Senate passes TIF bill for Redstone Arsenal

By Bob Lowry
February 09, 2010, 4:34PM

MONTGOMERY — Legislation that would permit Huntsville to create a special tax district for a proposed $1 billion office park at Redstone Arsenal sailed though the Alabama Senate on Tuesday.

Senators voted 31-0 for the bill, which has also been approved in the House.

Sen. Tom Butler, D-Madison, said he was relieved to get the bill passed ahead of an expected slowdown in the Senate by Republicans once debate begins on a bingo bill reported out of committee Thursday.

“This will answer some of the problems we’re having in North Alabama in terms of growth and BRAC,” Butler told the Senate. “This is a visionary plan that’s going to accommodate about 14,000 people and generate $80 million in construction materials alone.”

Butler won commendations from Sens. Roger Bedford, D-Russellville, and Arthur Orr, R-Decatur.

“This is how the Tennessee Valley should work together, working in a bipartisan manner,” said Bedford. “Huntsville is an economic engine for the whole state of Alabama.”

Orr said the project was critical to Huntsville because it will help create jobs, while providing retail and commercial business to assist with BRAC.

If the bill wins final approval, LW Redstone, a Montgomery-based company, would lease and develop 470 acres of unused land on Redstone for offices, classrooms, research and conference space for federal workers and contractors.

The plan would also include two hotels with a total of 350 rooms, restaurants and stores.

The land, which is owned by the federal government and generates no taxes now, would be annexed into Huntsville, and the office park buildings would be subject to property, sales, liquor and lodging taxes.

Most of the office park would be on arsenal property just outside Gate 9, but about 80 acres behind the fence would be reserved for companies with greater security needs.

A TIF allows the city to borrow money for public improvements and repay the debt with property tax revenue gains resulting from the improvements.

The new development would eventually include 4 million square feet of offices.
Construction on the office park near Interstate 565 and Research Park Boulevard may begin as early as spring.

Huntsville on the list of ‘Distinctive Destinations’ for 2010

By Deborah Storey
February 03, 2010, 9:59AM

Huntsville Depot

HUNTSVILLE — Huntsvillians already like to think of their city as a distinctive place.

Now it’s official.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation has named Huntsville one of America’s Dozen Distinctive Destinations for 2010.

The honor recognizes the city “for offering cultural and recreational experiences different from the typical vacation destination,” Trust officials said in making the announcement today.

“Huntsville features dynamic neighborhoods, a rich architectural heritage, cultural diversity and a strong commitment to historic preservation and revitalization,” according to the preservation group. All that gives the city “an abundance of character and an authentic sense of place.”

Sam Frazier, Alabama adviser for the National Trust, will present city and tourism leaders a plaque today at 11 a.m. in an appropriate place: the historic Regions Bank Building on the west side of the Courthouse Square. (The white building with the big Ionic columns is nearly 175 years old.)

Huntsville was selected “for its diligent efforts to protect and share the city’s heritage, which ranges from deep Southern roots to space exploration, and for its remarkable leadership in sustainability, serving as a role model for cities across America,” the Trust said in a news release.

Huntsville is the first town in Alabama to become a Distinctive Destination.

For more information, see www.PreservationNation.org.

The Dozen Distinctive Destinations

• Huntsville
• Cedar Falls, Iowa
• St. Louis, Mo.
• Marquette, Mich.
• Fort Collins, Colo.
• Provincetown, Mass.
• Simsbury, Conn.
• Rockland, Maine
• Chestnut Hill, Pa.
• Bastrop, Texas
• Sitka, Alaska
• The Crooked Road: Virginia’s Heritage Music Trail, Va.

Retired Army four-star general praises ‘genius’ of Huntsville

By Kenneth Kesner
February 03, 2010, 8:32AM

Retired four-star Army Gen. John Abizaid told the annual meeting of the Huntsville/Madison County Chamber of Commerce that the area is a "national treasure" and a model of how industry, academia, local and federal government can work together.

HUNTSVILLE, AL — When John Abizaid graduated from West Point in 1973, the Army was recovering from the Vietnam experience. In the decades since – years in which he rose through the ranks to become a four-star general – the Army has transformed, Abizaid said, and today is second to none.

