This message is from Peter Stark.--------Johnnie
-------------------------------------------------------------
>Date: Tue, 03 Mar 1998 11:36:37 -0800 (PST)
>From: Peter Stark <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: USGS Menlo Park victory
Dear Maps-l,
Some good news from Menlo Park, California. Article snipped from the
San Francisco Chronicle, March 3, 1998.
---------------------------------------------------------
Peter L. Stark
Head, Map and Aerial Photography (MAP) Library
165 Condon Hall, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403
(541) 346-3051
Geological Agency to Stay Put
USGS won't leave Menlo Park, Babbitt tells scientists, staff
Michael McCabe, Chronicle Staff Writer
Tuesday, March 3, 1998
=A91998 San Francisco Chronicle
URL: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-
bin/article.cgi?file=3D/chronicle/archive/1998/03/03/MN51657.DTL
In a stunning turnaround, Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt yesterday
announced that U.S. Geological Survey Western Region Headquarters will rema=
in
in Menlo Park for at least the next 11 years.
For the past six months, the 800 scientists and support staff who wo=
rk
at the 16-acre Menlo Park campus have been waiting for the ax to fall after
receiving repeated warnings that astronomical rents might force the agency =
to
move, possibly to Sacramento or even farther.
The Menlo Park site is the nation's and perhaps the world's foremost
center for earthquake science as well as the study of other natural hazards=
=2E
Scientists who fought to keep the facilities in Menlo Park had argue=
d
strongly that there was significant scientific value in staying in the Bay
Area, which sits on top of a famously unstable network of seismic faults,
including the San Andreas, Hayward and Calaveras.
But in August, Babbitt ordered the agency to complete a study
describing how the agency might save money by moving out of Menlo Park.
Babbitt ordered the study because of skyrocketing costs for employee
housing and the fact that two of the facility's major privately owned
buildings face immediate rent increases from $27 a square foot to $44 a squ=
are
foot.
But with intense lobbying by a Bay Area congressional delegation led=
by
Representative Anna Eshoo, D-Atherton, backed up by the geological survey
staff, Babbitt was persuaded to change his mind late Friday afternoon.
Joined by Eshoo, Babbitt made the announcement before a crowd of
several hundred cheering employees yesterday afternoon under a hastily
constructed tent in a parking lot.
``But what really did it,'' Babbitt joked to the delighted crowd of
scientists, ``is that I have two kids at Stanford . . . and Anna Eshoo kept
telling me, `You can't do this to us.' ''
Under the new plan, the geological survey in Menlo Park will get out=
of
leases on four privately owned buildings which Babbitt said ``pushed us to =
the
edge of bankruptcy.''
All employees in Menlo Park will be consolidated into 12 buildings,
some large and some small, owned by the General Services Administration, th=
e
federal government's landlord. The General Services Administration has agre=
ed
to freeze the rent for 10 years starting in October 1999, Eshoo said.
The plan is expected to save the the geological survey ``several
million dollars'' a year, said Acting Director Tom Casadevall.
In the past few years, the Menlo Park operation has undergone a seri=
es
of painful layoffs that has reduced staff from 1,200 to 800.
The campus in Menlo Park includes almost 500,000 square feet of offi=
ce,
laboratory, computer and other special-purpose space that supports a wide
range of scientific research and technical activities.
It includes earthquake, volcano and landslide hazards; marine and
coastal research; water quality studies; San Francisco Bay and S topographi=
c
mapping.
Babbitt toured the facilities with Eshoo and Casadevall and was give=
n
an up-to-the-minute report on the service's role in investigating El Nino's
role on floods in the Bay Area now and in the future.
Later, to the assembled crowd of employees, many of whom appeared te=
nse
before the announcement, Babbitt admitted that in August he doubted he woul=
d
ever return to the headquarters in Menlo Park simply because it would not b=
e
there.
But he added, ``This cost-saving agreement provides for a long- term
USGS presence in Menlo Park. It's an agreement that's good for USGS and goo=
d
for California. The General Services Administration has recognized the spec=
ial
circumstances of the USGS Menlo Park facility.''
That includes, Eshoo said, a unique relationship between the geologi=
cal
survey staff and several Bay Area universities, including Stanford and the
University of California at Berkeley and at Santa Cruz.
``Last August when the announcement was made to close this facility,=
it
was the equivalent of a 8.0 quake on the Richter scale,'' Eshoo said.
``Tremors were felt throughout the region. But many of us said there must b=
e a
better way.''
Eshoo said she got the ball rolling by calling a meeting in Septembe=
r
between Babbitt and the Bay Area delegation to talk about it. Also at the
meeting were Democratic Representatives George Miller of Martinez, Nancy
Pelosi of San Francisco, Lynn Woolsey of Petaluma and Sam Farr of Carmel, a=
s
well as GOP Representative Tom Campbell of the South Bay and officials
representing Democratic U.S. Senators Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer.
While geological survey officials in Menlo Park are profoundly
relieved, many are also wondering how they will fit the employees affected =
by
the consolidation into the 12 government-owned buildings, many of which are
not suitable for office space.
``We have no idea how we are going to do that yet,'' said spokeswoma=
n
Pat Jorgenson. ``It's like a family having to move into a much smaller
house.''
But she quickly added: ``It is just a great thing to have this lifte=
d
over us all. We know now what we have to work with, and we can get on with =
our
business.''
=A91998 San Francisco Chronicle=A0 Page=A0A1
|
