BRAC stands for "Base Realignment and Closure"

Every three years the BRAC commission creates a list of U.S. military facilities to close and consolidate to save money. The principle behind BRAC is to let the U.S. military save money by keeping politics out of the decision until the list becomes public. Click here for Google News search on BRAC.

Forest Park has a reserve center on Roosevelt east of the Forest Park Mall.

The Village of Forest Park would like to acquire the property for development. The municipal gov't collects property taxes if the property is developed, but not if it remains owned by the federal gov't.

Of the twenty reserve units that drill at the Forest Park reserve center, fifteen are Navy and five are Army Reserve.

The Navy has decided to only have one reserve center per state. The Illinois reserve center will be at NTC Great Lakes. The Navy wants to get out of Forest Park. This would be good if the Army Reserve units were leaving too, but they aren't.

There is an Illinois National Guard base at First Avenue and Cermak Road.

If there isn't a major class of cultures by co-locating Army Reserve units and National Guard units, it seems reasonable to negotiate the relocation of the five Army Reserve units.

This is an important local story.