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Taking Care of Our Veterans

The Lancaster Veterans Home was chosen by four Governor's Commissions on Veterans Home to represent Los Angeles County because it met all of the 23 individual standards for the Home Site. In addition, Lancaster has met all of the necessary criteria, has donated 23 acres of land for the home site and has made the necessary infrastructure improvements in anticipation of the Veterans Home at no cost to the state.

Governor Davis and his Department of Veterans Affairs are standing in the way of this and are seeking to move the Los Angeles County Veterans Home to West Los Angeles where Davis' political allies and contributors have interests. The Federal USDVA already considers Lancaster approved as the next home site, and will provide a 2 for 1 match of any state dollars towards construction of a Veterans Home. However, the Lancaster Veterans Home cannot even be considered for federal matching dollars until the state funds its share of the Home costs. Without immediate action, the construction of the Lancaster Home will be delayed as veterans' projects from other states are funded first.

The Veterans Home Bond Act (Proposition 16), passed with 62% of the vote on March 7, 2000, provides the necessary share of state funding and merely needs to be appropriated for that purpose. The Governor and his cronies need to respond appropriately to our veterans and the will of the voters.

There is currently a waiting list of over 400 individuals for the Lancaster Home and USDVA statistics indicate that there is a present need in California for 7,000 nursing care beds for Veterans, yet the state has only 2,000 beds available. Our veterans deserve better, and it's time to build the home in Lancaster now!

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