Friday, July 09, 2010
Fort Lewis Supermall to Open in 2013, 2014
So how's this for looking ahead? We now know the fiscal year 2014 figures to be a tough one for Lakewood, DuPont and Lacey. It's a good year, though, for Fort Lewis and our military.That's the year that Army and Air Force Exchange Service, which offers shopping and food on military bases, predicts their 475,00-square-foot supermall will open at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, according to a presentation today at Lakewood's "Coffee with the Mayor." Handily, the presentation is online already, based on one delivered to the Tacoma chamber. (4 p.m. note: Eh, phrased that badly. What I should have said was, the Tacoma presentation, which looked a lot like the one delivered in Lakewood, is online. You get the idea. It's the Tacoma presentation that was posted) You can look at it here.
JBLM Lifestyles Center 10-05-27
The short version of it is that construction will begin in 2011 and complete in 2013. Thus one would assume 2014 is the first full year of operation.
What that means in practical terms is that people who now spend money in DuPont, Lacey and Lakewood will be spending more of their dollars in Fort Lewis. The sales tax dollars that support police, parks, social services groups, etc... in DuPont, Lacey and Lakewood will move into Pierce County's budget. For a good discussion of what this matters to anyone in Lakewood, DuPont or Lacey, read this excellent editorial in the News Tribune.
So here's the deal. What I object to is that we have only two alternatives given us:
Option A: Allow military and their dependents to remain shopping and eating in dingy, outdated facilities that are an insult to the families and to our country.
Option B: Build a 475,000-square-foot supermall that sucks tax revenues out of communities that those communities use to provide human services grants and police protection to our citizens, which include the 70 percent of the Fort Lewis/McChord community that lives off post.
yeah.
No Option C - Maybe put up nice buildings and more diverse, clean businesses that offer good service to families but don't undercut the local economies.
It seems very odd to me that AAFES, having allowed the facilities on the base to get so bad, only gives us two choices without anyone asking or studying why. There's no Option C.
Well here's the deal. If I only have those two choices, I'd choose Option A. The families on the base deserve better than what they have now. Might Lakewood have to lay off police in 2014? Maybe. That's sure not good. But there may be an economic resurgence that protects our local economy. We don't know.
It depends on how you want to plan. If you are affiliated with a nonprofit group that is getting human services funding from Lakewood, don't expect it in 2014. Make other plans. The city might have enough in sales tax revenues to provide the funding, or it might not.
As I've said before, my wife works at Madigan, I've been there, I've eaten at Fort Lewis, I know what we ask Fort Lewis families to put up with now. It's disgusting. So sure, put up the supermall. We can live with it. It's just sad no one could come up with an alternative that might help everyone.
The short version of it is that construction will begin in 2011 and complete in 2013. Thus one would assume 2014 is the first full year of operation.
What that means in practical terms is that people who now spend money in DuPont, Lacey and Lakewood will be spending more of their dollars in Fort Lewis. The sales tax dollars that support police, parks, social services groups, etc... in DuPont, Lacey and Lakewood will move into Pierce County's budget. For a good discussion of what this matters to anyone in Lakewood, DuPont or Lacey, read this excellent editorial in the News Tribune.
So here's the deal. What I object to is that we have only two alternatives given us:
Option A: Allow military and their dependents to remain shopping and eating in dingy, outdated facilities that are an insult to the families and to our country.
Option B: Build a 475,000-square-foot supermall that sucks tax revenues out of communities that those communities use to provide human services grants and police protection to our citizens, which include the 70 percent of the Fort Lewis/McChord community that lives off post.
yeah.
No Option C - Maybe put up nice buildings and more diverse, clean businesses that offer good service to families but don't undercut the local economies.
It seems very odd to me that AAFES, having allowed the facilities on the base to get so bad, only gives us two choices without anyone asking or studying why. There's no Option C.
Well here's the deal. If I only have those two choices, I'd choose Option A. The families on the base deserve better than what they have now. Might Lakewood have to lay off police in 2014? Maybe. That's sure not good. But there may be an economic resurgence that protects our local economy. We don't know.
It depends on how you want to plan. If you are affiliated with a nonprofit group that is getting human services funding from Lakewood, don't expect it in 2014. Make other plans. The city might have enough in sales tax revenues to provide the funding, or it might not.
As I've said before, my wife works at Madigan, I've been there, I've eaten at Fort Lewis, I know what we ask Fort Lewis families to put up with now. It's disgusting. So sure, put up the supermall. We can live with it. It's just sad no one could come up with an alternative that might help everyone.
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Oh please! The PX/BX, commissary, vendor malls, Class VI stores and other facilities at McCord and Ft. Lewis are large, relatively new, well stocked, and more than ample to meet the needs of the service members there. I should know since I was stationed at Fort Lewis in 1985 and have used both facilities on a weekly basis. 25 years ago that was not the case but millions have gone into improvements on base. I don't know what is behind this at AAFES except that they are sitting on a ton of money burning a hole in their pockets: use it of lose it mentality. Option C is to use and maintain the current facilities and return some of that slush fund to our service members in the form of lower prices.
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