BRAC: Heading Up the NJ Turnpike

Found this article in the Asbury Park Press. It talks about how Maryland has opened offices in NJ to try to lure people here -- and how they don't want to come:

Maryland opens centers to try to get fort workers to move
By Keith Brown • COASTAL MONMOUTH BUREAU • April 26, 2008

FORT MONMOUTH — Efforts to woo post employees to Maryland reached an unprecedented level Friday when that state's labor department opened an information center on the fort targeting those employees considering moving with the fort's mission.

Billed as a "Transition One-Stop Career Center," the information center opened at the post's Credit Union, with another opening on Industrial Way in Eatontown. A kick-off event was held at Gibbs Hall, where Maryland officials touted their state's assets and pledged to assist anyone considering moving there.

"We're here to answer every question you have," Thomas Perez, Maryland Secretary of Labor, Licensing & Regulation, said to a crowd of about 100 assembled at Gibbs Hall. "We are indeed here with open arms."

Fort Monmouth is a casualty of the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure decisions that shuttered military installations in a nationwide consolidation aimed at streamlining the military and saving money. The bulk of its core mission is scheduled to move to Maryland's Aberdeen Proving Ground by 2011.

But Maryland's inroads onto the fort — what Perez called the first information center of its kind that has opened at any military installation in the nation — was seen as an insult by some.

"It's rubbing it in the noses of those employees who believe the BRAC was a fraud," said John Poitras, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 1904, a fort employees union that has filed a federal lawsuit aimed at stopping the fort's closure.

State Sen. Joseph M. Kyrillos Jr., R-Monmouth, also criticized the move.

"New Jersey has a history of being a leader in innovation and a magnet for the best and brightest employees in many industries," Kyrillos said in a statement. "That Maryland wants to lure away members of our work force should not be a surprise, but it definitely should be a concern."

Major Gen. Dennis L. Via, commanding general of the fort's Communications-Electronics command, headed the line-up of speakers at the kick-off event. Via praised opening of the information center.

"This center will help reduce uncertainty and provide personalized information to our employees that they otherwise would not have access to," Via said. "It's strong evidence of the state of Maryland's commitment to make our move to APG smoother and easier."

Col. Jeffrey Weissman, commander of Aberdeen Proving Ground, touted his installation's contribution to the nation's defense, praised Harford County — where the post is located — and pledged assistance to those considering the move.

"I can promise that we will do everything we can to ensure that you're not disappointed," Weissman said.

The center, which will be staffed by a Maryland official, will supply information on Maryland home prices, school systems, entertainment and practically any other topic of interest to post workers considering the move, officials said. The center at the fort will be open from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m., while the Eatontown office will be open from 2:30 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Fort Monmouth, which generates about $3.2 billion annually into the state's economy, employs more than 5,000 and supports another 22,000 jobs statewide.

Post workers in two separate surveys taken last year said overwhelmingly they would pass on the moving from the Garden State. Up to 70 percent of those surveyed said they would not move to Maryland when the post closes in three years.

Perez, in an interview following the kick-off, downplayed the number of post employees who have said they would not move.

"We don't know what the number will be," he said. "It's a very fluid number. There's people who don't know what they're going to do. The best way to address uncertainly is to supply information."