EDWARDS `MAYOR' KEEPS BASE HUMMING LIKE A CITY : HOUSING.

Byline: Jim Skeen Daily News Staff Writer

Col. John Gorman Jr. is the ``mayor'' of Edwards Air Force Base.

As commander of the 95th Air Base Wing, he is responsible for housing, law enforcement, communications, transportation and other typical municipal services - and then some.

Gorman says his No. 1 priority is making sure his counterpart, 412th Test Wing Commander Col. Gerald Robinson, has everything he needs to conduct flight test programs.

Without test programs, there would be no Edwards, Gorman said.

A close second in priority is quality of life.

``As mayor of the town of Edwards, it is my job to sustain and improve the quality of life,'' said Gorman, who like Robinson answers to Flight Test Center Commander Maj. Gen. Richard Engel, who is responsible for all of the activities on Edwards.

To keep in touch with the needs of his ``constituency'' on the 300,000-acre base - the size of the city of Los Angeles, though with only about one-fiftieth its population - Gorman holds two town hall meetings a year.

Concerns voiced in past meetings resulted in adjusting the base commissary's hours and the addition of a satellite gym near the housing area.

The base also holds what it calls a family force forum once a year in which delegates, representative of the base population, are selected to examine issues affecting Edwards and try to find solutions to those issues.

After one forum, the base dropped plans to add parking lots in favor of building sidewalks.

The base also is in the process of conducting a quality of life survey.

The No. 1 one concern of the populace, Gorman said, is housing. The housing for junior ranking airman is ``almost embarrassing,'' Gorman said.

Edwards is spending $23.9 million to build 161 new single family homes and duplexes. As the new homes are occupied, houses built primarily in the 1950s will be demolished.

``All the new homes will have refrigerated air conditioning instead of swamp coolers. They will be the first on the base to have refrigerated air. Even the general (base commander Engel) has a swamp cooler,'' Gorman said.

In addition to building the new homes, the base is also nearing completion of a $13.4 million in renovations of 223 homes.

Edwards is also building new dormitories in which each airman will have a private bedroom, but will share a bathroom and a kitchenette.

Law enforcement

Compared to Lancaster and Palmdale, crime is rare on Edwards. A crime map of the base housing area shows a burglary, a few petty thefts and a few vandalism reports.

About two years ago Edwards starting putting security policeman on bicycles in the housing area. The result was a dramatic decrease in vandalism and thefts, Gorman said.

``They get more visibility and they get to know the kids and people better than in a car whizzing by,'' Gorman said.

Youth

One of the newer quality-of-life features at Edwards is an expanded child development center, the base's day care center. With a $5 million, 35,000-square-foot building, the center's capacity went from 160 children to more than 300.

``We are one of the few bases in the Air Force, if not the Department of Defense, to have extra capacity,'' Gorman said. ``We get a good day's work of people who don't have to worry about their children.''

One concern is how to occupy the time of Edwards' older teens, Gorman said. Younger kids use the base's youth center, but the older kids don't want ``to be around a bunch of ankle biters.''

``The senior teens tend to hang out and, like any other community, they get into trouble,'' Gorman said.

One idea being looked at is a ``mini theme park'' featuring a batting cage, miniature golf, and go cart racing.

Transportation

Public transit on Edwards comprises of a shuttle bus system that takes people to base work. In response to requests from residents, the base offered bus service into Palmdale and Lancaster but it was short-lived, Gorman said.

``They say build it and they will come. Well, we built it and they didn't come,'' Gorman said. ``It's a nut we've been trying to crack on base.''

Another transportation issue is keeping the base's 300 miles of paved roads in good repair. It costs about $1 million a mile to repave roads, forcing the base to pick and choose what projects have priority. For the next fiscal year, which begins in October, the base will focus on Rosamond and Lancaster boulevards, the two main routes into and out of the base.

Moving

Gorman took command of the 95th Air Base Wing in July 1995. The ``term of office'' for the post is two years. Gorman said he will be leaving Edwards in July to help shape the ROTC program at Arizona State University.

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2 Photos

Photo: (1--color) Preschool children play at a state-of-the-art facility at Edwards AFB.

(2) John and Sharon Curry work out in the gym on the sprawling base.

David R. Crane/Daily News