AFRH letter to the editor

[from Tim Cox, Chief Operating Officer of the AFRH, in response to a letter from area residents. Click here for the original post]

Dear Editor,

The Armed Forces Retirement Home would like to invite the public to visit us in early December to learn about future plans for our Washington campus.

We are hosting a one-hour bus tour of the grounds on December 3 at 10am, 11:30am and 1pm. Interested members of the public should reserve a seat via our website or by calling our community meeting hotline at 202-558-7029. We will also hold an open house Tuesday, December 13 from 5:30pm-7:30pm in the main hall of the Sherman Building to show our draft Master Plan.

Nearly five years ago, Congress and the Defense Department directed the AFRH to use its underused land to replenish our severely depleted Trust Fund. The Home is an independent federal agency totally dependent upon the Trust Fund for its operations.

We are drafting a Master Plan to guide land use and development on our campus for the next 25 years.

Change is difficult for all of us. But doing nothing is not an option. If the Home is to survive to care for future generations of America’s heroes and if the 272-acre campus is to remain intact and not be sold off piecemeal to the highest bidder, we must act now in a careful and sensible way.

Our Master Plan will guarantee our Home continues to provide high quality services to our elderly veterans, preserve our historic treasures for posterity, protect the quality of our pristine green space and generate jobs and services for our neighbors. We are excited about the possibilities.

We are committed to an open, transparent and inclusive process. We have consulted widely with our own residents; our residential, business and institutional neighbors; experts in historic preservation, land use planning and real estate; with elected officials and with District of Columbia and federal agencies. We hired the General Services Administration, the federal agency with the most expertise in federal land use, to quarterback the process.

We understand some of our neighbors prefer the status quo but we do not have the luxury of ignoring our dire fiscal condition or neglecting our responsibility to the men and women who serve in the armed forces to protect our country and its freedoms.

We welcome the comments and support of our neighbors and hope to see many of you at the Home in December.

Sincerely, Tim Cox
Chief Operating Officer
Armed Forces Retirement Home

Comments

[Jim Pankey, USN (Ret.)]

Timothy C. Cox is affected by the "I'm the Boss!" syndrome. When he talks of our responsibility to the men and women who serve in the armed forces to protect our country and its freedoms, one might question the statement. I do. So does LtCol Wendy VanDyke, former Deputy Director of the AFRH in Gulfport, MS. Want good reading? Try the DOD IG report dated 26Sep05, H05L9554042...that will show you how Tim Cox operates!

[Joseph Martin]

I have not met a single neighbor who prefers the "status quo," and I have attended all three, recent public meetings. No one asked for the status quo at any of these meetings.

It's unfortunate that the only response we're able to get from the Soldiers Home is public relations, spin, but, alas, we are in Washington, DC afterall, the world capital of spin.