Third in a series
Re “An Inextricable Route to Veteran Homelessness”
On these sacred grounds where Veterans, dating from the Civil War, walked proudly, there now are a public dog park, public recreation park, public golf course, public botanical garden, private school playground and athletic field, a wealthy kids’ soccer field, commercial hotel laundry facilities, commercial car rental and bus lots, along with the proposed public community park and other scandalous misappropriations that have inflicted even more serious injury onto our disabled Veterans who remain homeless.
This is anything but a National Veteran Home. Without any measure of comparison, this is the biggest land fraud scam in American history, coupled with horrendous human rights violations against homeless Veterans, the most shameful national disgrace perpetrated on American soil.
A Trojan Horse
Adding insult to injury, the Veterans Park Conservancy homeowner group essentially has taken over all Veterans property north of Wilshire Boulevard. The Dept. of Interior, not the VA, now controls the multitude of so-called “historic buildings” that are dilapidated, dysfunctional and vacant, except for being occupied by colonies of rats and similar rodents.
Veterans Park Conservancy’s original public park plan was for 10 acres. Conveniently, it jumped to 16 acres in behind-the-scenes wheeling and dealing with the VA and the Congressional delegation in Washington.
When asked in a Q&A on their website if the 16-acre park would be a small neighborhood park, Veterans Park Conservancy answered: “No. What we have in mind is a scaled-down version of a grand community park, in the tradition of New York’s Central Park, San Francisco’s Presidio, or the Boston Commons.”
Make no mistake, the group’s ruse to build “a shrine in honor of our veterans” is nothing more than a modern Trojan Horse designed to subvert the Deed of 1888 so they can invade, conquer and build a massive public park on Veterans hallowed property, “for the enjoyment of the entire community.”
The group confirmed its intentions for an all-encompassing community park on Veterans property by boldly declaring in the November 2007 issue of the Brentwood News that the preliminary 16-acre parcel public park will “demonstrate the positive community impact of reclamation of open space for public use, setting a precedent for discussion about the remaining federal property.”
This manipulative scheme reached fruition with the Veterans Park Conservancy boasting on its website: “The VA is seeking to encourage heritage tourism, in cooperation with the National Park Service.” They go on to say that the VA asked them “to extend its stewardship of the Los Angeles National Veterans Park by providing visitor services across the entire property.”
Huh?
“Heritage tourism?” “Visitor services?” “Entire property?”
Did I mention this land was exclusively deeded as a permanent Home for disabled and disadvantaged Veterans, more than 20,000 of whom are homeless Veterans in Los Angeles?
Who Supports Feuer?
While City Attorney candidate Mike Feuer supports the wealthy, powerful homeowner group determined to take Veterans property for public use, who supports Mr. Feuer?
It shouldn’t come as any surprise that those who initiated the public community park scam “to honor our veterans” also support Mr. Feuer.
On the site “Grassroots for Mike Feuer,” it lists citizens who have signed on as public endorsers of his campaign.
One name that stands out is “Nancy Freedman, Brentwood, Chair, Brentwood Community Council.” An asterisk next to her endorsement is for “Identification purposes only.” This supposedly suggests to the uninformed readers that she is independently endorsing Mr. Feuer and not on behalf of Brentwood Community Council .
At the Council’s February meeting, Mr. Feuer was a guest speaker. He was introduced by chairperson Freedman as “Our own Michael Feuer.”
Ms. Freedman is not only the chairperson of theBrentwood Community Council, she is a board member of Veterans Park Conservancy. The Community Council is on the Conservancy’s list of supporters for the public park, as is Mr. Feurer.
Among Mr. Feuer’s backers are U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Ca), U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Westside/South Bay) and County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky. The threesome is on the Veterans Park Conservancy support list..
This cronyism, intertwined with politics, wealth and power, is beyond comprehension, considering our disabled homeless Veterans are shut out of the equation while their land is used as a quid pro quo bartering chip.
‘Not Our Mission’
You have to give the Veterans Park Conservancy gang credit for not being bashful about dishonoring the Deed of 1888 and opposing the construction of any new housing for our homeless Veterans.
For decades, they have made it clear that their mission is to preserve the “open space” for a public park. The homeless Veteran problem is of no concern to them.
In December 2011, after the third private “invitation only” dedication ceremony of a $1 million rose garden built as part of the proposed public park project on Veterans property, the Brentwood Patch interviewed Ms. Freedman who clarified their mission: “The people who have given money to this project are very proud of themselves. It's not money that would have gone anywhere else. It's not money that would have helped the homeless program. It's not money that would have helped in anything other than people interested in giving people an outdoor environment.”
Think about her statement, “people interested in giving people an outdoor environment,” as opposed to giving homeless Veterans who already live in an outdoor environment, proper shelter and care.
In the same article, Craig Parsons, outside communications consultant for Veterans Park Conservancy, defiantly proclaimed: “Homeless veterans issue isn't the conservancy's mission.”
Is there any doubt that the homeowner group Mr. Feuer backs is in serious opposition to helping homeless Veterans?
Time for Uncompromised Investigations
This essay only scratches the surface of the land fraud that has been suppressed for decades.
The Deed of 1888 is the “Law of the Land” to the Los Angeles National Veterans Home.
The VA and U.S. government have failed to honor this legal code of justice. “We the People” have failed to enforce the moral law of gratitude by protecting these sacred grounds from misappropriation for non-Veteran use.
It’s time for immediate FBI, federal grand jury and congressional investigations into how these private land deals came about and expose who is behind this national disgrace that’s reached Biblical proportion.
“We the People” need to know who orchestrated the embezzlement of this noble land gift that is to be held in trust and perpetuity as a National Veterans Home.
Those who aided in the swindle need to be incarcerated for a long time. This would be , a small measure of justice for innocent Veterans.
Upholding the Law
Mr. Feuer is an attorney.
Even though this is federal property, shouldn’t he be honoring the law instead of endorsing secret land deals?
The ACLU of Southern California filed a lawsuit against the VA for misusing Veterans property and Prof. Laurence Tribe, the dean of the Harvard Law School, where Mr. Feuer got his law degree, is one of the chief co-counsels.
On June 11, 2011, Mr. Tribe was a guest on the Charlie Rose Show on PBS to discuss the ACLU lawsuit. The program, titled: “VA’s secret land deals are illegal,” Mr. Tribe referred to 21 secret land deals the VA has entered into, and this includes the public park that Mr. Feuer supports.
One has to question why Mr. Feuer – he is not a Veteran but his father is – would support the non-Veteran homeowner group engaged in land misappropriation.
As a lifetime public servant, shouldn’t Mr. Feuer exemplify patriotic leadership by enforcing the moral law of responsibility to take care those who have taken care of us?
On Tuesday, remember those who fought for your right to vote in a free election. Remember 20,000 of them are homeless because Mr. Feuer supports a public park on their land.
God Bless America and the Veterans Revolution!
Mr. Rosebrock may be contacted at RRosebrock1@aol.com
