80-Acre Park Urged to Keep VA Land Open

Neighbors of the sprawling Veterans Administration complex near Westwood are proposing an 80-acre park for the site’s northern tip to maintain it as one of the few remaining open areas on the Westside.

Conceptual plans for Veterans Memorial Park U. S. A. include a man-made lake, six tree groves commemorating each of the nation’s major wars, an expansion of Los Angeles National Cemetery and a fenceless recreation area, according to neighborhood activist Sue Young.

The proposal, which has the blessing of local VA administrators and veterans groups, is a reaction to the Reagan Administration’s plan to sell the land two years ago, Young said.

Sale Opposed

Elected officials and neighbors campaigned against selling the 80-acre parcel near Sunset Boulevard, saying the area could ill afford more development, traffic and pollution.

“It’s one of the few open areas left on the Westside of Los Angeles,” Young said. “There are indigenous plants and birds that live there. We feel we’d like to maintain it as a natural habitat.”

Congress recently outlawed future attempts to sell parcels of the 442-acre VA Medical Center complex, which straddles Wilshire Boulevard just west of the San Diego Freeway, but land there could still be leased and developed by nonprofit organizations, Young said. The park is meant to prevent that.

“We’re working to always keep that property for the use of the veterans,” she said. “And that benefits the community as well.”

The park’s proposed design, by architect William Krisel, features a 1,500-foot-long lake running roughly parallel to Barrington Avenue, six groves with about 100 trees each, tennis courts to be shared by nearby Brentwood School and a recreation area with facilities for basketball, croquet, horseshoes, lawn bowling, hiking and jogging.

“The VA particularly likes the (lake) idea because it will be of therapeutic value to our psychiatric patients,” said VA spokeswoman Sara M. Hammond.

The 14 neighborhood groups that worked on the park concept also want to build a monument to veterans on the corner of Wilshire and San Vicente boulevards, Young said. The monument would feature a three-dimensional VA logo surrounded by a reflecting pond, flags and palm trees.

A support group, Friends of the Veterans Memorial Park, will be created to raise funds for the park and other projects the community groups are proposing, such as a 150-child day care center for VA employees, a facility where families of seriously ill patients can stay overnight, and restoration of a historic chapel, she said.

Veterans representatives involved in the plan pushed for expansion of the 114-acre Los Angeles National Cemetery, which is full, Hammond said.

Eighty to 100 acres of land across the freeway from the cemetery could be used for the expansion, she said.

A VA task force is working on a master plan for the complex and will incorporate the park into its final recommendations, she added.

If the VA administrator in Washington approves the proposal, Sen. Alan Cranston (D-Calif.) has agreed to push for legislation to make the park possible, Young said.

Locally, Councilman Marvin Braude, whose district borders the VA complex, called the proposal “a very constructive step forward” and said he is sure the park will eventually be built.

The idea of placing a park on the site has been talked about for the past 20 years, he said, but never in such a concerted manner.

“This is a very important public policy issue,” he said. “And for the VA and the people and the veterans to all work together for a constructive purpose--that’s in our best tradition.”

In May, the VA will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of what was then called the Pacific Branch of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers and Sailors.

Ironically, Arcadia de Baker, daughter of a leading California family during Mexican rule, and U. S. Sen. John P. Jones, a wealthy silver miner and founder of Santa Monica, donated about 700 acres of land for the home in hopes that the steady flow of federal dollars to the facility would encourage development in the area.

“We are the reason the Westside developed,” Hammond said.

Last year, the medical complex cared for almost 21,000 inpatients and about 341,000 outpatients, she said. An estimated 900,000 veterans live in Los Angeles County.