When a Good Deal is a Bad Deal

Fellow Veterans and Friends of Veterans When the Plaintiffs and Defendants jointly announced the so-called "settlement agreement," the lead spokesman for the Plaintiffs called it "a good deal" and I called it a "Trojan Horse."

The lawyers for both the Plaintiffs and Defendants said "trust us." Well, we trusted them and the settlement is proving to be a very bad deal for Veterans as the "Trojan Horse" has taken over and it is a very good deal for non-Veteran entities. Additionally, the Defendants are not getting rid of the illegal occupants listed in the Federal Judgment -- but are allowing more non-Veteran entities in -- and the Plaintiffs are letting them get away with it. This is indeed a Trojan Horse "settlement agreement." In March, the VA ran the LA Marathon through these sacred grounds with more than 25,000 runners, and on June 6th, the anniversary of World War II's D-Day / Invasion of Normandy, the AIDS bicycle event with more than 5,000 will take over the VA grounds with their annual raucous event. (see attached PDF at bottom).

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Recently, we thought that we were successful in blocking the AIDS Bicycle event but Randy Quinton, deputy director of VISN 22, went to Senator Feinstein who intervened on behalf of the AIDS bicycle event--not on behalf of Veterans best interests--so there's nothing new with the VA, or who the elected public servants put first on their priority list. Randy Quinton is the VA hack that approved VPC's License Agreement to continue building the illegal amphitheater instead of honoring the Court Ordered TRO. I recently met with him and he expressed no sincerity or interest in the proposed Stand Down, but kept trying to get me to approve the AIDS bicycle event and accepting VPC back onto the property. I vehemently rejected both. He needs to be fired or transferred, posthaste. The record reflects that while the Federal Judgment was in place, the PGA was officially notified that they would have to find a new place to park their cars, and they did. Thus, it wasn't until the Judgment was vacated that things would not only continue to remain the same, but would get worse--in fact, insultingly bad ... horrific! Last week I found nearly a hundred brand new Mazda's parked in a back lot and nobody knows how they got there and nobody at the VA can produce an agreement. (see attached photo of cars--PDF at bottom) We've been pushing for an RV, camper, van, car parking lot for Veterans who live in their vehicles but have been constantly denied, while 100 new Mazdas are snuck in overnight onto the very lot I've been proposing. Three weeks after the Judgment was vacated, Dick Southern, Region 9 Director of Vietnam Veterans of America, filed for a License Agreement / Land Use Permit with the VA to host a Stand Down on VA grounds and he's yet to receive any formal response. (attached letter below) I've been in conversations with VA officials from Washington D.C. about the Stand Down and they could easily win "Dancing With The Stars" as they've dramatically waltzed all around it. Instead of listening to Veterans, particularly those of us who clearly understand the problems here and offer a proven successful opportunity with a long-term Stand Down, Secretary McDonald's Assistant, Vince Kane, is unilaterally rejecting us and "fixing up" Building 257 as a "Welcome or Drop in Center" with 35 "bridge housing beds," an insulting term to any of the many homeless Veterans who live under a bridge. While we've been told repeatedly to "trust us," somehow Mazda of Santa Monica secretly moved onto our property with no known authorization and the Bicycle event, as well as the LA Marathon, continue operating under the "business as usual" mantra. And the flip-side of "business as usual" for non-Veteran entities, is that Veterans continue to be denied a long-needed and legitimate Stand Down. The fact that Dick Southern's letter (below) has gone completely ignored for three months speaks volumes that there is no support or respect when it comes to Veterans having a vision of what we know to be in the best interest for our fellow Veterans. To the contrary, it's always been a one-sided, unilateral decision making process headed up mostly by non-Veterans with back-room secret deals. By the way, how many Veterans do you think are on the Master Plan committee? Moreover, how can the VA Secretary's homeless Veteran expert, who is not a Veteran, be taken seriously when he comes into our nation's capital for homeless Veterans and ignores Veterans, particularly