Friday, July 24, 2009

STOP THE VETERANS LAND GRAB

CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO SEE THE VIDEO

Monday, July 13, 2009

A Thief in the Night


Did you ever have an encounter with a thief? If not, how many times have you read or heard about their sudden attacks in newspapers or TV and thought or gasped, ‘I hope that never happens to me’?

You decide this may be a good time to put a burglar alarm in your home. Well, I learned something not too long ago; most thieves in the night are people we know. It could be a friend, a boss, a family member, your TV, but most often it is those we elect into political office: the very people who are supposed to work for us and protect our interests. And all the burglar alarms in the world will not stop them since they do not detect them.

I know one is not supposed to carry a civil discourse in this manner but we have come to a time in history were we must now speak or our tongues may be silenced for a long time. As I write this, we have politicians all over the country stealing from us. Many of you are now more than aware of this new Cap and Trade bill brought to us by ‘our’ representative in the 30th district of California Mr. Henry Waxman.

Well, you may also want to know that Mr.Waxman has been quite busy these days not only by promoting the biggest tax in the history of the USA but also by helping to give away land he does not own. Whose land? The land of our revered Veterans, that’s whose land.

This land is slowly being doled out to special interest groups that benefit Mr. Waxman and his friends also known as the “Westside Political Machine” Sadly, he is not the only one doing this; politicians all over the country are ‘giving’ land they do not own to special interest groups. Eighty-five acres of Veterans lands were just annexed in Chicago. Where did it go to, who got it?


So, let’s start with a little history on Veteran land here in Los Angeles in Henry Waxman’s district, to get the big picture of what is happening all over this country.
Veteran land is land that has been deeded to the Veterans to take care of their physical and emotional wounds. One of these lands the West Los Angeles Veterans' Home (WL VHA) the largest parcel on land for Veterans in the USA, was donated by Arcadia de Baker and John P. Jones in 1888 to the Government for the sole purpose of providing permanent care to our Veterans. Arcadia de Baker kindly donated 388 acres in West Los Angeles, to Veterans and our Veterans ONLY.

At that time, the hospitals on the land were providing care to the returning Civil War Veterans and to emphasize the intensity of suffering they were called asylums. What Arcadia de Baker realized was that the peaceful and isolated land was perfect for healing the physical and emotional wounds of people who served their country.

What Arcadia de Baker did not know, though, that in time this isolated land would end up in the middle of one of the most affluent areas in this Country. The WLA VA is the largest Veterans Healthcare Center in the Untied States. It also just happens to be located in an area that is considered the Fifth Ave of California, a place with multi-million dollar mansions and fancy condos. So, being prime real estate many are vying for it.

Now, I ask you, who is more deserving to own this land than our Veterans? Men and women we as Americans honor with all our hearts. But as we honor them, many politicians and appointed bureaucrats at the Veterans Administration (VA) are using their power to hurt them. In Henry Waxman’s district in Brentwood, homeless Veterans sleep outside the gates of their own land while TV productions rent empty hospitals that neither the VA, nor Waxman will open for our Veterans claiming that the buildings are damaged.

Yet, these damaged building that are rented to TV show “Grey’s Anatomy” among others net seven-million pre year. Now would they rent damaged buildings for seven million a year and let celebrities work in? No way. The celebrities insurance would never allow this to begin with. So why are they not fixing them for our Veterans, certainly 7 million would be enough, yet not only are these building continued to be rented to Hollywood, but there is NO account to where that money is going.

Recently the WLA VAMC gave Veterans Park Conservancy (VPC) (a non veteran group consisting of wealthy residents of Brentwood) $1 million to help build a wrought iron fence to beautify the entryway into their community of Brentwood, while Veterans healthcare services and facilities continue to go under-funded. Was the beautification of an already very wealthy community a priority? The WLA VAMC also gave VPC permission to engrave in stone on Veterans property, "Beauty, Honor, County," thereby seriously insulting and denigrating the Military creed of "Duty, Honor, Country," because it was VPC's mission to “beautify” the entryway into their community.

