, the T-6 ain't a jet. And 500 landings is a stretch of the truth. And the 130 tons of pollutants, even if it all lands in Goliad, is an improvement over what happened elsewhere. Go ask you friendly neighborhod coal plant how many tons of pollutants it puts out.
The peace and quiet goliad activists can take their buyout and get any nice ranchette anywhere they want one. The only question is why the VA wants more money from the Navy before cutting a deal. What property does the VA (and its owners) have in Goliad?
January 13, 2011 at 1:01 a.m.Since the Good ole boys in Goilad are running things. I tell you what. The Navy should go to Lavaca County and buy land in the Southern part of the county.
January 5, 2011 at 4:15 p.m.VICTORIAN BY BIRTH.
YOU are right. How can the Victoria Advocate Editorial Board have any room to talk when their mayor bully his own citizens? TWO FACED? YOU betcha.
January 5, 2011 at 4:13 p.m.Thank you VicAd Editorial Board for seeing the actual facts. The "touch and go" landings at 42 an hour will be horrible for those living within a few miles of the place. The Navy isn't going to be relocating to Berclair or Goliad - they won't be spending money there. They are merely going to touch down and then fly off. All we get is the noise and the 130,000 tons of air pollution. Chase Naval Air station was closed, use their runways, don't bully the people of Goliad. Especially the ones who bought property there after the Navy sold it to Goliad County. They built homes in the peace and quiet of the area, not to the sound of jets landing 500 times a day. The lack of compassion and insight from the Victoria people posting here is sickening.
January 5, 2011 at 9:58 a.m.will said: "BS SPOTTER, YOU ARE MY HERO!!!!!!! REALLY. I AM STILL SMILING!"
I can't take credit. The material wrote itself.
January 5, 2011 at 8:47 a.m.VA's poorly written opinion piece makes it clear that the only thing that the Navy could do to become a "good citizen" is give more money to the 70 people near the Goliad airport. The $2.3 million purchase offer (based on an appraisal of the price the property would bring if sold in the open market -- assuming anyone would want it) represents a fair price. To provide more money on top of the fair price is unfair to the taxpayers of the country. Goliad has tried since 1995 to sell the airport to developers with no luck.
VA's claim that Goliad has nothing to gain from the Navy's offer is false. If the VA had bothered to read the Navy's Environmental Assessment report it would know that the Navy proposes building a new fire station in addition to other construction projects at Goliad. This means that in addition to the construction revenues, there would be the continued presence of the firefighters stationed at Goliad during flight operations. The VA would also understand that other options, including the use of Victoria Regional Airport, are inappropriate given the need for an exclusive military use field.
In summary, the VA's position is that the Navy make a "supreme effort" in negotiations with Goliad. In calling for the spending of more taxpayer money than needed, the VA reaffirms its longstanding position of advocating for the the financial gain of the few at the expense of the many. If the VA intended "supreme effort" to be a funny comment to bring to mind the "supreme sacrifice" made by navy aviators to bring security and peace to our country, it is a horrible and insensitive decision. The VA should apologize immediately and retract this statement. And in doing so, it would be appropriate for the VA to read the EA and talk to the Navy about why the change from Waldron to Goldiad is necessary.
January 5, 2011 at 6:40 a.m.BS SPOTTER, YOU ARE MY HERO!!!!!!! REALLY. I AM STILL SMILING!
January 4, 2011 at 7:50 p.m.Goliad County's options:
• Plant poppy fields so the Navy will play nicer
• Hang a "Mission Accomplished" banner to confuse the Navy
• "Come and Take It"
The Navy's options:
January 3, 2011 at 9:03 a.m.• Buy up some other land and pay Halliburton to build an airstrip on it
• Bomb the existing airstrip and pay Halliburton to rebuild it
• Bomb Goliad's water system and pay GE to rebuild it
• Stage elections to overthrow the "insurgents"
• Accuse Goliad County of selling yellowcake to terrorists and seize the airstrip
• Institute "enhanced" negotiations
• Stage a "Gulf of Mexico incident"
• Impose sanctions on Goliad County that block children's medicine
• Drop propaganda pamphlets from helicopters onto the streets of Goliad
• Send the Marines to capture La Bahia
• Blast Goliad with 140dB of Toby Keith's "Shock'N Y'All" album (a fate worse than Shock-n-Awe)
"It's wrong for any governmental entity to bully its way through a deal without making a supreme effort to please everybody involved." Isn't Mayor Armstrong & his City Council guilty of this as well, yet they always get kudos from the ViCad Editorial Staff.
January 2, 2011 at 4:28 p.m.This is the United States Navy we are talking about. Part of the same group of Americans fighting and dieing for YOUR country and "I don't want the noise" is your problem. How much "noise" would a mother, father, wife, husband or child put up with to hear a little noise from their loved ones? Some folks are patriots when it suits their needs. Our military are bullies? Really? Next time you walk past an American flag should you look at the ground in shame?
January 2, 2011 at 2:30 p.m.One more thing. 42 landings an hour on an uncontrolled airstrip? Might want to check the numbers. That would be an landing/takeoff every 1 1/2 minutes! That would probably require a full time base operation to support with military and civilian staff spending "noisy" dollars in town. Hummmmm.
There is no need to work with Goliad County for any kind of deal. THE PEOPLE OF THE COUNTY HAVE SPOKEN, and that should be the end of it. I love your description of the Navy: bullying--it is definitely the description of many government entites.
January 2, 2011 at 1:33 p.m.Won't all that noise bother the endangered Attwater Prairie Chicken?
January 2, 2011 at 11:07 a.m.Seems to me that the chicken ought to have a say.
You wrote a good article. Really great. I do not believe this is for the Navy. A lot of old military bases are out there. Beeville for one. Great for training with a little prison issue. Something is bound to surface sooner or later. All I can see is a lot of people getting heart burn over this.
January 1, 2011 at 6:26 p.m.