Mr. Tillman is the Director of Assets Management and Public Affairs and the only one who can answer questions about land use. He spent two hours answering our questions and reassuring us of the commitment to continue to provide the high quality health care to veterans that the VAMC WLA has provided in partnership with the UCLA Medical Center. He also outlined the new emphasis on mental health care for all veterans and housing for homeless veterans through its new outreach programs. He also answered our questions about the use of the property by non VA entities such as Brentwood Academy, Veterans Park Conservancy and Enterprise Car Rentals.

CSM Church, Col. Kwan and I all concluded that the VA was making improvements to its sharing agreements (they don’t lease or transfer property although it has been done in the past). The subleasing of parking lots to Enterprise and Tumbleweed (buses) has been terminated. It was done by the contractor that takes care of the parking lots as an in kind arrangement. The lease at the Brentwood Academy will be up in 2019 and the facilities should be open to veterans after that….possibly even before that due to negotiations. The planned Veterans Park will be open to veterans and have limited access for the public. Any exclusive use by the public will have to be approved in advance by the VA. The exclusive use of the two theaters, Wadsworth and Brentwood by Richmark Entertainment has been terminated and they will be used by the VA and veterans in the future with occasional one time use by Richmark and others with VA approval. The golf course is for veterans with free use for veterans living on campus, reduced rates for all veterans and full price use for non veterans only when veterans are not using it. The Jackie Robinson Stadium will be used by UCLA only on a fair market value basis and free tickets will be available to veterans. The “dog park”near Brentwood Academy will also be used only on a “fair market” basis.

The VAMC WLA has increased housing for homeless veterans through its HUD/VASH program, having regularly housed hundreds of homeless veterans with vouchers. This housing is off campus and integrated into the community, something which homeless advocates and therapists recommend. The VA also works with other agencies on outreach to the homeless community for mental health and PTSD treatment. This leaves only the issue of increasing housing for homeless veterans on the VAMC WLA property, the 388 acres deeded for a veterans home to aid in healing veterans of war. There are currently many would be homeless veterans living at the New Directions, the Haven, the Home For Heros, the Domeciliary, Exodus Lodge and the California Veterans Home. Building 209 may eventually increase the number if its funding survives the current cuts. Long term housing on campus is generally limited to veterans who are disabled or elderly and the goal of the VAMC WLA (and most therapists and homeless advocates) is to provide vocational, mental and physical rehabilitation for other veterans to get them back into society as useful and productive members of the community.

I understand that Mr. Tillman is a skilled and experienced public affairs spokesman so that the operative mandate is “trust but verify” and veterans service organizations like the DAV and VFW should continue to monitor these issues by attendance at the monthly “stake holders meetings”. Invitations to these meetings can be arranged at your Veterans Memorial Building or through the Public Affairs office at the VAMC WLA, phone (310)268 3340.

Yours truly,
Rowland Lane Anderson,
Adjutant, Disabled American Veterans Ch. 37
Lifetime Member of DAV, VFW, VVA and VFP

Here is an update on Chapter 54 activities and invitation for you to meet up with your chapter of Veterans For Peace in activism.

News

Chapter 54 was the origin of four workshops at the national convention, more than any other chapter of Veterans For Peace.  Dr. Gilbert Robledo presented one on the Teen Memorial/War Moratorium that the chapter installs at Santa Barbara City College and elsewhere where permitted.  Dr. Albert Holtz presented one on Depleted Uranium.  Paul K Chappell presented one on “The End of War”,  the title of his newest book, now selling in bookstores and online…and I presented one on Homeless Veterans and Returning Vets.

Chapter 54 Vice President Bob Potter passed away recently. Read Elizabeth Colon’s Adagio for him here: http://www.vfpsb.org/2010/07/adagio-for-bob-potter/.  His book of poetry “Poems in Transit” is available online www.BobPotter.org a poem about Arlington West was read at the national convention and can be found at http://www.vfpsb.org/2010/07/three-thousand-deaths-a-poem-by-bob-potter/ and an edited version of his production of  “Mother Courage” may soon be available. We miss him and wish his family and friends well in their loss.  Bob Potter… Presente!

Chapter Cofounder and President Daniel Seidenberg’s new book “Vietnam Ambush”  is now available at Chaucers or online http://www.publishamerica.net/product89152.html – or from him directly or at our  installations of the Iraq Moratorium or Arlington West,  or our weekly installation of the Inconvenient Booth at Santa Barbara City College West Campus.
http://www.independent.com/news/2010/apr/25/emvietnam-ambushem/.

Chapter 54′s extreme producer Ron Dexter’s award winning film “On The Edge” is available online http://www.videoproject.com/ont-655-v.html and Ron continues to produce cards and letters to the editor that are worthy of yet more awards!
http://www.rondexter.com/

Chapter 54 member Professor Thomas Scheff’s film and poem “A Wake on the Pier” http://www.soc.ucsb.edu/faculty/scheff/main.php?id=39.html is also available online.

