By Judi McLeod —— Bio and Archives May 7, 2020
Comments | Print This | Subscribe | Email Us
“If hotels are making a distinction among people classifying housed and unhoused differently in terms of accommodations that they’re going to be repaid for, that the city and county will pay for with reimbursements, then I think there’s a potential civil rights violation,” Councilman Mike Bonin said. “If the problems are on the hotel end, the public should know why, and then we should consider commandeering as they’ve talked about in other cities.”How about the civil rights of the city’s homeless war vets, Councillor Bonin?
“The council also plans to investigate if hotels refusing to house homeless have received tax breaks from the city recently. (Fox News) “The motion, co-authored by Bonin, says, some hotels have been "unwilling to participate, reneged on initial interest, citing security concerns, liability issues, objections from corporate management or fear of lost revenue from being branded a 'homeless hotel,'" according to KABC. “It would seem to me to be a complete justification that we expect something back especially during an emergency,” Councilman Mitch O’Farrel said of hotels that have received tax breaks.” “Something back” is something thousands of homeless veterans don’t get from city councillors who, as of 2015, receive an annual salary of $184,610 per year—which is among the highest city council salary in the nation."
“The VA ignores and abuses them while the massive land deeded to them on the other side of the fence is used for non-veteran things,” said Robert Rosebrock, a 78-year-old U.S. Army vet and activist who leads a troop called the Old Veterans Guard. For more than a decade the group has conducted peaceful demonstrations to protest the VA’s failure to make full use of the property to benefit veterans, particularly those who are homeless.
“For years, we have been respectfully requesting pubic portable toilets and showers for the homeless Veterans living directly outside the Los Angeles VA but have been repeatedly rejected. Now they are bowing to a federal judge’s order and providing these humanitarian facilities inside the VA and Veterans who sign away their life and freedom can live in a pitifully small “pup tent” and have access to public toilets and showers—only during the virus lockdown. “We offered to provide 14x10 walk-in tents with cots so the Veterans would not have to sleep on the cold and damp asphalt. “As would be expected, the VA rejected our offer and instead created a fenced-in, imprisoned, skid row-like internment camp directly inside the VA. And to no surprise, the VA refuses to allow Veterans who choose to live outside the VA from using the portable toilets and showers inside the VA. “But thanks to Judicial Watch and U.S. Marine Veteran James Spencer, we are successfully working together to remove the “skid row” stigma of homelessness and create a new Mission by upgrading the fenced-off area directly outside the VA into a Patriotic “Veterans Pride Row” that will include American and U.S. Military Branch Flags.
“It’s important to point out that the City of Los Angeles spent $5 million and took more than 18 months to build an industrial-size tent inside the VA to house 50 homeless Veterans within a large non-private room. “On the other hand, for $250, we can provide a homeless Veteran with a 14x10 Walk-in Tent including a cot that will be their own private domain, and we can put it up in less than twenty minutes. “Our primary Mission is to house 25 homeless Veterans outside the VA on “Veterans Pride Row” for $6,250, and it will be built pronto. “We currently have eight new Tents installed and moving forward. “Thanks for all the cooperation we are getting with our Team. If you would like to provide a homeless Veteran with a 14x10 walk-in Tent and Cot, or know someone who would, please e-mail me back or call me at 310-490-6495.Residents of Los Angeles, your City Council openly discriminates against the people who won your freedom—the veterans they force to live on city streets.
Copyright © Canada Free Press
RSS Feed for Judi McLeod
Judi McLeod is an award-winning journalist with 30 years’ experience in the print media. A former Toronto Sun columnist, she also worked for the Kingston Whig Standard. Her work has appeared on Rush Limbaugh, Newsmax.com, Drudge Report, Foxnews.com.