“It’s the best tactical army on the planet,” he said during a recent visit to Huntsville, “and it may be the best tactical army that’s ever existed.”

That is because of the qualities and abilities of the men and women who volunteer, of course, but also because they have the excellent equipment, services and support essential to maintaining that superiority.

Much of that is designed, managed and made in the Rocket City.

“It will require the genius of places like Huntsville to defend the country from the challenges that will surely confront us,” Abizaid said.

Abizaid retired as a four-star general in May 2007 after 34 years of service. At the time, he was the longest-serving leader of the Army’s Central Command, which covers Iraq, Afghanistan and 25 other countries in the Middle East, Southwest Asia and the Horn of Africa.

He was the keynote speaker at the Huntsville/Madison County Chamber of Commerce’s annual meeting last week. Before addressing the hundreds of business and civic leaders, Abizaid discussed the importance of the work done here to troops in the field, allies and the nation.

Especially now, he said, as it is unfortunately clear we are in a “long war” situation regarding the struggle against Islamic extremism in Afghanistan and elsewhere.

“We cannot do it without Army aviation,” Abizaid said, adding that it also takes Air Force aviation, space-based platforms, networked sensors, moving information to the right place at the right time, and other modern tools.

“While we have taken more than our fair share of casualties over the past eight years, I can assure you that had we not had this technology – a lot of which was developed here in Huntsville – we would have even greater casualties,” he said.

Our future security strategies must also take into account “peer competitors” such as China and Russia and new challenges to American power, Abizaid said, including cyberterrorism and development of space-based assets and defenses.

He understands that missile defense can be a sensitive topic for some leaders and that our policies affect our relationships with Russia, China and other nations.

“But I can assure you that the world is not moving toward nonproliferation,” Abizaid said. Iran will most likely become a nuclear power despite the dangers, as will other nations.

Huntsville will play a leading role in the continuing technological development that helps the U.S. and allies meet these and other threats, he said.

It’s not just all the Ph.D.s living here, Abizaid said. It’s the Ph.D.s, soldiers, entrepreneurs, space workers and more. The area is renowned for the way industry, academia and local and federal government come together to address issues.

“I think it’s so important that as we move deeper into the 21st century that this level of cooperation continue and improve,” Abizaid said. “There are centers of excellence in this country, and this is one of them. …

“Huntsville sets an example for how things can be done,” he said. “The rest of the country ought to take a look at it.”

Upcoming job fairs in the Redstone Arsenal area

Did you recently relocate to Redstone with AMC and have a spouse or adult child in need of employment?  Here a few upcoming job fairs in the Huntsville area:

• Long’s Human Resource Services Job Fair - February 18
• Redstone Arsenal Defense Technology & Intelligence Career Fair - March 2
• Lawson State Community College Career/Wellness Fair - March 08

Upcoming federal job fairs in the Fort Belvoir area

Not relocating with AMC to Redstone Arsenal?  Here are a few federal job fairs coming up in the Fort Belvoir area:

• Diversity Job Fair Event Sponsored by the DC Army National Guard - March 3
• United States Intelligence Community Virtual Career Fair - March 16
• The Pentagon Defense Technology & Intelligence Career Fair - March 25
• Bolling AFB Defense Technology & Intelligence Career Fair - April 22
• Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall Defense Technology & Intelligence Career Fair - May 20

Redstone development bill to be first on House agenda

By Bob Lowry
February 01, 2010, 5:30PM

MONTGOMERY — House Speaker Seth Hammett has committed to give first priority on Tuesday to a bill that would allow Huntsville to establish a special tax increment finance district for a $1 billion development at Redstone Arsenal.

Rep. Randy Hinshaw, D-Merdianville, the House sponsor of the legislation, said the bill will be the first one considered by the full House when it convenes Tuesday at 1 p.m.

A Senate committee has also approved the bill, but it’s stacked behind other legislation because of a session-long delay in the upper chamber over a $1 billion highway bill. Republicans are using stalling tactics to prevent a vote on the bill.