The VA also ‘rents’ the land for special fundraisings parties. I was recently at one such $1000 per ticket celebrity saturated fundraiser; I was there with a Vietnam-era Veteran, Robert Rosebrock. We were not allowed to take a picture of an event called Honoring our Heroes and POW event. We were told that, although held on the Veterans land, the heroes did not mean Veterans. It was an anti-Aids fundraiser and POW meant Prevention of Wheels, a large distribution of contraceptives was taking place on the Veteran’s land. Mr. Rosebrock, a Vietnam-era Veteran, and a founder of ‘We the Veterans’, was harassed by a hired security guard who kept a camera on him the whole time.

For 68 consecutive Sundays, Mr. Rosebrock and Veterans from all wars gather in front of the WLA VH to protest the land grab and rejection perpetuated by the VA and CA and federal politicians n conjunction with affluent Brentwood neighborhood community organizations, business and Mr. Waxman’s Westside Political Machine. In this shameful orchestration and Veteran abuse, the VA rented about 16 acres of Veteran land worth more than a billion dollars for one dollar a year to the Brentwood homeowners association. Yes, you heard me right, one buck a year. Why, you ask? So the people of Brentwood, some of the wealthiest in the country, can have a park? A park on Veterans’ land when there are empty hospitals that our Veterans need!

Another game being played by the LA bureaucrats is the building of ‘apartments’ at the cost of about $325,000 per unit in the unused hospitals that they now rent for TV productions at the Sepulveda VA. These so called very expensive apartments are meant to be home for people who are recovering addicts, etc. But wait, they say some Veterans can live there. This really is generous of them, isn’t it? The truth is, these will end up being fancy condos that will be sold for millions
of dollars in a few years. Yes, I know, I know this is a travesty but they are doing it openly. This land was donated for the sole purpose of the healing and rehabilitation of our Veterans. Simple like that! Not to build a 149 unit condo instead of a hospital that can take care of more than one thousand Veterans at a time!


Rees Lloyd, a Vietnam-era Veteran and a member of the American Legion, compares the way VA treats the Veterans to the way The Bureau of Indian Affairs treated Indians. “Every agreement and promise can be dismissed at convenience”, says Rees. Mr. Lloyd, a lawyer by profession, who represented Cesar Chavez and Farmers Workers Movement for many years, has joined ‘We the Veterans’ in their attempt to save the land. Recently, in accordance, with the Flag Code of the Untied States, the Veterans decided to turn the flag upside down as a sign of distress.

In return the federal police almost arrested them for ‘disturbing’ conduct! Terrorist like Bill Ayers can stomp the flag, anarchists can burn flags on the steps of the Congress, paint on flags, rip flags, put flags in dung and call it art but our Veterans who fought for what the flag represents, cannot, in accordance with the law, hang the flag upside down as a call of distress. Something is very wrong with this picture in America.

Right now in history we have a group of renegade politicians who have buried our Constitution under the structure of false laws that we must abide by. ‘Laws’ that allow them to steal in the dead on night without being caught in the morning. And make no mistake about it; if they can steal our Veterans land without blinking an eye, they will soon be able to steal your land.

These ‘thieves’ work on people’s minds having them believe they are spotless humans whom do no wrong. Their abuse is silent and ‘lawful’. It is always for “our good”. Hook up with an abuser with a slick intellect and you are done in. Hook up with a slick abusive politician and your country is done in. Our founders fought a long battle to give us freedom, we are not going to let them just steal it from us. And the first place to start is to stand with our Veterans and help stop this land grab.

Call your representatives, write your senators, show outrage, demonstrate with your fellow Veterans but do not allow this to go on any more. Their land is your land in many ways, for without these good people freedom would be just a word.

FACTS

1) The WLA VAMC entered into a 20-year agreement with Brentwood School, one of the wealthiest private schools in the nation, for 21 acres of Veterans land to build an athletic field that is off limits to Veterans. The sharing agreement expires in 2020

2) The WLA VAMC entered into an agreement with Breitburn Energy. The land use agreement is for drilling oil on Veterans land and the Department of Interior controls the mineral rights agreement.

3) The WLA VAMC entered into a 20-year enhanced sharing agreement with Richmark Entertainment Group, Hollywood / New York entertainment business, for the Wadsworth and Brentwood Theaters, the only two theaters at the National Veterans Home. They are no longer available for Veterans use but have become readily available for a “cultural community center” for the wealthy neighboring residents. The agreement expires in December 2025.

4) The WLA VAMC entered into a 10-year enhanced sharing agreement with Sodexho Marriott on Building 224 for laundry services for their hotels. The agreement expires in March 2010.

