By Paul Gattis
A member of the Huntsville city council has invited President Joe Biden to visit the Rocket City as part of the ongoing effort to ensure Space Command makes its permanent home at Redstone Arsenal.
Bill Kling, the dean of the council who has served since 1988, said the letter is intended as an attempt to break through partisan arguments over Space Command and to show off what Alabama’s largest city has to offer. Municipal officials are elected – regardless of their personal politics — on a bipartisan basis in Huntsville and elsewhere across Alabama.
“We all need to collaborate and get President Biden to come down, come see Huntsville and what we can offer to the country and the great resources that we have,” Kling said Wednesday.
Redstone Arsenal, located in Huntsville, was selected in 2021 as the “preferred location” for Space Command, which is located on a temporary basis at its startup home in Colorado Springs, Colo. At least three reviews have identified Huntsville as the best site for the command but Colorado officials have pushed to keep it where it is.
A report from NBC News earlier this week indicated that Biden wanted to leave Space Command in Colorado. A factor in that decision, according to the report, is Alabama’s restrictive laws on abortion.
Alabama representatives in Congress have alleged Biden has made the selection process a political football. Colorado supported Biden in the 2020 president election while Alabama supported former President Donald Trump.
“I think we just need positive dialogue and just come and (see) what our community has to offer and what we could do for the country,” Kling said. “Space is going to be the next frontier and security is going to be very important. We certainly would want to have the very best resources we can for our country. And, again, there have been three different objective evaluations, they all came back with Huntsville. So, you know, just come look at us, everybody take a deep breath and see what’s in the best interest of the country.”
Kling said the idea came to him following a trip to Washington last month with the Huntsville-Madison County Chamber of Commerce and seeing first-hand the friction between the state’s congressional delegation and the White House.
Kling said he took the initiative himself to write the letter and did not collaborate with the mayor’s office.
“I was not aware that that letter went out,” Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle said. “But I think everybody’s trying to do their part in this Space Command awarding. We worked very hard to put together a proposal that came in No. 1. And everybody feels like they have a piece of the ownership of it because it’s our community. We’re really proud of our community.”
While the secretary of the Air Force has been charged with making the call on the permanent home for Space Command, it’s expected that Biden will heavily influence that decision.
“Before you make a decision, I would like to invite you to come to visit Huntsville, Alabama, so that you can see the resources, brainpower enthusiasm, expertise, as well as the previous record of support that it has provided to both the military and the NASA space programs,” Kling wrote in the letter. “I believe that if you come and look at all the other communities that are vying for the location, you will see that it is in the nation’s best interest that Huntsville’s Redstone Arsenal be designated as the headquarters for Space Command. We would be honored to have you come visit our community and see our resources firsthand.”
