Tuesday, February 4, 2003
After loss of Columbia, local businesses fret about future
By CINDY F. CRAWFORD
NEWS-JOURNAL STAFF WRITER
EDGEWATER — For Wayne Sommers and his Kennedy Space Center co-workers, watching space shuttle Columbia explode was disheartening – in more ways than one.
The elevator technician from Edgewater said he worries that Saturday´s tragedy over Texas may cause another grounding of the shuttle – which could extend for months – leading to layoffs at Kennedy Space Center and its contractors.
“If it goes for a long period of time, it could happen,” said Sommers, adding he´s concerned for newer employees who might be the first laid off.
It wouldn´t be the first time the Space Center let employees go after a disaster. In the 1970s, after the Apollo moon program ended, the center cut 16,000 of its 20,000 Central Florida jobs.
Then a two-and-half-year moratorium on launches after the Challenger blew up in 1986 prompted release of 2,000 of the center´s then-13,000 workers, many of whom commuted from Volusia County.
The post-Challenger layoffs hit electricians hard, said Steve Williams, business manager for the Daytona Beach chapter of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. The union represents 300 electricians at Kennedy Space Center from Volusia, Brevard and Flagler counties.
After the 1986 layoffs, only three of the 50 members from Volusia kept their jobs, records showed. Today, about 200 electricians are from Volusia, Williams said.
“We´re concerned about the tragic loss because it impacts not just the crew members and their families, but those who make a living down there,” he said.
The Space Center has a direct economic impact of $1.1 billion a year to the Central Florida region, according to its 2001 report.
This weekend´s tragedy also unnerved many Volusia and Flagler electronic companies that contract with NASA, said Lou Fifer, president of the Volusia Manufacturers Association.
“NASA is a market,” he said. “If it dries up or slows down, they have a problem.”
Real estate dropped heavily in Brevard County when many laid-off employees moved away, records showed. But that did not occur in Volusia, said Glennis Rogers, a Realtor with Watson Realty in New Smyrna Beach.
And it shouldn´t make a difference if layoffs occur again, said Steve Dennis, president of Southeast Volusia Chamber of Commerce. Southeast Volusia´s economy doesn´t rely that heavily on the Space Center, he said.
Retired NASA electrician Robert C. Thompson of New Smyrna Beach watched the Challenger explode 17 years ago while working two miles away at Kennedy Space Center. The next year, he had several friends lose their jobs and move away to find work.
But many employees stuck it out and were hired back a year later when the program picked back up, said Thompson, who still eats lunch every day with four NASA retirees who live in New Smyrna Beach.
Despite the Columbia tragedy, Sommers said he is optimistic the shuttles will be back in space shortly. Besides, he said the International Space Station needs supplies and three astronauts staying there expect to return home soon.
“I hope they assess this quickly and get us flying again,” he said.
Staff writers Jim Haug, Mark I. Johnson and news researcher Karen Duffy contributed to this report.
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