By Ashley McLeod, Staff Writer
Jan 13, 2015, 14:08
FORT LEE — The weather outside was frigid on Thursday night, but the inside of the Fort Lee Logistics University was warm with a sense of community as the United States Army held a community listening session to give local officials and community members a chance to comment on proposed reductions which may occur as a result of the 2011 Budget Control Act.
The group included mayors from Colonial Heights, Hopewell and Petersburg, members of the Boards of Supervisors from Dinwiddie, Chesterfields and Prince George, representatives from the offices of Sen. Tim Kaine and Rep. Randy Forbes, and area representatives in the General Assembly, State Sen. Rosalyn Dance and Del. Kirk Cox.
These local leaders came together as one during the meeting, showing how close-knit of a community this area has become with Fort Lee.
“We are most proud about Fort Lee being a part of us because we are a community. There are those who say we are the Tri-Cities, but we are the Quad-Cities because Fort Lee makes up the fourth city,” Dance said.
The commanding general, Maj. Gen. Stephen Lyons, opened the meeting, noting the high participation of the different communities surrounding Fort Lee.
“I couldn’t be more pleased as I look across the audience at the level of participation and I think it speaks volumes of the relationship Fort Lee has with the local community. It says a lot about how these communities embrace the U.S. army, the U.S. military, it makes me very, very proud to be a part of this community,” Lyons said.
The U.S. government will be forced to cut from budgets from many different areas, including the military. As a result of budget restrictions, the estimated cuts to the US military would take the force from 570,000 soldiers to 490,000, which will be followed with another reduction to 420,000. This number is to planned to be reached by 2020.
Fort Lee was assessed to lose up to 3,600 soldiers and civilian employees – community members who reside in the surrounding counties of the installation.
Those who spoke at the meeting emphasized the importance of Fort Lee to the Tri-Cities, and how these cuts would have a tremendous deficit to the area.
“There are partnerships that take place between Fort Lee and our community partners that are an indication of the importance of Fort Lee to our region,” said John Wood, member of the Colonial Heights City Council and chairman of the Crater Planning District Commission.
According to Dance, Fort Lee makes up one-eighth of the income of the region, and the estimated impact of these cuts to the region will equal $2.4 million.
The localities surrounding Fort Lee have all been affected by the presence of Fort Lee. Many businesses have come to Colonial Heights due to its closeness to a military base.
Bill Robertson, chairman of the Prince George Board of Supervisors, said that Prince George considers itself “a military family.” According to Robertson, 33 percent of the school system in Prince George is comprised of military children. In 2014, Prince George spent $19 million on a new elementary school in order to keep up to pace with the growing number of students.
Many of those that spoke echoed those before them, explaining how important Fort Lee is to its surrounding communities.
“It’s not just a base that sits among us, it is a part of us. We come together … there is bi-partisan leadership that comes together in support of an institution like this,” Dance said.
“Fort Lee is demonstrated by the fabric of the people. Civilian and military. We’re woven together into one garment,” Wood said.
Hopewell Mayor Brenda Pelham, a veteran herself, explained how important the partnership between Fort Lee was, and urged military leaders and the president himself to abandon these cuts.
“We can do better, and we must do better,” Pelham said.
The proposed cuts to Fort Lee are not set in stone as of now. The purpose of the community listening sessions is for military leaders to hear concerns and report back to the Department of the Army to discuss the final decision on where the cuts will be made. There is also a chance that Congress will refuse to enforce the decision of making any cuts to the military at all.
A decision on whether or not cuts will occur will be made in late spring to early summer.
