http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/?Page=Article&ID=7734
A provision to restrict commercial use of the Westside campus was dropped under threat of veto, supporters say.
Bill omits ban on developing VA campus. A provision to restrict commercial use of the Westside campus was dropped under threat of veto, supporters say.
By the time it passed Congress last week, the $120-billion emergency war spending bill was missing some language that would have cheered Westside residents who fear that the vast West Los Angeles Veterans Affairs campus is destined for private development.
The language, which congressional negotiators had earlier agreed to include, would have barred the federal Department of Veterans Affairs from selling, leasing or otherwise transferring parts of the 388-acre property for commercial development.
Late in the game, however, the White House Office of Management and Budget said President Bush would veto the legislation unless the VA provision was removed, congressional sources said Friday.
"This was an unfortunate setback in our efforts to make sure that veterans get the best care possible," Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Los Angeles) said in a statement Friday, "but I'm going to continue to fight…. This land is dedicated for veterans, and we are going to make sure that commitment is honored."
The omission of the VA provision was first reported Thursday by the National Journal's Congress Daily, which said OMB Director Rob Portman weighed in and succeeded in stripping the provision, along with some others, from the legislation. Congress Daily quoted Waxman as saying the language had come out "at the insistence of the administration."
A call to the OMB's press office Friday was not returned.
The spending legislation provides funds for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Gulf Coast hurricane recovery efforts, children's healthcare and drought relief. Its passage ended a bitter showdown between Congress and Bush over the Iraq war.
Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, who had traveled to Washington to promote the effort to protect the VA property, said the provision's removal was disappointing and was further indication that the government wants to commercially develop the land.
Residents say commercial development at the property, on both sides of Wilshire Boulevard west of the 405 Freeway, would worsen congestion and take away from the campus' chief mission: to serve veterans.
"We have had the belief from Day One that this administration was hellbent on optimizing the use of that VA land for revenue-producing purposes," Yaroslavsky said in an interview. "The action taken by the White House in demanding that this be on the list of strikeouts is consistent with that view."
U. S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat who also backed the provision, agreed, saying the government wants to use "enhanced leases," long-term leases that she and others say could lead to parcels' being sold to private developers.
The VA has proposed in recent years to partner with private entities to operate facilities on the property, such as the existing golf course and a YMCA, which would provide a wellness center and a cardiac rehab facility. Opponents of such ideas fear that the arrangements could lead to unfettered development.
Bill Brew, a Senate staff member who has been familiar with VA campus issues for three decades, said he doubted that the federal government could ever overcome the broad community and political opposition to commercial development for this "highly desirable" property. In addition to Waxman and Feinstein, opponents of development include area property owners and homeowners groups, the county Board of Supervisors, the Los Angeles City Council and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.
"I just don't see the property at risk," Brew said, "even though there are plenty of developers in Los Angeles who would love to get their hands on it."
He noted that the deed for the property, which was donated by private citizens, states that it is to be used for veterans. If the White House chooses to fight that provision, he said, it "would lose on the merits every which way from Sunday."
Feinstein and Waxman vowed to continue to press their efforts to fend off private development and to require the government to prepare a master plan for the campus. Each recently introduced stand-alone legislation, and those bills are still in play.
martha. groves@latimes.com
Please visit Veterans for Common Sense at http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org
May 30, 2007
Coming soon, perhaps, to a bottleneck near you:
More skyscrapers, more condos, more retail.
Where? At one of the busiest intersections in Southern California - Wilshire Boulevard and the 405.
Yes, it's the West Los Angeles Veterans Affairs property.
What, you thought the VA might expand services to accommodate the legions of soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with medical and mental maladies?
That would make sense, especially given the fact that bomb-rattled veterans now sleep on the street and in parks just a few miles from long-abandoned buildings on the shamefully under-utilized property. But VA administrators appear to be headed in another direction, and their long-secret intentions have never been more clear than they were over Memorial Day weekend - of all weekends.
That's when local officials learned that a ban on private development of the Wilshire site didn't make it into a war-spending bill, at the behest of the Bush administration.
"I think there's an army of developers and their consultants in Washington who see an opportunity to make a lot of money, and this VA and the [Bush] administration is hell-bent on giving them that opportunity," said Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky.
Although the VA has been tight-lipped about its plans for the property, Yaroslavsky says VA brass have in recent years talked about "optimizing the use of the land," which means selling it off because of the top dollar it would bring.
Yaroslavsky said the VA has signaled that it might circumvent zoning restrictions by leasing land to private developers before selling it to them. So Donald Trump, for instance, could conceivably build a high-rise hotel on leased VA land and later buy the property outright.
Rep. Henry A. Waxman and Sen. Dianne Feinstein have bills pending that would ban such comm ercialization and require a plan for expanded veteran services. Waxman's office said Tuesday that he'll send a letter to the VA secretary reiterating his position and urging him to move ahead with plans for a housing program for homeless vets.
Is it possible, I asked Yaroslavsky, that the VA has a brilliant plan to increase services nationwide by selling this property? (I tried to ask the VA this question, but was told no one could get back to me Tuesday.)
"And what do they sell the following year?" Yaroslavsky asked. Besides, he said, that land was dedicated in the late 1800s to exclusive use by veterans, and Congress reiterated that intent in 1998.
As Yaroslavsky and Waxman point out, California has the nation's largest population of veterans, and roughly a half-million of them live within 50 miles of the West L. A. VA center. That's reason enough to do right by those who have sacrificed for the country rather than clutter an outrageously congested area with another Cineplex or Costco.
As it is, some buildings are in bad shape and some are empty, and the VA has allowed an Enterprise car rental agency and a bus company to lease space on the 388-acre site.
"There are vacant buildings that could be used for therapy, housing, vocational rehabilitation, life skills training - all the things a vet would need to transition back into civilian life," said Keith Jeffreys, president of Citizens for Veterans' Rights.
Unless the staff at Enterprise is trained to treat post-traumatic stress disorder, it's hard to understand what the VA is thinking.
Daniel M. Ortiz Department Service Director Veterans of Foreign Wars of the U. S. 11000 Wilshire Blvd. Suite 5204 Los Angeles, CA 90024 (310) 235-7129 (310) 575-9722 Fax www.vfwca.org
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