Timing wrong for $1.7 million Arsenal project

By Quad-City Times

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Union workers on Arsenal Island had reason to complain.

Even as their wages stand frozen in hard times, the Army is spending $1.7 million on nonessential upgrades to the Army Sustainment Command HQ.

Reporter Ed Tibbetts obtained through the Freedom of Information Act documents containing a detailed accounting of the ASC's plans for its headquarters on Rodman Drive. However, officials at the Louisville Corps of Engineers, which is responsible for the design, redacted dollar amounts associated with each upgrade.

The documents outlined plans for museum-like additions to the office building, including life-sized exhibits depicting “live action soldiers” and 47-inch flat-screen monitors with touch-screen action. Those items since have been dropped because of space limitations, officials said.

A price tag of $1.25 million remains for other interior improvements to Building 390, including waiting-area and security upgrades. The Army declined to elaborate on security plans.

We have no quarrel with increased security on any part of the installation.

However, if the ASC wishes to pay tribute to its history, it would seem the best place to do so is not in the lobby of a building that is rarely accessed by the public. A better place would be the Arsenal's museum.

And a better time to do it is when the Arsenal Island is not under strict scrutiny regarding spending.

Outside improvements also will be made to the Army Sustainment Command facility to the tune of $436,000. Cutbacks have been made in those plans, too, including the elimination of a canopy at the new semi-circular driveway.

In the big picture, $1.7 million may sound like a drop in the bucket. But the Army Material Command, which oversees ASC, is looking for a way to save $3 billion.

They'll be looking for all the drops they can find.