Kennedy “Green Space” Center?

In 1969 the world watched with wonder and awe as we took our first steps on the moon. But after more than 40 years since that historic moment, is it time to rethink how to use the 140,000 acres that make up the current Kennedy Space Center?

Recently, a friend of mine said, “You better be careful about investing in property any where near the Space Center. If the Space Center gets cut, your property will be practically worthless.”

While my friend’s opinion is very common, after a moment of reflection I came to a very different conclusion.

For starters, if the Space Center was holding up real estate prices in the surrounding area, why do the communities directly north (New Smyrna Beach and Daytona Beach) and south (Cape Canaveral and Cocoa Beach) of the Center have the lowest beachfront prices on the east coast of Florida? The Kennedy Space Center is not holding prices up. In fact, it is bringing them down.

Yet back in 1969, it was quite a different story.

Cape Canaveral and Cocoa beach, due to the popularity of the Center, had some of the most expensive real estate in the entire state of Florida.

In 1969, the population of the United States was 202 million, unemployment was 3.6%, and our national debt was 366 billion. In 2009, population has increased by more than 50% to 305 million, unemployment has more than doubled to nearly 10%, and the national debt has grown more than 30 times to 11.5 trillion.

How that breaks down for you and I today is this: Our debt has grown from $1,810 to $37,705 per person, and more than twice as many of us are out of work to help pay it off.

My, how times have changed.

Just a few more facts and I’ll get to the point.

NASA is currently asking for 17.6 billion dollars in 2009. Meanwhile, the U.S. government is borrowing from other countries at a rate of 100 million dollars an hour — a debt that “We the People” will have to repay some day. NASA has said it hopes to return to the moon in 2020. Why? Is this a worthy priority at this point in time?

Encompassed in the over 140,000 acres of the Kennedy Space Center are more than 60 miles of oceanfront property and over 300 miles of riverfront property. And although it’s impossible to precisely estimate the value of this property by today’s prices, it’s easily worth over 500 billion.

Why not use this large parcel of pristine property to show the world how to go green in a big way instead! Imagine the world’s greatest scientists collaborating to create a Green City alongside the existing Space Center — a place where civilization and nature interact in greater harmony than any other place on earth.

The opportunity to start from scratch with such an amazing piece of property, using the latest solar, wind, wave and other renewable technologies, is truly mind-boggling. If successful, it could break down walls of resistance to the green movement all over the world, and therefore begin to significantly reduce our huge dependence on fossil fuels.

In 2009, appropriating funds to develop the Kennedy “Green Space” Center will be much more beneficial — to Brevard, Florida, the United States, and all nations — than sending another man to the moon.

Many more jobs would be created than lost, and we can do all this and still keep the practical part of the Space Center — that being the satellite launches which make up over 90% of all launches — fully intact.

Now that would have the world watching with wonder and awe all over again.