By Kelly Hartog
On September 7, the West Los Angeles Department of Veterans Affairs held a press conference to announce updates to its collaborations with Brentwood School and the City of Los Angeles.
The City of Los Angeles currently operates the VA-owned Barrington Park, which spans 12 acres and has also been home to the dog park since 2002. Under the renewed licensing agreement, the park will be renamed Veterans Barrington Park. The City’s Department of Recreation and Parks will continue to maintain the park but will also contribute $200,000 to hire veterans to work in the park. A memorial to veterans will also be built somewhere on the site. In addition, the current free parking lot alongside the park will become a paid, metered lot to be run by veterans, said Vince Kane, special assistant to Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert A. McDonald.
However, part of the agreement will also require the City (working with the VA) to relocate the existing dog park to a nearby site. Kane said that the City will have “the next six months to find an alternative site,” but if that isn’t possible, “we will reduce the size of the [current] dog park.”
Kane also said that one of the plans for the area may include a potential kennel on the site, for veterans to run, or possibly train service animals to work with veterans.
In maintaining its 45-year-partnership with Brentwood School, the West LA VA will continue to utilize the school’s 22 acres of recreational facilities for veterans. West LA VA Medical Center Director Ann Brown said the revitalized $1.7 million agreement with Brentwood School will include “educational and vocational opportunities for veterans and their families.” In addition, the school offered 120 places in its summer camps this year for children of veterans.
Of that $1.7 million agreement, the Brentwood school will pay the VA $850,000 a year to continue to lease the land (compared with $450,000 annually prior to the new agreement), with the rest of the monies being covered by the in-kind services above, although Brown did not mention specifics.
At the press conference, Brown also spoke of the agreement the VA made at the beginning of the year with UCLA, which has committed to providing $1.65 million annually to the West LA VA to support new programs and services including $300,000 a year (five times more than it was previously paying) to continue to use the Jackie Robinson stadium for the next 10 years, $750,000 to create a UCLA-VA Family Resource & Well Being Center, a Homeless Mental Health Center, a veterans legal clinic and $200,000 a year in in-kind services including new fellowship programs, campus safety, and beautification and leisure services.
These latest lease negotiations with the City and Brentwood School are a step forward for the VA and its ongoing legal issues in its efforts to revitalize its 388-acre campus on the Westside.
In order to move forward with its plans, though, Congress must first approve a bill that will restore authority to the West LA VA so it can enter lease agreements with non-profit organizations. Congress revoked the VA’s authority to do so in 2008.
