Plan to Develop VA Land in Brentwood Is Under Attack

Open space advocates declared war Friday on the commercialization of the Veterans Affairs’ Brentwood grounds by invoking the war on terrorism.

Continuing American casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan and the likelihood of future armed conflicts mean that all 387 acres of the VA site that remain undeveloped should be preserved for military veterans’ healthcare needs, the advocates told a government panel.

There is already a shortage of VA hospital beds and treatment wards, and the U.S. will need more space, not less, said Jessica Landry, a veteran who lives in Brentwood. “To think otherwise is pinning hopes on a dream,” she said.

Their comments came as federal officials held the first of four public meetings as part of an effort to draw up a “business plan” for the open space at the VA Medical Center.

Veterans activist John Keaveney cited the names of the families who 128 years ago gave the land for use as an old-age home for Civil War veterans. “This land is spoken for,” he told panel members.

Another veteran, Pacific Palisades resident Everett Maguire, lashed out at the government for failing to keep a promise made to the original donors that the land would forever be used to assist war survivors. Over the years, pieces of the original grant have been used for non-VA office space, housing, private ball fields, oil drilling and car storage.

“I don’t see any reason for giving away one square inch of this place for anything other than veterans,” Maguire said to the applause of about 200 people meeting with the advisory panel at the VA’s Wadsworth Theater.

The panel, working with a private consulting firm, is scheduled to recommend a 20-year land-use plan in August to VA Secretary James Nicholson.

That timetable was criticized as too hasty by some who complained that they learned of the development threat only hours before Friday’s public meeting. “Slow this process down,” said Keith Jeffreys, vice commander of a Culver City Amvets post.

Others suggested that the remaining open space on the sprawling grounds that straddle Wilshire Boulevard west of the San Diego Freeway could be developed in a way that would benefit veterans. Proposals included turning it into a biotech research center, placing “sleeping modules” there for use by homeless veterans now living on the streets of Los Angeles and Santa Monica, and developing a full-service YMCA that would give veterans “a place to go and things to do.”

Although consultant Scott Burns of PricewaterhouseCoopers acknowledged that the sale of some of the open space “can be considered,” development opponents promised the VA would face a fight if it tried.

The Westside is already overcrowded, and the oasis-like VA grounds are “urban lungs of the city,” Westwood Homeowners Assn. representative Mike Metcalfe said.

“This property must remain for the veterans,” said Vivian Rescalvo, an aide to Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky. “Private development here would absolutely choke” West Los Angeles.