The Senate sponsor of the Arsenal bill, Sen. Tom Butler, D-Madison, has said once the highway bill clears the Senate floor, a vote should be taken quickly on the Arsenal because it has the support of Sen. Lowell Barron, D-Fyffe, chairman of the Rules Committee.

The entire Tennessee Valley House and Senate delegations have signed on to the bill, and it has met no resistance so far in House and Senate committees.

If the bill wins approval, LW Redstone, a Montgomery company, would lease and develop 470 acres of unused property on Redstone Arsenal for offices, classrooms, research and conference space for federal workers and contractors.

The plan also call for two hotels with a total of 350 rooms, restaurants and stores.

A TIF district allows the city to borrow money for public improvements and repay the debt with property tax revenue gains resulting from the improvements.

In this case, LW Redstone has agreed to buy bonds directly and be repaid as the tax growth occurs.

The new development would ultimately include 4 million square feet of office space and employ about 14,000 people. Estimates are that it would generate $80 million alone in sales taxes off construction materials.

Abizaid outlines strategic hot spots

Friday, January 29, 2010

By Kenneth Kesner

Times Staff Writer kenneth.kesner@htimes.com

Retired general tells chamber crowd that city’s R&D work key

The Huntsville-Madison County area stands as a center of innovation, opportunity and technological excellence, said retired Army Gen. John Abizaid, presenting congratulations and thanks to hundreds of business and civic leaders Thursday for what the area has become over the 20 years since his last visit.

“You’ve managed somehow or other to figure out how to bring industry and academia and the military and the Defense Department, NASA and other federal agencies together in conjunction with local government,” he said during the Huntsville-Madison County Chamber of Commerce’s annual meeting at the Von Braun Center.

That lets Huntsville build things that saves troops in the field, and “allows them to be the most capable armed forces that’s ever existed,” Abizaid said.

But he cautioned the crowd that the country is entering a period in which economic problems will reduce the money available for their work and encroaching bureaucracy could threaten their model of success.

There will be growing competition from Russia, China and other powers and “a growing danger in the Middle East from extremism that, as much as we would like to walk away from, will not walk away from us. …

“We must understand that in the 21st century we will be forced to defend our values, whether we like it or not,” Abizaid said. “And defending our values will require this partnership between industry and our armed forces and our federal agencies in a way that is going to be absolutely essential.”

Abizaid retired from the Army as a four-star general in May 2007 after 34 years of service. At the time, he was the longest-serving chief of the Central Command, with responsibility for an area spanning 27 countries in the Middle East, southwest Asia and the Horn of Africa – including, of course, Iraq and Afghanistan.

There are four major strategic issues we need to grasp, he said: understanding the rise of Sunni Islamic extremism; keeping an eye on Shia Islamic extremism in Iran; understanding that “the corrosive nature of the Arab-Israeli conflict continues to give people a sense of hopelessness”; and decreasing our dependence on the region’s oil.

The vast majority of the people in the Middle East are not extremists, Abizaid said, and we must better learn how to help the moderates in the region. Military means alone won’t win the conflict, he said. We must better organize diplomatic, economic, educational, informational and other forces to address the region, too.

When he sees today’s soldiers – including his son-in-law, now on his sixth tour in Iraq and Afghanistan – Marines and others serving in the Middle East, “I automatically know we’ve got no problems,” he said.

“They are tough. They are proud. They are courageous. They are capable.”

And the young leaders – some of them wounded – deserve our support when they come back, Abizaid said.

“You need to hire them. You need to bring them in and put your arms around them and say, ‘Thank you for your service, and we need you to help us lead this company,’ ” he said.

Before the chamber luncheon, Abizaid said the space, missile defense and other high-tech work in Huntsville were vital not just for soldiers in the field, but for our own protection in the United States.

“It’s clear – it should be clear to everybody, I don’t know why it’s not – that we’re going to have to defend ourselves at home in the 21st century. And technologies that can migrate from defense into our homeland security are very, very important,” he said.

The nation must fund research and development to retain the ability to protect ourselves, not only from a terrorist-delivered nuclear weapon, but from an unfriendly nation, he said. And we must help our allies enjoy the same shields.

