Marines’ plans could go before Guam voters

[unhappycamper]

Marines’ plans could go before Guam voters
By Teri Weaver, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Thursday, March 5, 2009

TOKYO — Guam voters may get a chance later this year to say whether they want 8,000 U.S. Marines and their families to move onto the island, according to Guam lawmakers.

The proposed referendum would also ask voters whether the military should be allowed to lease Guam-controlled lands currently set aside for residential development and for reparations for some island residents who lost land decades ago to military use.

Lawmakers and leaders from both parties support the idea of the nonbinding vote, though for differing reasons, according to interviews with Guam senators in recent days.

Some say a strong showing could help persuade federal leaders to funnel more money to Guam, a U.S. territory that lacks a full vote in Congress and grapples daily with an inadequate tax base, aging infrastructure, troubled public schools, an overcrowded hospital and an overflowing landfill.

Others say that after three years of ample public discussion but few tangible investments, the public deserves a say about the project, especially now that the military is surveying land outside its fences to find adequate room for firing ranges.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=61107