5) The WLA VAMC entered into a no-bid, rent-free enhanced sharing agreement with Veterans Park Conservancy, which is not a Veterans organization but a wealthy neighboring homeowners group, for a 16-acre billion-dollar parcel of Veterans land to build a public community park. The agreement was signed on August 24, 2007 and is a 20-year contract with a 10-year option.

6) The WLA VAMC entered into a 10-year enhanced sharing agreement with UCLA for a baseball diamond and the agreement expires in 2011.

7) The WLA VAMC has entered into a 20-year enhanced sharing agreement with the Salvation Army for Building 212. The agreement expires December 2025.

8) The WLA VAMC has entered into a 10-year enhanced sharing agreement with the Salvation Army for building 207. The Agreement expires April 2015.

9) The WLA VAMC entered into a 50-year federal lease agreement with New Directions for Building 116. The agreement expires August 2045.

10) The WLA VAMC entered into a 5-year memorandum of agreement with a five-year option with New Directions for Building 257. The memorandum of agreement expires February 2012.

11) The WLA VAMC is negotiating a 75-year lease on building 209 with a New York-based nonprofit developer (an oxymoron if ever there was one). Mr. Tillman chose Common Ground of NY and McCormack Baron Salazar, a national developer of mixed-income urban neighborhoods to operate a homeless housing service, with no guarantees that a resident has to be a Veteran.

12) The WLA VAMC entered into a 20-year enhanced sharing agreement with Westside Services for parking lots on Veterans land that includes the Brentwood Village lot. The agreement expires in 2020.

13) The WLA VAMC entered into a special agreement for Community Soccer Leagues to use MacArthur Field on Veterans land.

14) The WLA VAMC has operated a Veterans nine-hole golf course that allows the public to play and more than $200,000 has been stolen / embezzled from employees working at the course. Now Mr. Tillman is negotiating an enhanced sharing agreement with a “non-profit” organization and the leader claims to be a family member of the original donor of this land in 1888, even though Arcadia de Baker died in 1912, had no children, and left no will.

$1 Million for a Fence
The WLA VAMC also gave VPC $1 million to help build a wrought iron fence to beautify the entryway into their community of Brentwood, while Veterans healthcare services and facilities continue to go under-funded.

“Beauty, Honor, Country”
The WLA VAMC also gave VPC permission to engrave in stone on Veterans property, "Beauty, Honor, County," thereby seriously insulting and denigrating the Military creed of "Duty, Honor, Country," because it was VPC's mission to “beautify” the entryway into their community.

$200,000 Embezzlement of Veterans' Money
The Los Angeles Times recently reported that more than $200,000 has been stolen / embezzled from the Veterans golf course. Nonetheless, while this major theft was taking place over recent years, Ralph Tillman, the asset manager of the Wes Los Angeles VA Medical Center (WLA VAMC), wasn't trying to stop the stealing. Instead, he's been talking with a “non-profit” group about leasing the Veterans golf course for public use, but it would be “free to all Veterans at selected tee times.”

DO NOT DISPLAY YOUR FLAG: Correspondence with VA

Dear Mr. Rosebrock:

We have previously advised you that posting of material on VA property is not allowed. We again request that you and your group refrain from attaching flags, placards or any other material to the perimeter gates and fences. Those who violate regulations prohibiting this activity (38 CFR 1.218(a)(9)) will be subject to a central court violation notice. We appreciate your cooperation in this matter.

Sincerely,

Lynn S. Carrier

Associate Director

VA Greater Los Angeles Health Care System



Robert Rosebrock's First Response


Lynn S. Carrier
Associate Director
VA Greater Los Angeles Health Care System

Dear Ms. Carrier:

We have been hanging the American and POW / MIA Flags on the front gate of the Los Angeles National Veterans Home since March 9, 2008, at our Sunday Rallies to "Save Our Veterans Land."

On November 30, 2008, you ordered the federal VA police to order us to remove the "We Support Our Troops" Flag that included the insignias of the five branches of the U.S. Military.

Sgt. Webb advised us that we could hang the American and POW / MIA Flags on the front gate and we have continued to do so without interruption.

However, on June 21, 2009, you issued another order to the VA police to order us to turn the American Flag around or remove them. This order was made at the end of our Sunday Rally so we removed them and left.

