Mr. Juarez was incensed last week when he read the lead story in the weekly Santa Monica Mirror (Aug. 23-29 edition), headlined Housing Homeless Vets. One reason for his upset was that Bobby Shriver, the well-connected Santa Monica City Council member, appeared to be taking credit for the decision to utilize 3 vacant buildings on Veterans Administration property in West L.A. to house about 500 homeless Veterans. In Mr. Juarez words, I saw that Bobby Shriver was taking credit for the sun rising in the morning.
To the contrary, he said to this newspaper, our cause has no real champion except for the Veterans and the true friends of Veterans who are brave enough to make the effort to tell the elected representatives and the carpet-bagger bureaucrats that this spade is a shovel. The best thing that can happen would be to shame the Veterans Administration, the Richmark Entertainment Group and any other outside, non-Veteran, group that wants to take advantage of the grounds for serving booze and having lavish private parties on grounds designated as a rehabilitative community for Veterans.
Entitling his thoughts Creating the Wrong Illusions, Mr. Juarez wrote a critique of the story (at smmirror.com) in which he traced Mr. Shrivers prominence in the report to a so-called press release he sent to the Santa Monica Mirror. Mr. Juarez continues:
This press release lacks a lot of detail and creates the illusion that homeless veterans are now going to be taken care of because of this move.
More and more parties are becoming involved in the V.A. issue, many of them, I believe, not on the right side.
False Impression
The Veteran Park Conservancy, for example, still maintains the word Park on the gates at San Vicente and Wilshire boulevards. This creates the illusion that the property is for the rehabilitation of veterans. In fact, it is a guise to open the grounds to public access and protection for its not-in-my-backyard concerns.
The Veteran Park Conservancy has started to show interest in redeveloping the chapel. As with the fence controversy last year, they will use this move to get a hold on more of the property and control more of the development of the property without sincere concern for especially homeless Veterans.
The California Dept. of Veterans Affairs does not acknowledge the saving of 389 acres because, as James Nicholson, the outgoing U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs, told me, they dont have a dog in that fight.
Recently, a 13-acre home was dedicated. The accompanying press release describing the event where Gov. Schwarzenegger spoke, falsely created the illusion that Veterans now have a home.
Blaming Members of Congress
After several direct requests to her top aide, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) has not rendered an opinion or taken action to stop liquor from being served or private parties from being held in front of recovering Veterans. The senator gives the illusion she is helping Veterans.
However, when it comes to taking action that would demonstrate her commitment, there is no action, not even a return phone call. How rude.
U. S. Rep. Henry Waxman (D-West Los Angeles), after a direct request from me to pick up the phone and to stop liquor from being served or private parties from being held in front of recovering Veterans, has not taken action.
The Congressman gives the illusion he is helping Veterans. However, when it comes to taking action that would clearly demonstrate his commitment, he could only tell me he would give the situation some thought. Congressman, please don’t send a rebuttal. Just do the right thing.
Why Drill Now?
Volunteers of America still threatens to take over the Vets Garden that is working well as a Veteran-helping-Veteran program. Further, Vets Garden is prevented from implementing improvements and growth changes because of the administration at the West Los Angeles Veterans Administration.
Breit Burn Oil Co. recently was allowed to renegotiate a contract that previously was held by Occidental Oil for the drilling sites on the V.A. grounds.
This happened in spite of Congressman Waxmans claim to have stopped all leasing until the Master Plan is put into place. This drilling out of the hands of the V.A. because the project is controlled by the U.S. Dept. of the Interior.
There were no calls from elected representatives or Veterans Administration bureaucrats, to form the 25/50 Year Master Plan Committee that has been announced. The V.A., however, continues to create the illusion that its process will be the answer to the 25-year plan that was mandated by the Congress in 1998.
Criticizing Shriver
Suspicion is that V.A. will not include local advocates who have fought very hard to get honest answers to honest questions.
Finally, it is my opinion that Bobby Shriver would not have had the influence on James Nicholson without buy-in from major party heads, including the Speaker of the House. The little land grab” issues of the West Los Angeles Veterans Administration have finally arrived. But they are subject to being watered down, making them so convoluted the public will not know the truth.
The Veterans Bill must be advanced as the only legislation demonstrating that the Veteran community wants to permanently save the V.A. grounds exclusively for the rehabilitation of all Veterans, as described in the Land Grant Deed of 1888.
