155 Acres in Valley, West L. A. : California Lawmakers Oppose VA Land Sales

Sen. Alan Cranston (D-Calif.) and three California congressmen Wednesday opposed Administration plans to sell 155 acres of Veterans Administration land in the San Fernando Valley and West Los Angeles.

The proposed fiscal 1987 budget calls for sale of 109 acres at the Veterans Administration hospital in West Los Angeles for an estimated $350 million and 46 acres at the VA hospital in Sepulveda for about $10 million.

Cranston and Reps. Howard L. Berman (D-Panorama City), Mel Levine (D-Santa Monica) and Anthony C. Beilenson (D-Los Angeles) told the House veterans affairs oversight and investigations subcommittee that the land is needed for veterans’ services and insisted that the projected revenue from its sale is overstated.

“This Administration is proposing to sell VA property today that we will need to buy back at much higher prices five or 10 years up the road,” Berman said. “This is madness.”

Suggests Cemetery Expansion

Cranston suggested that the West Los Angeles land be used to expand the adjoining national cemetery, which is closed to new burials. The land is not zoned for commercial use and title to part of it is clouded, the senator said.

Chairman G. V. (Sonny) Montgomery (D-Miss.) said he opposes selling any Veterans Administration land and has introduced a bill to prohibit the sale. Cranston has sponsored similar legislation in the Senate.

“If we let this California land be sold, then it’s going to happen all over the country,” Montgomery said.

“Once it is gone, it cannot be replaced. With the current budget problems facing us, the VA will not be in any position to buy land in the near future, so it is my belief that the agency should hold on to what it has.”

‘Bad Deficit Reduction Policy’

Berman, who represents the Sepulveda area, said it is “bad deficit reduction policy” to sell federal assets. He said VA surveys show that, by 1990, the number of veterans 65 or older will have more than doubled over 10 years and more facilities will be needed.

Los Angeles City Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky testified at the hearing and said heirs of the families whose ancestors donated the West Los Angeles land for the hospital in 1888 indicated that they planned to fight the sale in court.

“This will surely cast doubts as to the revenue that could be generated,” Yaroslavsky said.

He also said that the city is determined to resist “any intensive residential or commercial development of this land.”