Guam's own shock and awe

The U.S. Department of Defense is getting ready to transfer 8000 marines and 9,000 family members from Okinawa to Guam. Add to that thousands of contractors, support personnel and you have the makings, of "a huge shock to our system ...." according to the testimony of Trina Leberer, marine conservation coordinator for the Micronesia Program of The Nature Conservancy.

Lebere's testimony was part of a hearing in August by the House Natural Resources Committee, Subcommittee on Insular Affairs, on the "U.S. Military Buildup on Guam and Challenges Facing the Community."

The testimony, in total, outlines the impact this build-up will have the enormous cost imposed to expand utilities, improve roads, and other services.

What follows are excerpts from some of the testimony.

Facilities must be constructed for the 8,000 Marines and 9,000 family members. It is anticipated that such construction will require 12,000 to 15,000 construction workers, with 75 percent of such workers coming from outside of Guam.

The increase in Guam’s population, by an estimated 35,000 to 40,000 people or over 20 percent including military and family members, construction workers, and other public and private sector service providers, will create opportunities.

-- David Cohen, deputy assistant secretary, Dept. of Interior.

Our preference is to remain on land owned by the federal government, but at this stage we have not determined whether our requirements will fit on existing DoD lands.

-- David Brice, executive director for the Joint Guam Program Office, and the person responsible Department of Defense planning.

Guam’s population is expected to increase from 168,564 in 2005 to 180,692 in 2010, without factoring any increase to the local military population by the U.S. Department of Defense.

The Government of Guam has estimated the costs to support the military buildup at an estimated $1.1. Billion dollars.

-- Felix Camacho, Guam governor

Our water and power systems are at near capacity; our roads are in need of repair; there is an immediate need to close Ordot dump and to open a new sanitary landfill, and our only civilian hospital has been struggling to meet the needs of the current population. Imagine the impact of additional military personnel and support staff and their families totaling 30,000 people on our ailing infrastructure.

-- Senator Judith T. Won Pat, minority leader, Guam Legislature

The increase of vehicle traffic throughout the island on the major roadways is definitely a concern by all motorists.

-- Melissa Savares, mayor of Dededo

... our people’s voice really do not count.

-- Hope Cristobal, University of Guam, adjunct professor who teaches the history of Guam.

The Districts are also recommending that the military buildup address the issue of alternative types of renewable energy generation such as bio energy, ocean wave energy, wind power and other sources of renewable energy as part of its buildup operations.

-- Benny P. San Nicolas, chairman of the Southern Soil & Water Conservation District

A majority (71%) of Guam residents polled support an increased military presence, 14% opposed, and 15% were either neutral (9%) or don’t know (6%).

-- Stephen Ruder, chairman, Guam Chamber of Commerce

For an island of only 212 square miles, this will be a huge shock to our system ....

-- Trina Leberer, marine conservation coordinator for the Micronesia Program of The Nature Conservancy.

Guam, blogs and newspapers

Jeff Jarvis, as astute observer of news media trends, is a regular read. He recently had a post about the New Jersey Star-Ledger and a forum it's created for local bloggers.

What the Star-Ledger is doing is something other newspapers should do as well, including on Guam. I responded to his post with this comment:

There is an ocean of stubborn, fearful and reluctant editors operating in newsrooms who see bloggers as a primary threat to their jobs. And if this is the only example of a newspaper doing anything like this, then it shows how rooted this fear is.

Editors probably have no idea just how many voices are at work in their communities — because it can be very difficult to map and locate them.

One problem, the main one, is that most editors are looking for bloggers who are writing about the same things covered by their reporters, and focus on those bloggers who make city desk sense: neighborhood writers; politics, real estate, crime, issue-of-the-day.

But most local bloggers write about the experience of living in a community, it is the work of people who, often enough, seek to understand and not just report. These writers are off the newsroom radars. Newspapers loose out their perspective because their definition of what constitutes community journalism is too narrow.

Many local blogging communities have created outlets for these writers. The Newark newspaper, from my perspective as a local blogger, is breaking no ground except, perhaps, in its industry.

Bloggers in my city, DC, have many outlets for reaching broad audiences independent of local newspapers.

This lack of attention by newspapers — to their own blogging readers — is one of the reasons why dynamic blogging communities are tuning newspapers out.

The Daily Newarker, I suspect, will gain traffic, loyalty and new readers by embracing some of its local talent. I wish them success because their city truly needs what these writers can bring.

Congress will hear about Guam's military build-up

I don’t recall what the military population was on Guam when I was stationed there in mid-1970s. But it wasn’t easy finding housing. I almost always lived off based in my nearly three years of living on the island. My favorite was a house on the island’s south side (and as hard as I try I can’t remember the street name). It was on a dead-end street and my neighbors were wonderful folks – always inviting us to parties and making us feel as if we were part of the family. We tried to return that favor as best as we could by buying supplies for them at the PX.

I also lived in one the downtown towers off Marine Drive, high up. Never really liked the location. Although it was technically urban, Guam isn't a pedestrian friendly place -- you need a car to go almost anyplace it seemed.

The pending military will impact rental housing on the island. It will probably make housing hard to find and expensive, much like it was during the 1970s. That will be a good thing for property owners generally, but for people who rent, and by this I mean the island's longtime residents, it may become a difficult issue. But the build-up will likely create new jobs, increase hotel occupancies, and travel generally to the island.

I don’t know yet who is testifying at a congressional hearing set for Aug. 13 at the University of Guam, but I’ll look forward to reading the testimony and expect it will offer a good synopsis of some of the challenges facing Guam. It’s being held by the Insular Affairs Subcommittee field hearing on "U.S. Military Buildup on Guam and Challenges Facing the Community." The PDN has a report on it. Guam Rep. Madeleine Z. Bordallo is on that committee.