Walter Reed Army Medical Center will be closing after the Base Realignment Committee voted to move its jobs outside the Beltway. Those 9,000 jobs will be sent to Quantico, Fort Belvoir, Fort Meade, and the Bethesda Naval Hospital. Though concerns were raised about the increased traffic due to 9,000 additional drivers, the base hospital was not saved. There’s still a chance to save the base in its entirety, but that would require President Bush to actually Veto something, which he’s yet to do in his 4+ years in office.
BRAC has yet to rule on the DoD jobs in Northern Virginia inside the Beltway.
So, what now? What do you do with a closed military hospital? My condo community (ugly website alert) was built out of old military housing and is some of the last “cheap” real estate in Arlington County. Could we do the same sort of thing, create a residential community in DC with that land?
This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs
I live and work in the District of Columbia. I write at We Love DC, a blog I helped start, I work at Technolutionary, a company I helped start, and I’m happy doing both. I enjoy watching baseball, cooking, and gardening. I grow a mean pepper, keep a clean scorebook, and wash the dishes when I’m done. Read Why I Love DC.
