Word: baseness
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...funds. A dozen more have departed under a cloud. The District's municipal work force of 47,000 is among the nation's most oversize and inefficient. Its most egregious shortcoming is the shoddy service it provides to poor and working- class blacks, who constitute Barry's most solid base of political support...
...strategic location gives the Soviet navy a deep-water port with excellent facilities to service its large Indian Ocean fleet. From there, Soviet ships could control access in or out of the Red Sea, a choke point of global importance. South Yemen refuses to accord the U.S.S.R. full base rights for its navy, and is rumored to restrict port calls by Soviet warships to twelve a year. But bunkering and repair services are always available...
Despite the anticipatory howls, the Defense Secretary's Commission on Base Realignment and Closure last week recommended 86 military bases for termination within the next six years. The Pentagon figures that shutting them down, while partially closing five more and realigning 54 others, will save $693.6 million a year. In the short run, the closings will result in the elimination of 24,000 civilian jobs. But Les Aspin, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, estimates there ultimately will be a net loss of only 8,000 nonmilitary positions...
Though they included such historic military sites as New Jersey's Fort Dix, there is no question that the bases on the commission's roll call had outlived their strategic purposes. San Francisco's Presidio army base, for example, was once a crucial Pacific outpost where officers were trained during World War I. Today the Presidio, with its tree-shaded trails and historic architecture, is a popular tourist destination. Illinois' Fort Sheridan processed 500,000 soldiers during World War II. These days, the base is most famous for a lush golf course...
Despite all the hand wringing, base closings often do less harm than good to a community. A Pentagon study found that among 100 base closings between 1961 and 1986, civilians lost 93,424 jobs but gained 138,138 new ones when the installations were turned to other uses. Communities across the country have found imaginative ways to transform the old bases. Forty-two former Pentagon airfields have become local airports. When the government closed Kincheloe Air Force Base near Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., eleven years ago, 700 civilian jobs vanished and the surrounding community in the Upper Peninsula lost...