Chapter 54 member Paul K Chappell’s two books, “Will War Ever End” and “The End of War” are available in bookstores and online and are rapidly approaching best seller status!  They are recommended reading as all chapter 54 books are!

Events

Please join us every third Friday for the War Moratorium (details below this message) or, during the summer, fall and spring semesters every Tuesday  at SBCC West Campus for VFP’s Inconvenient Booth,  a sustainability outreach to the students. Or join us for our regular setup of Arlington West the first Sunday of every month.  You can also join us in our efforts to get equal access in the high schools,  where military recruiters are spreading their propaganda but where they have no alternative view.  We want parents, students, veterans and citizens to attend the school board meetings and insist upon equal access.   Another issue we want to pursue more in the schools is to allow students and parents to opt out of having their private information passed on to the recruiters.  We are also pushing the chapter’s Depleted Uranium project ( pasted below this), a nationally recognized effort to represent veterans suffering from DU poisoning.  We were recently honored as a chapter by the Office of the America’s (see release at bottom of this email) and by UCSB veterans for helping them on Memorial day week 2009.  Chapter 54 is presenting a workshop on ending homelessness among veterans (also pasted at the end of this post).

Membership and Dues

If you have not been active you can donate to the chapter:

VFP Chapter 54
P.O. Box 21852
Santa Barbara, CA 93121

but your activism at our events,  Arlington West and others,  constitute your dues as our chapter is supported by donations and grants given to those events.

What would you like to see your chapter do?

In solidarity,  Lane Anderson,  Lifetime Member of Veterans For Peace

Teen Memorial SBCC

This is setup every third Friday at SBCC:

WAR MORATORIUM & TEEN MEMORIAL
AT SANTA BARBARA CITY COLLEGE

A mock cemetery of the U.S. Military Teen casualties is planned in Santa Barbara, California on (every third Friday), part of the National and International grassroots War Moratorium Movement calling for the immediate end of war and occupation from Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine.

The  actions here, across the country and world mark the continuation of the War Moratorium, to unite individuals and groups who act to end Wars and Massacres, on the Third Friday of every month.

The local mock teen Cemetery will begin @10am in Santa Barbara, California at Santa Barbara City College (SBCC) on the West Campus lawn across from the campus library overlooking Ledbetter Beach on the Pacific Ocean.

The event is sponsored by the SB Vets for Peace Chapter 54. The event will consist of a mock cemetery of the U.S. Military Teen Dead, from the Iraq & Afghanistan conflicts. To date we have information on 314, 18 & 19 year old casualties from both conflicts.

The “Tombstones” will be set up by volunteers from the SB Vets for Peace Chapter and SBCC Students. Staff, Students & visitors passing by on the walkway between the East & West campuses will be asked to come down on the lawn to place a placard of the colored photo & information of a teen casualty on the “Tombstones.” Information about the cost of war and the immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq, Afghanistan and Palesstine will be shared.

An SBCC Form for students TO BE TAKEN OFF THE MILITARY’S RECRUITMENT LIST, in opposition to the Solomon Amendment will be given out. The Solomon Amendment, passed in 1996 & revised in 1998, 1999 & 2000 by Congress so that federal agencies would be supported by colleges & Universities that receive federal funding. It is seen as a way that colleges & Universities can help the military meet national recruiting goals. Federal Funding will be taken away from Colleges & Universities if they can’t comply with the Solomon Amendment. Colleges supply student names, phone numbers and other private information to 17 components of the U.S. Military Service, each term or semester, for students age 17 & older who are registered for at least 1 unit. If students withhold the release of their “Directory Information” Under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) of 1974, THEN COLLEGES MAY NOT RELEASE IT TO THE MILITARY EITHER.

Peace and Justice Award

From Bob Potter:

On Sunday night November 16, 2008 Veterans for Peace Chapter 54, Santa Barbara was honored at a banquet in Los Angeles with the prestigious Peace and Justice Award for its work in initiating the Arlington West memorial and carrying it forward over the past five years.

Together with actors/peace activists Bill Farrell and Sean Penn, Veterans for Peace were the guests of honor at the 25th anniversary celebration of the Office of the Americas, the international peace organization founded by Blaise and Theresa Bonpane. The award was presented by noted Vietnam Veteran and activist Ron Kovic. A distinguished audience at the Sheraton Gateway Hotel joined in the tribute.

Ron Dexter, Korean War veteran and longtime VFP member, accepted the award on behalf of Chapter 54 and other Veterans for Peace chapters across the country which have followed the local chapter’s lead in creating Iraq War memorials modeled on Arlington National Cemetery. Dexter traced the evolution of Arlington West from a protest to a memorial, reaching beyond the “choir” to bring home to a wider audience the realities of war and the achievable goals of peace.

