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From: Don Mettler - Web Tender USS Hancock Association
Date: 26 Jul 2005
Time: 23:44:08 -0700
Remote Name: 68.7.164.35
Hey Don -
Good to hear from you.
Where to begin...
The USS Hornet is currently located at the old Alameda NAS. This base was "BRAC'd" by the Federal government in 1996 and closed. At that time, the City of Alameda had plans to redevelop it, with an eye toward tourism (multi-use but with a hotel, golf course, boutique shops, restaurants, etc). It was felt the Hornet would be the keystone for attracting tourists and other business opportunities (eg, its hangar bays are 3rd largest event center in the SF Bay Area so a natural for hosting conventions, reunions, etc). When the ink was dry, the Hornet group had signed a longterm lease agreement to stay at Pier 3.
Here we are, 9 years later. The City has never taken possession of the base, since they want $350m for toxic waste cleanup and the Navy is only offering $150m. Hornet has been stuck in "no man's land" - no one wants to do any restoration or development on the base since it may be given back to the Navy! No restaurants, no signage, weeds growing everywhere, etc. plus, the infrastructure is really starting to decay with zero maintenance in 8 years (ie, the telephone wires, power cables etc). Consequently, Hornet's general museum admissions has steadily declined (exacerbated by the recession and the 9/11 attack loss of tourism to the Bay Area) to the point where we are operating around breakeven, before paying the pier rent to the City.
Now, another player has entered the game - MARAD - who wants to base its Ready Reserve fleet out of Alameda PT. For security reasons, they want to fence off the big "carrier piers" so they've asked the City to move Hornet to Pier 1, which is only half the length of the ship and half the width of what we need. MARAD has offered to sign a longterm lease and their payments are backed by the American taxpayer.
We at the Hornet continue to work hard to maintain a good rapport with the business commuity in Alameda and attract as many tourists as we can to Alameda PT. We haven't given up on staying in Alameda but the situation is much less optimal than what was felt in 1996. Our Museum volunteers, staff, former Hornet crewmen and other supporters have invested far too much time in restoring the ship and creating an excellent educational venue for the public to allow the ship to be "lost," ie, turned into an artificial reef. We were told just one month ago, Hornet is the best restored ship in the NavSea fleet of museum ships as far as being returned to its "in-comsission" status! NASA gave us an award for excellence only 6 months ago, presented in person by the Chief Administrator, Sean O'Keefe. Etc. !!
So we'd be the most foolish businessmen on earth if we didn't start contemplating "Plan B" since remooring the ship at Pier 1 will only damage our admissions even more, perhaps below our operating budget. We've had a few generic discussions with various areas - SF, Oakland, etc - about whether they felt having a famous National Registered Landmark ship as a tourist attraction would be of value to them. Obviously, the SF waterfront would be greatly enhanced financially by the presence of a capital warship with the types of community service programs we provide. And we, in turn, would be able to provide value to thousands more vistors each month than what we do now. However, the USS Iowa debacle last week gives us, as it should all American citizens, something to chew on about whether that great city is in serious decline and would support the values represented by our greatest generation that served in WWII. These talks are no where near a decision point, with the sole exception that we might go to SF for 10 days as a major attraction of Fleet Week in Oct. We'd then return to Alameda and continue to aggressively pursue business there.
I went to great length in this email to detail the situation so you could spread the word to whomever else is interested about the exact nature of this situation. Please do me the honor of forwarding this in its entirety to those who may have a similar question as yours !
Regards,
Bob Fish CEO USS Hornet Museum