On November, 19, 2008, the North Hills West Neighborhood Council voted to send a letter to the Office of Zoning Administrator opposing the Request for Variance that neighbors believe will set the stage for still more V.A. resources being diverted from our deserving veterans.
The Council’s letter* begins:
After careful consideration and review of the subject request, at our regularly held public meeting on November 19, 2008, and with a proper vote taken, the prevailing decision of this Neighborhood Council was to oppose the referenced case for the following reasons:
The proposed use will be detrimental to the public health, safety, and welfare
Applicants have not been entirely factual as to the nature of the facility for which they request a Variance.
Applicant, A Community of Friends, is a developer specializing in high density, low income housing, including large scale sober living complexes.
Applicant New Directions (ND Sepulveda) operates an in patient rehabilitation treatment facility and program for veterans addicted to drugs and/or alcohol located on the campus of the VA Hospital, Westwood. Patients participating in this program are confined to the treatment facility and the grounds of the VA Westwood Campus. Such will not be the case at the VA Hospital Sepulveda (North Hills) campus.
We submit that the intended use of the proposed apartment complex has been substantially misrepresented In the Master Land Use Permit Application and request which states “the retrofit of two medical buildings into a 149 unit apartment complex for ‘homeless’ veterans.â€
While that may be one of the proposed uses, in fact, it is not the only one. It will not be just supportive housing for “homeless†veterans or even necessarily for veterans. Rather, it appears, the primary intended use will be as a large scale Sober-Living facility. According to the applicants’ testimony before the NHWNC and the Community, “ tenants will be clean and sober graduates of the in patient New Directions program at the VA Westwood, who are free to come and go at will.†Under questioning, however, applicants admitted that, at least, some of these former patients and would be tenants are on Methadone, an addictive synthetic morphine/heroin. Further, Methadone is dispensed currently from building 10, at the North Hills facility and, when questioned, the VA spokesperson, announced publicly that “the VA would never stop dispensing Methadone.â€. . .
Get a copy of the complete letter here.*
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Somewhere, there must be a program to stop the cycle of repeated homelessness by some of our veterans.
Some years ago, I was a patient at West L.A. for several weeks. Several people I met there are on a merry-go-round of sorts. The come in to the psych ward, get cleaned up, get back on thier meds, get straight, and after 90 days, they’re tossed back onto the streets. They have nowhere to go, no family, no support. They hang around West L.A. until they can go back in, spending what little money they have on drugs and alcohol. Then, they don’t have the $8 for their prescriptions, and if they do, the prescription drugs are sold or stolen from them. They sleep on the sidwalk, in the doorways, wherever they can find a spot for the night.
This program does nothing to break that cycle. It reqires local LAPD to come onto the campus to enforce the laws, and bust anyone caught doing drugs in the two buildings. Can LAPD cover the additional work? I doubt it. Besides, it’s federal property, and VA has it’s own police force.
It doesn’t address methodone, which is distributed from doctors in building 10. Just as addictive as cocaine, it’s use is not prohibited in the lease.
If “A Community of Friends,” “New Directions,” or any other company operating this facility goes bankrupt (who believes either one will still be here in 75 years?), the lease does not revert the property back to the VA.
This must be stopped. Do whatever you can to help stop this gift of our treatment facility to private industry who will eventually destroy it.
Public Comment Statement November 19, 2008
Good evening my name is Ernie Hilger, a 34 year resident of the community and
disabled veteran.
I am not in favor of the approval of any zone variance on VA property for buildings 4 and 5 as requested by New Directions and the Community of Friends reference case number ZA 2008 2304- ZV-SPR for the following reasons:
The leases, or should I say lease contracts, as submitted under the FOIA do not unequivocally and clearly state for use exclusively by and for use only by homeless disabled veterans.
The leases do not state a clear timeline period for residence in the therapeutic, supportive transitional housing program planned for buildings 4 and 5 in the lease language.
The leases do not clearly state that the physical and mental illnesses of the homeless disabled veterans will be treated during residence in the facilities.
The language employed in the leases is extremely vague and subject to interpretation and therefore must be re-written in a clear manner to eliminate vagueness and the many unclear statements subject to interpretation.
The language in both leases state:
After all the WHEREAS statements in RECITALS for both leases this statement is made NOW, THEREFORE, IN CONSIDERATION OF THE FOREGOING AND OTHER GOOD AND VALUABLE CONSIDERATION, RECEIPT OF WHICH IS HEREBY ACKNOWLEDGED AND ACCEPTED…
The specifics of the statements and language must be quantified.
What is the meaning of other good and valuable consideration?
Clear definitions and quantifiable values must be provided for lease contract administration.
The question is how can the VA acknowledge receipt of something a service which has yet to receive?
Complete information as requested has not been provided. Financial information and “trade secrets†have been redacted.
The lease language is slanted in the direction of the lessees. It appears that the leases were submitted to the VA as part of a submittal request and there was no critical oversight by VA attorneys before executing the documents. Fortunately the documents have not been recorded.
The leases are poorly written and do not provide for veterans only use of buildings 4 and 5 and for the best interests of veterans.
The leases do not relate to real situations … everything is in the abstract…the
outcomes for success in the program are not stated.
UNLESS THE REQUESTED CHANGES TO THE LEASES ARE IN WRITING THE LEASES HAVE NO VALUE TO THE VETERANS AFFECTED, THE COMMUNITY, AND THE VA.
THEREFORE THE REZONING REQUESTS FOR BUILDINGS 4 AND 5 MUST BE UNCONDITIONALLY DENEIED.
MY RECOMMENDATION IS TO RE STORE AND RESERVE BUILDINGS 4 AND 5 FOR IN HOUSE MEDICAL USE ONLY TO TREAT HOMELESS DISABLED VETERANS TO MORE COMPLETELY MEET THE MISSION STATEMENT OF THE VA AND SERVE DISABLED VETERANS.
Ernie
Disabled Vet,34 year Resident of The North Hills West Community, erniehilger@hotmail.com