We need to move forward in a smart and affordable way, he said. But if we turn off R&D spending enough that it stalls technological advancement, “we’ll put the country at risk as we move deeper into the 21st century.”

What’s your major, major?

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

By Kenneth Kesner

Times Staff Writer kenneth.kesner@htimes.com

Satellite campus on arsenal will host midlevel officers

Hundreds of the Army’s midlevel officers from around the globe will be spending 15 weeks in Huntsville each year, in class, studying arts and science – of the Army. They will be attending the Army Command and General Staff College’s satellite campus that opened on Redstone Arsenal this month.

“All the majors come here to learn the art and science of the Army,” said Mary Goodwin, assistant professor and team leader – sort of a teaching principal on the 13-member faculty. “How to conduct full-spectrum operations – from full-out war to humanitarian operations like we’re doing in Haiti.”

Lieutenants and captains have courses they will complete from other Army institutions, and the War College is aimed at lieutenant colonels and colonels. Majors are required to receive some form of intermediate-level education, depending on their areas of expertise, to be eligible for promotion. Most who are involved in military field operations will attend the Command and General Staff College in Leavenworth, Kan., Goodwin said.

Many others in nonoperational career fields – including doctors, nurses, lawyers, human resources personnel, contracting and acquisitions officers – will go to one of the college’s satellite schools, at Fort Belvoir or Fort Lee in Virginia, Fort Gordon in Georgia or the newest, at Redstone.

“We are teaching them the basics of joint, interagency, multinational operations from a strategic level, through an operational level, through a tactical level,” Goodwin said.

The class culminates with a war-fighting exercise, she said during a tour of a high-tech classroom. About $2 million was spent to develop the facility in an existing building at Redstone, complete with computer-based instruction and lesson plans and full video teleconferencing capability.

Huntsville was a good location for another Command and General Staff School, she said. It’s convenient to other installations throughout the East and Southeast and is home to a growing Defense Acquisition University campus.

And the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure decision is relocating the Army Materiel Command, U.S. Army Security Assistance Command and other organizations to the arsenal.

“With AMC moving down here … the body of officers available for school will increase,” Goodwin said.

The Redstone school will have three “classes” over a year, and each can handle up to 72 students, she said. This first class is all active-duty officers, though future classes may include guard and reserve soldiers.

Most have recently returned from tours in Iraq or Afghanistan – which means they bring a lot to the classroom.

“We have the most experienced Army that we’ve ever had because of all their combat experience. They know how to conduct operations,” Goodwin said. “What we’re teaching them is how to fine-tune that, and how to lead. …

“They’re actually teaching each other,” she said.

“I think that’s the best thing about the class,” said Maj. Don Fagnan, an Army Ranger now working in human resources. He came home from his most recent deployment in Iraq in December 2007.

“You get folks with all different backgrounds, different experiences, different points of view” in small groups with the instructor, he said. “Any time you get that diverse group together, good things are going to happen.”

Maj. Kevin McAuliffe, a strategic intelligence officer, returned from Iraq on Dec. 14. Like Fagnan, he earned a master’s degree from a civilian college a few years ago and said the workload in the Command and General Staff School is comparable.

McAuliffe said he picked the Redstone campus for his courses in part because he knew the facilities were new and the weather might be good for golf. He hasn’t let the fact that he arrived during Huntsville’s recent snow and icy roads put a chill on his feelings about the area.

“Everybody’s been absolutely wonderful here,” said McAuliffe, who is based at Fort Bliss, Texas. He said he knows a lot of people who retired in Huntsville.

“Now I know why they come here,” he said. “This is a wonderful place to be.”

Let The Army Music Play On

Jan 25, 2010

By Skip Vaughn, USAG Redstone

REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. — The sound of construction near Gate 10 will give way to the tunes of an Army band by next year.

The Army Materiel Command Band is moving to Redstone Arsenal from Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., as part of base realignment and closure. The move is planned from this November through March 2011.

Community members attended a groundbreaking ceremony Jan. 12 for the 40-member band’s new facility on Patton Road just north of Heiser Hall. Construction of the 16,082-square-foot building is expected to be completed by January. The contract was awarded to Dyson Construction Company from Decatur for $4.383 million.