The official award citation reads as follows:

Office of the Americas Presents its Peace and Justice Award to Veterans for Peace

The Office of the Americas and Veterans for Peace share a common objective.  We both are dedicated to the abolishment of war as an instrument of national policy.  Together with Veterans for Peace we want to see an economy where the bankruptcy of military production is replaced by the life affirming investments in social programs for national and international betterment. We believe a better world is possible.

Veterans for Peace has chosen non-violence as their methodology and the impact of that soul force resounds internationally.

The Arlington West Memorial began with the Santa Barbara Chapter and has spread throughout the United States. News programs have featured these memorials which have drawn respect from the entire political spectrum. Veterans for Peace are out on the beaches before dawn each Sunday to set up markers for the dead and wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan. They also have a special beachside statement on behalf of the peoples of these countries who have died in an unnecessary and illegal holocaust.

Veterans for Peace has a multitude of other programs as well.  In Vietnam they bring medical supplies, build clinics and advocate for victims of agent orange (dioxin).  In Korea they have created the Korean Peace Campaign to investigate massacres conducted by our troops in that yet unresolved conflict.  In Columbia they conduct fact finding missions to educate our citizens about our military involvement, the role of paramilitary death squads, human rights abuses, and the impact of chemical defoliants in the so-called “War on Drugs.”  In Puerto Rico Veterans for Peace has struggled to end six decades of US Navy bombing and shelling on the Island of Vieques.

And every year your members are participating in the huge demonstration to close the School of the Americas at Fort Benning, Georgia.

We thank you, Veterans for Peace, for your service to your country and for demonstrating  authentic patriotism at a time when our country has lost its way.

With love and solidarity,

Theresa and Blaise Bonpane
for the Board of Directors of the Office of the Americas
November 16, 2008.

Depleted Uraniam

Veterans Exposed to Depleted Uranium

We are offering to help represent veterans who have been exposed to depleted uranium munitions, dust or radiation and are suffering from cancer or other side effects. We have expertise in medical, legal and administrative law.

We as a chapter of the VFP have started a program and done research to develop a brief for presentation to the VA rating board to obtain service connected disability for the affected veteran. Gulf War I and II vets are encouraged to get in touch with us for information on this project and to register at the Depleted Uranium Registry at:

http://www.afip.org/consultation/environmental/du/

Update Oct. 2009: Download the Dept. of Veterans Affairs’ “Evaluation Protocol for Gulf War and Iraqi Freedom Veterans with Potential Exposure to Depleted Uranium (DU)” handbook (pdf format).

A.I. Holtz, MD, FAAP has had seven years experience on the VA rating board in the Los Angeles office.  He is a Harvard trained physician and has worked for all the branches of the military.

PLEASE CONTACT US WITH ANY QUESTIONS:

Albert Holtz, MD, FAAP
PO Box 7107
Oxnard, CA 93031
Phone: (805) 984-3322
Email:
lalapapa@ix.netcom.com
lalapapa4@gmail.com
info@vfpsb.org

FURTHER INFORMATION:

http://www.veteransforpeaceny.org/vfpduvets.htm

http://www.afip.org/consultation/environmental/du/

Veterans For Peace Santa Barbara DU Quest: http://www.vfpsb.org/projects/depleted-uranium-quest/

Veterans Outreach

Dear veteran, organization or concerned citizen!

As a counselor for the Santa Barbara Vet Center , a VA outreach program, I became aware of the PTSD and “survivor guilt’ in that community and of things that are useful therapy for those veterans who suffer from PTSD. A key need is to take care of your fellow combat veterans. In today’s military recruits are trained to bring everyone along and leave no one behind. For these reasons many of the returning veterans will find a career helping veterans to be both helpful and fulfilling. I think I can propose such a career path.

The Obama administration will make 3.2 billion dollars available to end homelessness in veterans with 150 million available in the next fiscal year at their Homeless Grants and Per Diem page http://www1.va.gov/HOMELESS/ GPD.asp it seems that there is still 12 million for this fiscal year! Veterans have priority and it could be combined with a non profit management curriculum on the GI bill and used as tutorial/practicum.

Help at all levels can be gotten from Community Partners in the LA area or with organizations listed in the directory in the correspondence below this. Community Partners provides fiscal sponsorship to qualified projects, as an alternative to incorporation as an independent nonprofit organization, mainly in the Los Angeles area. I would encourage you to channel veteran leaders who might be interested in fiscal sponsorship to carefully review the information on their website (http://www.communitypartners. org/fiscal-sponsorship.html).

