April 29 - May 26, 2022
Report Raises Questions About VA Land Usage CNN article looks at usage of land donated for disable veterans B y D olores Q uintana The Questions have been raised about the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) usage of land that was donated specifically to house veterans of America’s wars who are disabled, as reported by CNN. Mayor Eric Garcetti pledged that he would end veteran homelessness in 2015 and then went back on his word in August of 2015. According to statistics from Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, based on the 2020 Homeless Count, Los Angeles has 3,681 homeless veterans, the largest number in the United States. However, near Brentwood, there are 388 acres of land that the VA manages and most of the land was donated specifically so that housing for veterans would “be thereon so located, established, constructed and permanently maintained” in 1888. Veterans and advocates for veterans think that the land should be used to give homes to veterans in need. Instead, the federal government, through the VA, rents significant portions of the land for other commercial purposes in an area that is half the size of Central Park in New York City.
Ten acres are leased to UCLA for the Bruins baseball field; veterans do get free tickets to games. The Brentwood School leases 22 acres of this land and uses it for an athletic track, swimming pool and tennis courts for its students. Brentwood School charges each student anywhere between $28,000 to $87,000 per school year and is a for-profit business. The Brentwood School has 1,205 students attending each year. While not every student pays a tuition fee in the highest bracket, that of overseas students who are housed on campus, but you can get an idea of exactly how much money the school is making from the land that they’ve leased. They do have a Veterans Partnership that allows usage of the sports facilities and tickets to shows among other benefits, but it hardly seems beneficial to veterans of our wars who don’t have anywhere to live. The swimming pool was “conceived as a theater for swimmers.” according to the architect as quoted by CNN, so you can imagine that no expense was spared in its construction. According to CNN, in a violation of an act of Congress, the VA leases land to an energy company to drill for oil on the land. Iraq War veteran Rob Reynolds said, as quoted by CNN, “It’s really kind of disgusting to see. When you see people who raise their right hand to serve our country sleeping and dying on the street, and you have one of the most elite private schools in the country charging $40,000 per year per student, and they have immaculate amenities and the
veterans are living in squalor, it just doesn’t make any sense.” Arcadia Bandini Stearns de Baker, a senator and businesswoman, gifted most of the land 135 years ago. Christina Barrie, a distant relative of de Baker, said, My great-greatgrandmother was her sister. It’s scandalous. It wasn’t given to anybody but veterans. For a home.” Barrie lives nearby and is the head of The 1887 Fund, which aims to restore the long abandoned Wadsworth Chapel near
Wilshire Boulevard. The fund’s website says“A Veterans Home will be reestablished in perpetuity on the VA West LA campus. It will be operated in a manner that is consistent with the original 1887 charter.” The ACLU has sued the Department of Veterans Affairs over this issue. VA manages the campus through the Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System. The lawsuit stated “VA GLA does not offer permanent housing for any
VA Land, see page 11
Young Mountain Lion Killed by Vehicle on 405 Freeway in Brentwood 18-month old male P-97 killed last week B y S am C atanzaro A young mountain lion was killed by a vehicle on the 405 Freeway in Brentwood last week. According to the National Parks Service, P-97, an 18-month-old male mountain lion, was struck and killed on the southbound 405 Freeway near the Getty Center at around 1 a.m. Thusday, April 21. He was picked up by Caltrans and taken to the West Los Angeles Animal Shelter. “His radio collar was not located, but the study animal was identified via ear tag. GPS points showed that he had been in the area earlier in the evening,” the NPS said. According to NPS biologists, P-97 had recently dispersed from his mother, P-54, and was presumably setting off in search of finding a territory to call his own. Recently, he had
been roaming around the eastern edge of the Santa Monica Mountains including along the 405. Biologists last captured him on January 11, 2022, to replace his GPS radio collar. P-97 is the fourth mountain lion known to have been killed in this general area of the 10lane 405 Freeway, the NPS noted. In the summer of 2019, P-61, a young male, had successfully crossed the 405 Freeway and made it to the east side in Bel Air. Ultimately, video footage captured him getting chased by an older, uncollared male mountain lion. Minutes later, P-61 was struck by traffic and killed on the 405. He had managed to run across at least five lanes of traffic but ended up dead in the southbound lanes. P-18, a young male, was hit by a car in 2011 in this area. In 2009, an uncollared male mountain lion was also killed on the 405 Freeway. “In our two decades of studying mountain lions, this is the 26th mountain lion and the 9th collared study cat to be killed by a vehicle. Currently, we are tracking 12 mountain lions in the region,” the NPS said.