New Web site shows arsenal group has all bases covered

The committee working to ensure that Redstone Arsenal benefits from the next round of military base closures has a new weapon.

The Tennessee Valley BRAC Committee has launched a Web site, www.tvbrac.org, to show the Huntsville area's attributes to those who will decide next year which bases around the country will be closed, downsized or upsized. The federal Base Realignment and Closure Commission will make recommendations in 2005.

Via a series of links, "Redstone Delivers for the Nation" has information about the dozen or so communities in North Alabama and southern Tennessee that stand to gain from the arsenal's growth. In addition, the site gives such demographic facts as population, income, education levels and cost-of-living expenses.

Retired Army Lt. Gen. Jim Link, president of Teledyne Brown Engineering and co-chairman of the local BRAC committee, said consultants in Washington, D.C., suggested the committee launch the site.

"One of the greatest handicaps about the Huntsville area is that a lot of people out of Alabama don't know about us," Link said. "A lot of people in Alabama don't know about us."

Members of the BRAC commission, the group that will recommend which bases will lose or gain work, will do much of their research on the Internet, he said. The committee wants those people to have easy access to Huntsville's best numbers.

"We want to control the message."

In years past, BRAC has been a boon for Huntsville. The 1995 round brought more than 1,600 jobs and new work for Redstone.

The new Web site lists numbers city leaders are proud to tout, such as income and education levels higher than the national average, and housing costs lower than the national average.

In addition, the site gives an overview of the different offices and institutions doing work on the arsenal, from NASA to missile defense to the Ordnance Munitions and Electronics School. You can download a 176-page book about the arsenal and a copy of North Alabama's Answer Book, published by The Times. There's also a 14-minute video introduction to Redstone and a four-minute video of a flyover of the arsenal.

A "Headlines" link takes you to national stories mentioning Huntsville, including the city's rankings in Forbes, Expansion Management and Employment Review magazines.

"We look at BRAC as an opportunity to grow, while other (communities) are wringing their hands and sniveling about how devastated they'll be if a base closes," Link said.

"We don't want other communities to catch up with us."

The Web site is produced by the Huntsville/Madison County Chamber of Commerce. You'll need Windows Media Player or RealPlayer to view the videos, and Power Point to see the slide presentation.

Business Editor Gina Hannah can be reached by phone at 532-4531, or e-mail at ginah@htimes.com.