If after review an individual leader feels that s/he is ready and willing to make a commitment to fiscal sponsorship as a means for realizing their project for housing veterans, I would encourage them to submit a full proposal to Community Partners Incubator Services (see: http://www.communitypartners. org/incubator-services/how-to- apply/) . Veteran leaders may be interested in seeking out fiscal sponsors in other cities. You can find a directory of other fiscal sponsors in other parts of the country at tides center http://www.tidescenter.org/ become-a-project/additional- resources/fiscal-sponsors/ index.html

The way it works, or could work is that the vet gets most of the funding and per diem through the VA Homeless Grants and Per Diem program: http://www1.va.gov/HOMELESS/ GPD.asp and the rest via community partners or foundations…see http://foundationcenter.org/ collections/ You can also get legal advice to start non profit if you want one: http://www.publiccounsel.org/ overview/cdp.html Many vets and organizations have already opened facilities for the homeless veterans and are receiving grants and per diem already…making it an example of good works that pay. Veterans will have priority with the VA and most other foundations. People in general are eager to see vets work in this realm!

Respectfully submitted,

Andersonlane47@yahoo.com | andersonlane47@gmail.com

Rowland Lane Anderson, Adjutant, Disabled American Veterans Chapter 37

Lifetime Member of Veterans For Peace, Veterans of Foreign Wars and VVA

http://www.smmirror.com/#mode=single&view=18561

another story:

latimes.com/ news/local/ la-me-homeless- vets-20100629, 0,754255. story
 

VA commits $20 million to convert West L.A. building into therapeutic homeless facility

Secured after a long-term effort, the commitment marks a milestone in the county’s efforts to aid chronically homeless veterans, public officials say.

By Martha Groves, Los Angeles Times
 
June 29, 2010
 
The federal Department of Veterans Affairs has approved $20 million in funding to convert a little-used building at the West Los Angeles VA campus into therapeutic housing for chronically homeless veterans — a plan that has been years in the making.
 
The action was jointly announced Monday by U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), U.S. Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Beverly Hills) and Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky.
 
Yaroslavsky said the commitment marked a milestone that “has been a long time coming.”
 
He credited Santa Monica Mayor Bobby Shriver with proposing in 2004 that three unused or underused buildings on the campus be converted to help ease the county’s homeless veteran problem. Los Angeles County has nearly 6,540 veterans sleeping on the streets each night, according to the statement from Feinstein, Waxman and Yaroslavsky.
 
Shriver and others became frustrated as the veterans agency engaged in a drawn-out process of securing money to convert the buildings, coupled with what seemed to be little enthusiasm for the idea. Nudging from Feinstein, Waxman and Yaroslavsky helped pushed the project forward.
 
At a June 16 meeting in Washington, Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric K. Shinseki committed $20 million in funding to renovate and rehabilitate Building 209, part of a “historic district” on the campus. Of that amount, half will go toward seismic work, and the rest will be used to convert the building into living quarters and facilities for social services.
 
Yaroslavsky said the aim was to eventually secure additional funding to convert two other buildings.
 
He projected that 70 to 90 chronically homeless veterans could eventually be housed in each of the buildings.
 
“We finally got to first base,” Shriver said. “But I want to get to second, third and home base ASAP.”
 
The program would offer housing with medical care, mental health treatment and other services to those deemed most vulnerable.
 
The VA funding “marks the first meaningful commitment by the VA to house chronically homeless veterans,” Yaroslavsky said.
 
Most recently, Building 209 has housed a print studio workshop where veterans learn silk screening and print making skills. The workshop is part of the Strawberry Flag project, a strawberry-growing operation in the shape of a giant U.S. flag spearheaded by artist Lauren Bon and psychiatrist Jonathan Sherin, associate chief of mental health for the VA West Los Angeles Healthcare Center. Veterans tend the strawberries and make preserves.

Now I attend daily meetings in a “Veterans Building” run by Beacon House of San Pedro that is in an old Navy building at the corner of 10th and Mesa. There are veterans and homeless in attendance although most are living at Beacon House. I share experiences with them daily and it is a great source of gratitude and understanding.

VAMC WLA has many different housing projects in the old buildings, many of which are confined by client confidentiality requisites. I think you do not know how many of the vets are already there. I have attended groups with some of them. I wish Beacon House would take an old building like New Directions has, but there may not be enough homeless vets willing to do something about their substance abuse to fill another building….I don’t know. I do know that it would be real foolish to try to put all the homeless veterans on the VAMC WLA property without a committment to recovery!

My efforts at understanding what goes on at the VAMC WLA led to many discussions on that 388 acre campus.   VAMC WLA uses sharing partners to house homeless veterans and promote recovery and integration.  One revealing project is Strawberry Flag

We invite you to join us, to attend one of our Events, to become involved in a Project, or to join a discussion on related topics. Don’t forget to check out our National activities. We may be able to assist you if you are a veteran or a member of the public interested in veterans and peace. You can help us do our work by Volunteering or Donating.