of the stature of Dick Southern -- he oversees California, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Colorado, Hawaii, Guam and the Philippines--and then sum up the situation with his own pitiful vision of fixing up a 70-year old building with 35 rooms? In a couple of weeks the Secretary will be here to "open the gates" to nowhere, and dedicate Building 209, the $20 million fiasco with 65 rooms,, as well as Vince's "drop in" Building 257 with 35 beds. Would somebody please tell the Secretary and Vince that we have thousands upon thousands of war-injured and homeless Veterans who need immediate supportive housing and care -- NOW -- not by the end of the year, which is another hoax. This immediate housing can be tents, pre-fab Domes a la Ted Hayes "Justiceville," etc. Anything is better than living behind a dumpster or under a bridge. Regardless, the Secretary and his assistants refuse to declare we're in a "state of emergency" in spite of Rafer Johnson and the 96-member Los Angeles Neighborhood Council Coalition rightfully declaring it (see below). The fact that 47% of our homeless Veteran population is from the Vietnam War that ended 40 years ago and neither the Plaintiff or Defendant will declare that this is a "state of emergency"--is simply incomprehensible as well as unforgivable. On the Los Angeles VA grounds we can offer a very unique opportunity because we have plenty of land and can keep the Stand Down operative until we resolve the homeless issues, unlike so many other cities that can only find short-term facilities. There are a lot more issues, but for now, we declare that we're worse off now than before the second ACLU lawsuit was filed and the Federal Judgment was entered. As Dr. King pronounced during the Civil Rights Movement, we too are faced with "The fierce urgency of now." Accordingly, it's now time for the Plaintiffs and Defendants to "trust us" and allow Veterans "in the know" to have a major voice in taking care of our disabled and homeless Veterans. In sum, this is to demand that the ACLU re-file the vacated lawsuit because neither the Defendants -- or the Plaintiffs -- are honoring the expected Truth from the settlement agreement of executing an exit strategy and ending Veteran homelessness. Only Veterans Park Conservancy is gone and they're trying to sneak back onto the property with the blessings of Randy Quinton. He's as bad, or even worse, than Donna Beiter and Ralph Tillman. Senator Feinstein remains a loyal supporter of this wealthy homeowner group and its long-standing mission of taking Veterans land for a public park and entertainment center, instead of her demanding that the VA build new permanent supportive housing for our disabled and homeless Veterans. Warehousing Veterans via "housing first" without first evaluating each homeless Veteran's specific healthcare and housing needs is sinful. This could be responsibly resolved with a Veteran Stand Down "Welcome Home Reception Center," i.e., triage hospitality. All that's happening now is that the "entrusted" are rearranging the deck chairs of this sinking Titanic and throwing our war-injured and impoverished Veterans overboard. If you could only see what has been going on at the VA since the Judgment was vacated, every Veteran would be outraged as we're all getting ripped off and being made a mockery. Attached are photos I took yesterday at the parking lot across from UCLA batting cage -- the so-called Getty Museum parking lot. There are film industry trucks, trailers and equipment everywhere--"Sony Pictures" trucks and "Star Waggons" film trailers. The hundred or so new Mazda cars are still on VA property and nobody at the VA claims to know how they got there. Sound familiar? How much money is being paid, and to whom? The illegal "Rent-A-Fence" signs are still posted on VPC's illegal fence surrounding their illegal amphitheater. I notified the VA police three weeks ago about the signs, as well as three abandoned electric carts next to the bogus rose garden. The officer I spoke to claims he filed a complaint report but nothing is being done. Yet, if we were to hang the American Flag on the outside of the front gate for three hours, I would be arrested quicker than Jack could jump over the candlestick. We still have thousands upon thousands of war-injured and impoverished homeless Veterans and they need your help to speak out in their behalf. It's time for immediate change! The VA must either evict all these illegal users and occupiers on VA property -- posthaste, or the ACLU must re-file the lawsuit -- posthaste.

