Task force begins developing plan for Rock Island Arsenal
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By Jennifer DeWitt | Monday, December 17, 2007 |
Still energized from last week’s trip to the Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Ala., a contingent of Quad-City business and community leaders pledged Thursday to take up the fight not only to protect the Rock Island Arsenal but to strengthen and position it for future growth.
Nearly two dozen leaders — representing a cross section of local governments, industry, companies and community interests — traveled to Huntsville to learn firsthand how the Tennessee Valley region’s efforts to rally around Redstone have produced thousands of new jobs and millions of dollars in investment. In a debriefing session Thursday, members of the Quad-City group agreed to join forces with the ongoing efforts of the Rock Island Arsenal Task Force.
“We have to get the community awakened to the fact that we do have an opportunity here, but we also have a real threat,’’ John Gardner, the interim president and chief executive officer of the Quad-City Development Group, told the trip’s participants.
“We have two big challenges: to change the culture of the community from being disengaged to engaged. The corollary challenge is we have to change the culture on the (Rock Island) arsenal. Anyone based here needs to become an aggressive advocate for the island. It’s very passive there now.”
The Arsenal Task Force pushed the idea of a trip to Huntsville because of the success that area had in the last recommendations made by the Base Closure and Realignment Commission, or BRAC. As a result of BRAC 2005, Redstone will receive 4,700 new defense jobs. An equal number of private contractor jobs are expected to follow. By comparison, the Rock Island Arsenal stands to lose about 850 jobs. However, the facility will become the new home of the 1st U.S. Army, which is transferring from Fort Gillem, Ga.
In their debriefing session, the trip participants each shared their impressions of what they heard and saw in Huntsville. Short of prioritizing tasks, the group began to identify issues that will need to be addressed as well as the strengths that worked in Huntsville.
Paramount to the Tennessee Valley Region’s success was its “one team, one fight” attitude. “I was impressed by their positive approach,” said Steve Van Dyke, Bettendorf economic development director. “If we do one thing, I hope it is to develop and practice our message.”
Deb Petersen, of Trinity Medical Center, agreed, adding “if we could just get our community to work together and speak with one voice.”
Some trip participants remarked how representatives of the Tennessee Valley region all had the same message about the region, not individual communities. They also all could quote statistics off the top of their heads about Redstone, the adjacent Cummings Research Park, their schools and other aspects of their region. The workings of Redstone, which they referred to as a federal campus and not a military installation, were no mystery to the Huntsville contingent.
“There’s a huge difference in what we do here — we’re on the outside looking in. They’re on the inside looking out,” said Paul Rumler, the community and economic development director for the Illinois Quad-City Chamber of Commerce.
Moline Mayor Don Welvaert said the difference is the Rock Island Arsenal has always been at arm’s length from the rest of the Quad-Cities. “At Redstone, they were right in there pitching in with them ... ”
Rick Baker, president and CEO of the Illinois Quad-City Chamber, said some of the success of the Huntsville area’s BRAC committee was how it operated independently of other efforts. “It was not attached by an umbilical cord to any organization. That allowed it to be more agile, and free to make decisions on the fly.”
He also noted that because of the region’s unified strategy “there was no fighting over who gets credit for stuff.” In addition, the Tennessee Valley “cast a net farther that the department of defense” attracting a variety of federal agencies to the arsenal. The Rock Island Arsenal is home to nine different commands, where Redstone has more than 130 agencies and organizations that employ 32,000.
Jennifer DeWitt can be contacted at (563) 383-2318 or jdewitt@qctimes.com.
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