In Press: Sacramento Bee covers the USS Iowa

by Craig Hooper on September 9, 2010

I had a chance to chat via email with Sac Bee scribe Jeff Mitchell on the debacle that is the USS Iowa preservation movement. That exchange provoked a buy generic levitra online

w.sacbee.com/2010/09/05/3006705/battleship.html”>nice story on the preservation effort, detailing the emerging competition between the two parties interested in the USS Iowa:

According to Merylin Wong, president of the Historic Ships project, all of those problems plus a sour economy have stymied the volunteer group’s efforts. So far, Historic Ships has raised only $1 million or so of the $12 million it told the Navy and the city it would raise for the ship to be moved and made ready as a museum, Wong said.

To complicate matters, another nonprofit group – some of whose members were originally part of the Vallejo group – is hoping to move the Iowa to the San Pedro area of Los Angeles Harbor.

The Pacific Battleship Center is moving rapidly under the direction of its president, Robert Kent, to take advantage of the Navy’s decision in May to reopen bidding for the Iowa.

“We’re not at war with the folks in Vallejo,” Kent said. “But we do feel it’s been a long time, and frankly it’s time for them to fish or cut bait. With all due respect to them, this was (Historic Ships’) project to lose.”

I got a little quote in:

San Francisco-based maritime analyst Craig Hooper, author of the blog NextNavy.com, said that while he prefers to see the Iowa stay in Northern California, he has been disappointed with the Vallejo group’s results.”I must say that I am somewhat surprised at the Vallejo folks. After all these years, they just do not seem to have their act together,” Hooper said in an e-mail.

The Vallejo folks have, apparently, pinned their hope on a scheme to integrate the battleship memorial into a mall and convention center. That’s nice, but I gotta ask–what are the chances of building a mall and convention center in a bankrupt town? At the epicenter of California’s real estate meltdown? In the midst of a serious economic depression?

Good luck with that.

Format

I had a chance to chat via email with Sac Bee scribe Jeff Mitchell on the debacle that is the USS Iowa preservation movement. That exchange provoked a nice story on the preservation effort, detailing the emerging competition between the two parties interested in the USS Iowa:
According to Merylin Wong, president of the Historic Ships project, all of those problems plus a sour economy have stymied the volunteer group’s efforts. So far, Historic Ships has raised only $1 million or so of the $12 million it told the Navy and the city it would raise for the ship to be moved and made ready as a museum, Wong said.
To complicate matters, another nonprofit group – some of whose members were originally part of the Vallejo group – is hoping to move the Iowa to the San Pedro area of Los Angeles Harbor.
The Pacific Battleship Center is moving rapidly under the direction of its president, Robert Kent, to take advantage of the Navy’s decision in May to reopen bidding for the Iowa.
“We’re not at war with the folks in Vallejo,” Kent said. “But we do feel it’s been a long time, and frankly it’s time for them to fish or cut bait. With all due respect to them, this was (Historic Ships’) project to lose.”
I got a little quote in:
San Francisco-based maritime analyst Craig Hooper, author of the blog NextNavy.com, said that while he prefers to see the Iowa stay in Northern California, he has been disappointed with the Vallejo group’s results.”I must say that I am somewhat surprised at the Vallejo folks. After all these years, they just do not seem to have their act together,” Hooper said in an e-mail.
The Vallejo folks have,

apparently, pinned their hope on a scheme to integrate the battleship memorial into a mall and convention center. That’s nice, but I gotta ask–what are the chances of building a mall and convention center in a bankrupt town? At the epicenter of California’s real estate meltdown? In the midst of a serious economic depression?
Good luck with that.
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