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Vietnam Veterans of America

February 19, 2015 Charles Green Chief, Office of Communications and External Affairs Los Angeles VA Healthcare System Re: License or Land Use Permit for Emergency Homeless Veteran Shelter Program Dear Mr. Green: As you know, the VA and the Mayor of Los Angeles have set a goal to end Veteran homelessness in Los Angeles by the end of the year. However, we do not sense any urgency and this is very troubling, particularly since nearly half of all homeless Veterans today are from the Vietnam War era. John Rowan, National President and CEO of Vietnam Veterans of America reminds us of an even more sobering fact: " Today, there are more homeless Veterans from the Vietnam War era than were killed during the war. These Veterans are elderly, frail and in declining health and are being forced to live in deplorable circumstances. Make no mistake; VVA is fully committed to ending these inhumane living conditions by ensuring that our fellow Veterans get the quality housing and care they need and deserve." Correspondingly, we seek to take immediate action to provide our fellow Veterans with emergency shelter instead of prodding along month after month as our fellow Veterans suffer unnecessarily. As you also know, the VA has the authority to grant a temporary license agreement to non-federal parties and to allow such parties to enter upon VA property for lawful purposes. In this case, we respectfully request that the VA grant Vietnam Veterans of America, Region 9, a ten-month revocable license to enable us to provide the VA with a crisis homeless-Veteran shelter program on V A grounds for the benefit of disabled and homeless veterans. We propose providing a "long-term Stand Down" similar to the "three-day Stand Down" originated by Vietnam Veterans of San Diego more than 25 years ago. See CBS - "60 Minutes" video link below. We have the necessary Stand Down Guides and Manuals, and are currently working with local neighborhood councils and volunteer programs but need to solidify a ten-month (until the end of the year) license agreement or land use permit with the VA so that we can expedite the necessity of bringing an end to Veteran homelessness in Los Angeles, possibly before the end of the year. Accordingly, we respectfully ask that you extend prompt and cooperative assistance so that we can work together to help ensure that Veteran homelessness in Los Angeles will cease before the end of the year. Homeless Veterans: Stand Down--CBS 60 Minutes http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/homeless-veterans-stand-down/ Sincerely, Dick Southern Region 9 Director P. O. Box 68 Tuolumne, CA 95379

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MOTION PRESENTED: Los Angeles has the largest Homeless Veteran population in the Nation. Paradoxically, Los Angeles also has the largest VA Veterans Home property in the Nation. Mayor Garcetti has pledged to end Veteran homelessness in Los Angeles by the end of 2015 without ever mentioning the utilization of nearly 400 acres of land at the West LA VA property as a solution. The challenge to end Veteran homelessness in less than 12 months must require immediate provisional, temporary and permanent supportive housing and healthcare and that will only happen at the Los Angeles VA property where there's plenty of space and an existing VA Hospital. The Los Angeles Neighborhood Council Coalition (LANCC) recognizes Los Angeles to be in a "state of emergency" for homeless Veterans and hereby requests that the Los Angeles City Council direct the City of Los Angeles with all of its resources and the Veterans Administration to unify and open a large-scale Crisis Humanitarian Relief Project on this land to immediately house and care for thousands upon thousands of disabled homeless Veterans MOTION UNANIMOUSLY PASSED RAFER JOHNSON -- Summary excerpt from his compelling speech before LANCC on January 3, 2015:

"I believe everyone involved in ending the homelessness of our veterans should have been and certainly by now should be acting in a state of emergency. Los Angeles has the largest population of homeless veterans in the nation. There have been pledges made to end veterans' homelessness by the end of 2015. That isn't good enough. When there is an emergency it is imperative to respond immediately. Why aren't we using the nearly 400 acres of land at the West LA Veterans property to immediately provide temporary and or permanent housing for our homeless veterans? There is a state of emergency here in Los Angles and the time to act is now!"

Attached photos