Los Angeles County Supervisors Consider Legal Options for Preserving VA Services
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday voted 5-0 to consider legal options for keeping the U.S. Veterans Administration complex in West Los Angeles reserved for veterans' services and burial grounds, the Los Angeles Daily News reports. The complex, which serves 85,000 veterans annually, includes the VA Medical Center, a national cemetery, nursing homes, transitional housing for homeless veterans and other services.
The U.S. Department of Veterans' Affairs is considering options for altering services at 18 different VA sites, including the Los Angeles complex. The Capital Asset and Realignment for Enhanced Services advisory committee has been holding public hearings to discuss options for the complex.
Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky said, "It would be a travesty to veterans and the community that has been a good neighbor to the VA if they would suddenly decide to use that property to make money for the government. What the board has done is authorize the filing of a lawsuit, and we will be in the federal government's face on this."
Beverly Fitzgerald, a spokesperson for the VA Greater Los Angeles Health Care System, said that CARES is "looking at all of the buildings and property on our campus to determine how it can best be used for veterans. What people need to understand is that the CARES program is the VA's national effort to modernize its health facilities" (Anderson, Los Angeles Daily News, 6/22).