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Bay Runner Series: Future of Ellington Field

Ellington Update (Published 5/04): Members of the Ellington Field Task Force recently took the offensive and scored a major victory when United States Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison announced she brokered a deal with Department of Defense officials in response to the Bay Area Houston Economic Partnershipšs proposal that a Joint Reserve Base be created at Ellington Field.

The deal relocates 2,300 Army, Navy and Marine Corps Reserve troops from the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center on Old Spanish Trail to Ellington Field making room for a research park at the Texas Medical Center.

Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, Houston  Mayor Bill White and Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership President Jim Reinhartsen were all smiles at a recent press conference about the deal with the DOD.

In the deal, which involved hard work from many elected officials including Hutchinson, Houston Mayor Bill White, Harris County Judge Robert Eckels, Congressman Sheila Jackson Lee and Houston City Council members Addie Wiseman and Shelley Sekula-Gibbs, the City of Houston will donate 40 acres of land to Ellington Field to make room for the Army, Navy and Marine Reserve troops that will be relocated.

Then, the land near the medical complex could be annexed from the Department of Defense for an expansion ofthe University of Texas Research Park.

The main benefit of this move is strengthening the case for keeping Ellington Field strong and active through the Department of Defense Base Realignment and Closure review scheduled for 2005.

Future of Ellington Field - Part ll: Keeping the 147th Wing
By Peggy "Domino" Taylor  (Published 4/04)
We are vulnerable… those are the first three words of the Southeast Texas Gulf Coast Community Military Preparedness Plan. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has identified Harris County, Texas as one of the only regions in America possessing all nine-asset categories named by the FBI as vulnerable to terrorists.     (Continued)

Continental to Cease Operations, DOD to Review Ellington Field for BRAC List
By John Ennis  (Published 3/04)
On any given day a drive near Ellington Field may offer sight of a wide range of aircraft ranging from Air Force One to NASA's KC-135 zero gravity "Vomit Comet."  You may catch a glimpse of a T-38 Talon or F-16 Falcon darting thru the sky.     (Continued)

Bay Runner is published by Bay Area Media Services (BAMS)  - Copyright 2004