June 9, 2005: NORTON ARRANGES FOR COMMUNITY LEADERS TO MEET WITH BRAC LEADERS FRIDAY MORNING

January 10, 2006

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 9, 2005

NORTON ARRANGES FOR COMMUNITY LEADERS TO
MEET WITH BRAC LEADERS FRIDAY MORNING

Washington, DC—The Office of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today said that she has arranged for city and neighborhood officials, including Ward Four City Council Member Adrian Fenty and Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners living in the Walter Reed area, to attend a question and answer session Friday, June 10, 2005 at 10:15 AM, with Base Realignment and Closure Commission (BRAC) Chairman Principi, BRAC staff and the Congresswoman following a fact-finding site visit to the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. A site visit to Bolling Air Force Base will occur in a few weeks due to the number of jobs that Bolling is scheduled to lose, and Norton will arrange for a similar community discussion.

Following the closed community session at Walter Reed, a media availability with Norton and BRAC officials will begin at 11 AM (arrive by 10:15) on Monument Circle, just inside the 16th Street entrance gate. Media interested in attending should contact Ann Johnson, Public Affairs Officer at Walter Reed, at 202-782-7177 by the close of business today. The names of the members of the press attending, vehicle license plate number, model, make, and color should be provided.

Norton also spoke with BRAC Executive Director Paul Battaglia this morning about the D.C. public hearing she is organizing for July 7, 2005, 8:30 - 10:30 AM at a Capitol Hill location TBA. The Congresswoman announced the hearing earlier this week and invited residents interested in participating to contact her office via email at www.norton.house.gov or by sending a fax to "BRAC Hearing" at (202)225-3002. Originally BRAC planned a hearing on the proposed D.C. base changes in Baltimore, but Chairman Principi agreed to a public hearing in D.C. after speaking with the Congresswoman.

Under the Department of Defense proposal, 5,630 jobs at Walter Reed would move to Bethesda Naval Medical Center and other military installations, and Bolling would lose 399 jobs. Norton said that public testimony will be important to shaping the future of Walter Reed and other D.C. military facilities, and that residents should not consider the BRAC recommendations to be a done deal. The District benefited from the last BRAC process when Norton was able to negotiate the transfer here of the Naval Sea Systems Command that was originally to go to California. Instead, 10,000 employees from D.C. and the region went to the Navy Yard, which was renovated in the process.