Robert Burgess: Castle’s grand reformation just another empty promise
On Oct. 27, Merced County Supervisors signed an agreement with The Port of Los Angeles to bring prosperity to Castle Airport. This agreement was intended to bring an investor with $2.2 billion to provide 8.2 million square feet of industrial space, creating 9,000 jobs. Take a drive through Castle today and try to spot the jobs and industrial space being created.
Local government has been promising economic miracles since the former air base closed in 1995.
Compare Castle to the former Mather and McClellan AFBs. These bases closed and quickly became successful industrial communities providing thousands of jobs. The old dormitories on these bases became apartments with good renters and 95 percent occupancy. The commercial buildings are 95 percent occupied with a combination of renters and owners.
At Castle, only 200 of 850 dormitory rooms are rented out and only eight of 200 visiting officer apartments are occupied.
Mark Hendrickson is in charge of Castle and he wants to demolish 49 obsolete buildings and shorten the runway. We need to vote out all five Merced County Supervisors and fire Hendrickson. He acts like he is planning to bulldoze Castle and use the remains for fill at Merced Municipal Airport.
Robert Burgess, Merced
This story was originally published February 26, 2018 at 2:11 PM with the headline "Robert Burgess: Castle’s grand reformation just another empty promise."