“It’s really a pleasure to see this vision come to fruition,” said Chief Warrant Officer 4 Fred Ellwein, the band commander since Feb. 27, 2007.

The 389th Army Band includes 39 enlisted and one warrant officer. Together they perform as a concert band or marching band, depending on the occasion. Their smaller elements include a brass quintet, woodwind quintet, jazz combo, rock band, and a ceremonial band of 18 performers.

“There’s a current force design update for Army bands that will likely increase the size of the AMC Band,” Ellwein said. “That’s to be determined. It will likely be (year) 2015 is my understanding at this point.”

He won’t be part of the move from Aberdeen because of his change of command there in May. Ellwein, originally from Sioux Falls, S.D., will report in June to the Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps in Washington, D.C.

His successor, Chief Warrant Officer 4 Pete Gillies, is already at Redstone. The Oxford, Mass., native arrived in August from Camp Zama in Tokyo, Japan.

“People in Huntsville are really eager to have an Army band here in town,” Gillies said. “I’ve been welcomed with open hearts by the musical community here in Huntsville.”

Gillies, 47, and his wife, Jo Myers, have a son, Tyler, 16, who is a junior at Sparkman High.

The band facility will include a large rehearsal room, individual practice rooms, music library, instrument storage, repair and cleaning, uniform locker rooms and band administration offices.

“This facility means a lot to not only the AMC Band but to Army bands as a whole,” Ellwein said.

Garrison commander Col. Bob Pastorelli said last week’s ceremony marks the last groundbreaking for Redstone Arsenal’s BRAC construction projects.

“We are about making sure the customer is taken care of,” he said. “And we do it on time.”

Ronnie Chronister, deputy commander of the Aviation and Missile Command, officiated at the ceremony which included music by the AMC brass quintet, also known as “All Brass… No Ammo.” He joined 10 other dignitaries in the ceremonial shoveling of dirt.

“This is a great day again for Team Redstone,” Chronister said. “It’s more evidence that BRAC is moving forward. It’s another milestone.”

The band’s arrival will also mark a musical revival of sorts for Redstone Arsenal, which served as the home of the 55th Army Band from 1959-75.

A formal concert, free and open to the public, of the AMC Band is scheduled March 21 at 2 p.m. at Huntsville High.

Arsenal office park bill advances

Friday, January 22, 2010

By Bob Lowry

Times Staff Writer bob.lowry@htimes.com

Senate panel OKs TIF district for$1 billion complex

MONTGOMERY – A bill that would allow Huntsville to form a special tax increment finance district for a 470-acre, $1 billion office park at Redstone Arsenal got a big boost Thursday.

It won unanimous and bipartisan approval by the Senate Finance and Taxation General Fund Committee.

Sen. Tom Butler, D-Madison, the Senate sponsor, said he hoped the bill would be considered by the full Senate next week.

“We’re trying to put it on a fast track because it’s a huge piece of the (BRAC) puzzle,” he said. “I think we’ve educated as many people, particularly on that committee, as possible how important that bill is.”

Butler amended the bill so that the TIF would not extend beyond 35 years. A TIF district allows the city to borrow money for public improvements and repay the debt with property tax revenue gains resulting from the improvements.

In this case, the developer, LW Redstone, has agreed to buy the bonds directly and be repaid as the tax growth happens.

Although BRAC, which will bring an estimated 10,000 government and contractor jobs to Huntsville and North Alabama, will have an economic impact statewide, Butler said Huntsville will bear the brunt of related problems such as the need for improved roads and more classrooms.

The new development would eventually include 4 million square feet of office space and employ about 14,000 people. Butler said it would generate $80 million alone in sales taxes off construction materials.

“We’re behind the curve, and we can’t go fast enough,” he said.

The Madison County House and Senate delegation are fully supportive of the bill.

“All five Madison County senators now are supporting it, including, (Sen. Paul) Sanford (R-Huntsville),” said Butler.

Sanford had declined to sign the bill earlier because he hadn’t read it, but Butler said Sanford told him Wednesday he backs it.