Vets Say They Will Sue VA over Stolen Land

Vets Say They Will Sue the Veteran’s Administration

By Andres Chavez, Sun Staff Reporter   
Veterans and their supporters make it a 100 Sundays in a row protesting the VA

A small and highly motivated group of veterans and their supporters, some in their 60s, 70s, and 80s, braved the blistery weather outside the locked gates of the West Los Angeles Veterans Administration’s facility to announce their intention to prevent the giveaway of Veterans’ land by fighting the government they once fought for.

They will sue in federal court to remove non-veteran entities from the West L.A. campus and are calling for the resignation or termination of some of the top managers of the L.A. VA.

“We’re going to take this land. It’s not an arrogant type thing; we’re not going in there like swashbucklers and saying get out of here. We’re going to proceed to issue eviction notices to the people who are on our property. We’re going to file a federal complaint in the Department of Justice, the U.S. Attorney’s office. We covered the bases. We’re going to go after them because we can backup everything that’s going on in there,” said rally organizer and Army veteran Robert Rosebrock.

The vets are taking the fight into the political arena as well. The West L.A. VA is in Rep. Henry Waxman’s 30th Congressional district. He currently supports building the public park that the veterans oppose. Bob Handy, a Navy vet and the chairman of the California Democratic party’s Veteran Caucus, got the California Democratic Party to pass a resolution supporting the veteran’s position on the land giveaway.

Behind the scenes opposition from Waxman’s office, Handy claims, almost killed the resolution twice. It passed on the third try.

“The only thing we were doing is asking Waxman to please reconsider his support for giving away this land to a bunch of rich people. As of right now, Waxman hasn’t done a damn to reconsider his position,” Handy said.

The veterans’ demands have expanded beyond just stopping the park from being built. They want $2.5 billion to transform the West L.A. campus into the finest VA facility in the nation.

South of Wilshire, they want to build the finest medical and rehabilitation center in the world and ensure that the veterans hospital provides top quality, state of the art medical services for all vets.

North of Wilshire, they want to build a quad of modern, residence towers and dining halls; surrounded by acres of lush; landscaped lawns and gardens for natural healing; and establish a veterans health, fitness and longevity compound with educational and training facilities to help maintain overall healthy lifestyles for all veterans.

The veterans also want to build a modern office tower to house the Department of Veterans Affairs West Coast Headquarters that will provide immediate assistance to veterans in all matters, including health, education, and welfare.

In the immediate future, they want to build a temporary shelter for homeless veterans on the 16 acres that is now designated as a public park and soccer field. They envision a tent city or domed village as a temporary measure until the residence towers are built. They want to post sentries at ingress and egress gates and allow only veterans, VA employees and those on official business to enter, what veterans call “these sacred grounds.”

Ultimately, the veterans would like to restore “the National Veterans Home just as it was deeded in 1888, and in accordance with the Congressional Act of 1887, and maintain this sacred land in perpetuity as a tranquil sanctuary of solace and camaraderie for veterans to rest, rehabilitate and recover from “military injuries” as stated in their “Veterans Grand Plan.”

The veterans see the West Los Angeles VA facility, as stated in their “Grand Plan,” as a “National Veterans Home … a permanent haven of privacy and quietude that is ‘Home’ for any Veteran that is in need of shelter, food and care. This is every Veteran’s Home!!”

With the U.S. fighting two wars, the need for these facilities will become even more critical. Handy showed the rally an album containing pictures of soldiers wounded in Iraqi and Afghanistan. “We owe these kids to keep this land,” Handy said.

Robert Rosebrock

U.S. Army, 1965-67, Schofield Barracks, Hqs., U.S Army, Hawaii. Director, The Veterans Revolution, Captain, the Old Veterans Guard, and Director, We the Veterans.