Posted on 12/17/2005 3:02:51 PM PST by walkerk
Pressure increased on San Francisco officials Friday to decide whether they want the World War II battleship Iowa after two key federal lawmakers agreed to let any California community bid for the vessel.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Tracy, who had been offering dueling proposals on the Iowa's future, agreed that the ship should be transferred to California for permanent donation status and that any city in the state could bid for it.
Pombo's proposal would have directed the Navy to give the 63-year-old Iowa, now moored in Suisun Bay, to the Port of Stockton. Feinstein proposed opening it up for bid.
The language will be included in the defense authorization conference report that Congress is expected to pass in the next few days. If it does, Feinstein aide Howard Gantman said, the Navy could decide on the winning bid within a year.
...
But San Francisco's Iowa supporters are hoping to reintroduce what they call a "brand new" resolution to the board in mid-January. It would include a proposal to hold an annual "peace conference" on the battleship. Supporters are meeting with supervisors about their new plan.
Friday's agreement between Feinstein and Pombo "absolutely turns up the heat for San Francisco to decide whether it wants this," said Jim Maloney, executive director of the Military Education Initiative. The organization, which seeks veterans' support for gays and lesbians in the military, is working with the Historic Ship Memorial group to bring the Iowa to San Francisco.
It wants to open a museum on the Iowa focusing on the contributions of gays, lesbians, ethnic minorities and women to the military.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Nah...AM-580 KMJ. 50,000 watts coming in from Yuba City to over the Grapevine.
How about bringing the Iowa to the state it was named for. Is it possible to bring a ship of that size up the Mississippi River as far as Davenport, Keokuk or Burlington?
Thank you for the update. I lost track of The New Jersey. She was in moth balls for years after WWII. I thought she was revived for active duty service a while (15 years) ago.
If it were physically feasable, I think it is a terrific idea. It seems fitting to me. If I were and Iowan, I'd be pleased as punch to tour The Iowa.
My first thought, exactly.
One of my favorte recent series of books is John Ringo's Aldenata stories, starting with "A Hymn Before Battle" (avaiable as a free ebook from the Baen Free Library). In the second book, "Gust Front," he has a scene with a reactivated USS Missouri firing a ranging round. The local unit that called in the strike doesn't know who they've called for fire and they're surprised when they are told "danger close." They respond "we're 400 meters away" and the call "danger close" is repeated. Then they see the shell beginning to fall from the sky.
lovely scene. The young lieutenant calling fire was dutifully impressed.
What exactly is going to be put in this museum on the Iowa?
Let's bring her home to new York, where she was BUILT (at the Brooklyn Navy Yard), and once stationed (Naval Station Staten Island).
She'd make a great addition to the Intrepid museum.
Alameda would be cool, park it next to the USS Hornet!
I'm a born/raised Californian, and I am damn proud of it, but when the logging trails from 100 years ago are now closed to even mountain bikes, it is definitely time to leave.
Hence, Nevada here we come! I won't have to rent, I can open-carry firearms, I can ride my dirtbikes where and when I want...
the list is endless.
Don't know what her draft is, but she wouldn't fit through the locks between St. Louis and Iowa anyway.
Iowa veterans seem to like Stockton.
Good choice also and they plan a very nice park area.
I have been to the proposed site and I can confidently say that it is ideal. The site has plenty of room for parking and shoreside displays. Moreover, hotels and motels in the area are reasonably priced, compared to San Francisco.
So to speak. I suppose San Francisco plans to paint it pink ... ?
Nice!!!
Gerardo Sandoval is a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors
http://www.gerardosandoval.org/images/bio_photo.jpg
Gerardo's parents emigrated to the U.S. from Mexico in 1951. His father was a gardener and his mother was a garment worker and homemaker. Except for his oldest brother who is developmentally disabled, all of Gerardo's siblings graduated from college. Gerardo is the first in his family to receive an advanced degree.
He was in the first Head Start class in 1966 and considers himself a product of Lyndon Johnson's Great Society. He is fully bilingual in Spanish and has traveled extensively in Latin America, Asia and Europe. Gerardo is married to the former Ms. Amy Harrington, and they have a daughter, Natalie Irene Sandoval.
Gerardo Sandoval is a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Elected to office in December 2000 and re-elected in November of 2004, he is currently a Vice Chair of the Land Use Committee. In March, 2000 he was elected to the San Francisco Democratic Central Committee. He is a practicing attorney.
EDUCATION
Gerardo attended St. Ignatius' brother school, Loyola High School, before graduating from U.C. Berkeley in 1987. In 1989 he received his Masters Degree in City and Regional Planning from U.C. Berkeley, with a specialization in real estate and housing development. He received his law degree from Columbia University in 1995.
WORK EXPERIENCE
Gerardo served as a Deputy Public Defender in the San Francisco Public Defender's Office for four years, representing clients in all types of felony cases. He also completed a three year term on San Francisco's Public Transportation Commission, an agency with over $350 million in expenditures and 3500 employees.
Gerardo was a special assistant for finance to Mayor Art Agnos, managing the budgets of fourteen City departments such as the Port, the Fire Department and the Redevelopment Agency. He also worked on real estate projects such as the Yerba Buena Center. He was formerly an attorney at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher and Flom, specializing in financial transactions. He also worked in Oakland's Office of Economic Development as an economic development specialist.
.."It would include a proposal to hold an annual "peace conference" on the battleship." <<
Complete with a gay bar in the galley.
Gerardo Sandoval
Board of Supervisors
Phone: 415.554.6975
Fax: 415.554.6979
gerardo.sandoval@sfgov.org
I couldn't believe I heard him say we should unilaterally disarm and not have a military. Even Colmes raised his eyebrows at that one...
And I ask as someone from a state that has one of these ships floating off our own coast (North Carolina)
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