We are in full compliance to fly the American Flag upside down because Veterans' property and their lives are in extreme danger. Thus, when Sgt. Webb complied with our right to fly the American Flag rightside up on the front gate, we are in compliance with the U.S. Flag Code to fly it upside down.

Nonetheless, on Sunday, June 28th, you issued an order for a U.S. Government surveillance van to park within 100 feet of where we Rally and to monitor our every move.

Purple Heart Post Commanders Walter Martin and Luis Rivera drove inside and challenged the presence of the surveillance van and it was removed from the premises. If it was there legally, it would have stayed and both Commanders would have been arrested. The opposite happened; and in fact, Ralph Tillman, director of public affairs and asset management sent an apology to Commander Martin, stating: "We do regret any inconvenience this may have caused."

Since June 28, 2009, we have also been hanging the Military Order of Purple Hearts Flag on the front fence along with the American and POW / MIA Flags. Lest you've forgotten, this National Home was specifically deeded to be permanently maintained for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers.

Ms. Carrier, you continue to order the VA police around as though they are your puppets, and under your orders, they have stalked us, spied upon us, harassed, intimidated and persecuted us, yet we have done nothing wrong.

On the other hand, when the paparazzi for the "Celebrity Carnival fundraiser" climbed all over the Veterans fence a few hundred feet from where we Rally, you did nothing. Nor did you do anything with the Iranian protesters climbed on the Spanish American War monument in front of the Los Angeles National Veterans Cemetery.

This is sheer discrimination and selective enforcement! Thus, it is you Ms. Carrier who has been violating the law and our First Amendment Rights.

Attached is the "Resolution to Protect a National Sacred Trust" by the Veterans Caucus of the California Democratic Party that was adopted by the Executive Board of the CDP on July 19, 2009.

This Resolution is paramount regarding the general attitude toward the public park, yet you and your fellow bureaucrats at the West LA VA kowtow to the Veterans Park Conservancy group, which is not a Veterans organization by any stretch, while ordering the VA police to harass and intimidate "real" Veterans who are rightfully and morally opposed to the public park and other land grabs.

Members of the California American Legion, the American G.I. Forum, AMVETS, the Military Order Of Purple Hearts, Disabled American Veterans, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Veterans United For Truth, National Veterans Coalition, Gathering of Eagles, Veterans For Common Sense, Military Spouses For Change, Veterans for Peace, Vietnam Veterans Against the War, Gold Star Moms, and countless others who fully support our Sunday Rallies to "Save Our Veterans Land."

The question is if you are a paid government employee of the Department of Veterans Affairs, why are you serving the local homeowners instead of the Veterans whom you are being paid to serve?

Moreover, if you want enforce the "law," why don't you enforce the Congressional Act of 1887 and the Deed of 1888. In fact, if you and your fellow bureaucrats would honor these sacred Documents, we wouldn't be Rallying to "Save Our Veterans Land."

In summary Ms. Carrier, you've become both an insult and an embarrassment to America's Military Veterans. If you and the West LA VA bureaucrats do not rescind the public park sharing agreement posthaste, then you should do the honorable thing and resign or Secretary Shinseki needs to terminate your employment at the largest VA in the nation.

Sincerely,
Robert L. Rosebrock
Director, The Veterans Revolution
Co-Director, We the Veterans


Robert Rosebrock's Second Response


Lynn S. Carrier
Associate Director
VA Greater Los Angeles Health Care System

Dear Ms. Carrier:

After re-reading your e-mail and reflecting on the disgusting and disrespectful attitude you show toward Veterans, let me be very specific; The men and women who have defended the American Flag have every right to hang "Old Glory" on their own Deeded property -- property that you have aided and abetted in giving away for a public park.

Moreover, before you ever attempt to tell another Veteran not to hang the American Flag on the fence of our National Veterans Home, I want you to take a serious look at the attached photo of the 200 foot Iranian banner hanging on the front fence of the Los Angeles National Cemetery where 85,000 of our fellow Veterans are buried, dating back to the Civil War, and includes 14 recipients of the Medal of Honor.

This is despicable!

How can anyone look at this photo and collect a paycheck from the Department of Veterans Affairs?



Ms. Carrier, do the right thing and resign because you are morally unfit for the revered job that you now hold at the largest VA in the nation.

Sincerely,
Robert L. Rosebrock
Director, The Veterans Revolution
Co-Director, We the Veterans