Veterans Home in West L.A. Gains

SACRAMENTO -- Assembly Speaker Herb Wesson says he has persuaded rural legislators that his proposal to build a new state veterans home in West Los Angeles will not block their demands to shelter aging and ill vets in the San Joaquin Valley.

Assembly Democrats Sarah Reyes of Fresno and Dennis Cardoza of Merced had voiced fears that a long-proposed veterans home in the valley would be further delayed or forgotten as the powerful Wesson sped ahead with his plan.

Following a Thursday ceremony in Capitol Park, attended by former members of the armed forces, the Culver City Democrat voiced confidence that Reyes and Cardoza now agree with his plan for building additional homes and “support it enthusiastically.”

Cardoza later said his concerns had been eliminated and he expected legislation for all the homes to now pass easily.

The West Los Angeles facility would be built in Wesson’s district amid the federal Veterans Affairs Medical Center complex. The UCLA medical school is nearby.

Wesson staged the ceremony to assure California veterans that they will receive proper shelter and medical attention at the West Los Angeles facility. The same was true, he said, for homes proposed for Lancaster and Saticoy, in Shasta County in the north, and at an undetermined site near Fresno in the San Joaquin Valley.

Wesson said he believed that Reyes and Cardoza had not been fully informed of his plans when they first expressed their concerns last month. “There were discussions since then, and they have recognized that this makes sense,” Wesson told a reporter.

As an indication that harmony had been restored, Cardoza and Reyes, members of the newly reconstituted Assembly Veterans Committee, flanked Wesson on the stage during the ceremony.

California operates veterans homes at Barstow, Chula Vista and Yountville in Northern California. Political infighting in the Legislature has stalled progress over where to build additional homes.

In his speech at a war memorial in Capitol Park, Wesson promised that “those disputes are over today.... We are going to take care of California’s veterans.”

The three dozen or so aging vets at the ceremony, some in wheelchairs or pushing walkers and most wearing their veterans organization caps, applauded the promise. But some said they had heard similar words before without results.

Wesson’s plan stirred controversy from the outset because he introduced his plan for a facility in West Los Angeles well after the other projects had been proposed. The 500-bed facility would be financed, in part, from savings that would result from scaling back the Lancaster and Saticoy proposals from about 400 beds each to 100 each.

It is uncertain how much these residences would cost, but two years ago, voters approved a $50-million bond issue for veterans homes. In addition, California officials believe the federal government will provide as much as $55 million toward the construction cost.

Wesson, who did not serve in the military, was also applauded when he told the veterans that the West Los Angeles home would provide state-of-the-art care and treatment for vets with Alzheimer’s disease and various dementia ailments.

He also noted that Los Angeles and Orange counties contain the state’s largest population of veterans, but they have no easily accessible state-run facility to house and care for them when they need it.

Under interlocking bills carried by Wesson, Sen. K. Maurice Johannessen (R-Redding) and Sen. Wes Chesbro (D-Arcata), the West Los Angeles, Lancaster and Saticoy homes would be financed with funds from the 2000 bond issue and federal money.

Construction of the homes proposed for the San Joaquin Valley and Shasta County would be financed by lease-revenue bonds at some unspecified time in the future.