Just west of the 405 Freeway, Wilshire Boulevard snakes its way
through the largest veterans site in the nation ““ the West
Los Angeles Veteran Affairs complex.
Encompassing nearly 400 acres, it is the focus of a looming
showdown between local and state officials, veterans’ groups,
and the federal government.
Negotiations among these parties on how to develop the VA site
have gone on for months and have included plans to construct new
buildings, businesses and housing.
The Department of Veterans Affairs said in order to streamline
costs and ensure modern health care facilities for veterans, it
must explore commercial uses of the site. The department wants to
use the VA site for construction of facilities that would meet the
increased demand for patient care as the baby-boomer population
ages.
But some politicians are skeptical of the government’s
motives, fearing that any commercial reuse of the land will not
meet the needs of those whom the site was originally built to serve
““ military veterans.
“It’s really disheartening. The big-wigs in
Washington are eyeing the property and seeing dollars,” said
Lisa Pinto, district director to Congressman Henry Waxman, D-Los
Angeles, speaking at a breakfast panel Friday morning put on by the
Westside Urban Forum.
The forum allowed panelists who are against the
government’s reuse plan to voice their opposition.
Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky said the site
rests on “the most valuable real estate in the U.S.,”
but that commercial development of the area is not an option.
Yaroslavsky said the government’s current reuse plan for
the West Los Angeles VA is due in part to the war in Iraq, which
has forced the Department of Defense to look for alternative ways
to generate funding.
“Veterans … deserve better than this. Don’t
balance the budget on the backs of (military) vets,”
Yaroslavsky said.
Yaroslavsky said he supports building on the site in order to
provide direct services to veterans, such as housing.
He also said he wants to keep the West Los Angeles VA from
developing into a mixed-use site, where veterans would be forced to
share the land with businesspeople.
Army veteran Keith Jeffreys, vice president of Citizens for
Veterans Rights, said there are more than 18,000 homeless veterans
in Los Angeles County who need to be served by the site.
Instead of commercial office buildings, Jeffreys said he wants
to see treatment facilities that help veterans who suffer from
mental illness, drug abuse and homelessness.
People on both sides of the argument agree that the West Los
Angeles VA complex faces many structural challenges.
A report by the Department of Veterans Affairs found that the
complex’s underground storm drainage system is not adequate
for the large amount of land it must serve, and that many
facilities have experienced numerous leaks.
In addition to structural problems, the current landscape of the
site contrasts sharply with what it was in the years following
World War II.
“This used to be a beautifully landscaped oasis,”
Pinto said.
Over the years, UCLA has developed a relationship with the West
Los Angeles complex. The David Geffen School of Medicine conducts
clinical teaching and research programs at the site, and Jackie
Robinson Stadium is located there.
It is unknown how future development would affect UCLA
activities on the site.
But panelist Flora Krisiloff, president of the Brentwood
Community Council, said that UCLA commuters can expect an increase
in traffic in the area as more buildings are added.
A public hearing will be held in December in Los Angeles to
discuss the site’s future.
If political pressure is not enough to discourage the federal
government to ease its zest for the property, Yaroslavsky said he
would not hesitate to “tie up” the federal government
in court.
“We come with an olive branch and a spear,”
Yaroslavsky said.