This is the north campus of the West L.A. VA.
U.S. District Judge David O. Carter, after a 16-day bench trial, ordered the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs on September 6, to build housing for low-income veterans on its West Los Angeles campus. In his 124-page decision that VA land leases to UCLA and Brentwood School on VA property are illegal because they don’t principally serve veterans.
His ruling could produce a massive headache for Brentwood, an ultra-exclusive private high school just west of the 405.The school’s athletic complex is on 22.06 acres of VA land and is 13 percent of the 300 acres of the West Los Angeles campus.
The area in blue, which contains Brentwood School’s athletic facilities is VA land.
In 2000, when Brentwood negotiated with the VA to build its athletic facility, American Legion Post 283, in Pacific Palisades, opposed it.
“This didn’t have anything to do with vets,” one Legion member remembered. “They didn’t listen to us.”
The construction was not only controversial with veterans, but also Brentwood store owners. A January 18, 2001, LA Times story (“Brentwood Shops Protest VA’s Parking Fee Hike”) because they felt the VA was favoring the school over merchants. At the time Brentwood School was paying VA $300,000 annually.
The story noted “. . .business leaders are questioning what they describe as a ‘sweetheart deal’ between the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the exclusive Brentwood School for rental of a much larger government parcel next to the parking lot at a much cheaper rate.”
The school spent more than $4.5 million in 2001 to build an athletic facility, that includes the football stadium and track, aquatics center, a Pavilion, tennis courts and a weight room and fitness center.
Then, under a 20-year contract, VA Contract Officer Ralph Tillman and Brentwood School Headmaster Hunter Temple said the “sharing agreement” between the VA and the school meant that veterans would have the use of the sports complex, when students were not using it.
The contract was renegotiated in 2016 for 10 years. Brentwood pays $850,000 annually and $918,000 in-kind consideration that includes four categories: upkeep of the site, capital improvement to the site, special programs and events for vets and families, athletic recreational and educational programs for vets.
In a 2017-2018 audit, $670,000 of the non-monetary consideration was spent on the upkeep, repair and replacement costs of the high school athletic facilities.
From September 29, 2021, through September 28, 2022, Brentwood’s total rent was $850,000, with $1,135,235 for in-kind consideration. In November 2021, the VA executed a revocable license with the school, for 20 tiny shelters (valued at $200,000).
According to a January 21, 2019, LA. Times Story (“UCLA and Brentwood School Accused of Shortchanging Veterans at West L.A. Facility”) VA Inspector General Michael Missal said the Brentwood School misused its lease “because the principal purpose of this lease is to provide the Brentwood School with continued use of the athletic facilities.”
So, Brentwood School changed the name of its athletic complex to Veterans Center for Recreation and Education (VCRE) and announced it would also partner with vets by allowing them to use athletic facilities, whenever students were not using them.
The Brentwood High School pool and stadium are located on VA Land.
Vets would be allowed to swim in the Caruso Aquatic Center Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 5:30 to 7:30 a.m. and on Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Unless there were practices, meets or matches, then high school students have priority.
Vets who want to use the Pavilion (basketball) or tennis courts could go between 5 and 11:30 a.m. and 8 to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, Friday from 5 to 11:30 a.m. and Saturday from 2 to 7 p.m. and on Sunday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. – unless there are games, practices or matches.
CTN asked two vets to apply to the program in March 2023 to see how easy it was to use the school facilities. The process involved several emails, telephone calls and a tour of the campus that stretched over several months. According to the vets, it was not an easy process. One vet said, why would any parents at a high school want ‘strange men,’ wondering around the campus?
This editor drove to VCRE Welcome Center in March, which is off the Japanese Garden on the VA and learned there were about 27 vets signed up so far that year, which must be done on the website (bwscampus.com/vcre).
The entrance for veterans to the Brentwood Athletic Complex is through the VA on the road by the Japanese Garden.
The late Colonel Dick Littlestone was upset about the leases because the Los Angeles National Cemetery was full, and he wanted the VA to build a columbarium, so when he passed, his family would not have to drive to Riverside cemetery. He was told there was no room for a columbarium because at the time the land proposed contained oil pipes for Breitburn Oil and Gas.
The VA had numerous leases with non-vet businesses, that included Sodexho Marriot Laundry Services, UC Regents, Twentieth Century Fox Television, Veterans Park Conservancy, Westside Breakers Soccer Club, Salvation Army, Westside Service (parking), Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Tumbleweed Transportation, a native plant garden, a parrot sanctuary, City of Los Angeles, UCLA, Brentwood School and Breitburn Oil and Gas.
A 2011 lawsuit brought by the ACLU against the VA, saw U.S. District Judge S. James Otero siding with veterans. He gave VA tenants six months to either appeal his decision or terminate their leases. It prohibited the VA from leasing land to private parties “totally divorced from the provision of healthcare.”
In 2011, Enterprise, Tumbleweed and Sodexo left.
Otero in 2013 struck down the leases, saying they were “totally divorced from the provision of healthcare.”
Ralph Tillman, who resigned in 2014, pled guilty to Federal Charges after taking bribes from West Services and received five months in prison. Richard Scott, who owned the company pled guilty to swindling the VA out of at least $12 million, was sentenced to six years in prison.
The Government Accountability Office said the West L.A. VA improperly diverted funds and underbilled leaseholders, potentially losing out on millions of dollars. The 2015 audit found that a private laundry service that missed $300,000 in payments was allowed to remain on the property.
Valentini v Shinseki was a class action lawsuit against Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki and the director of the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System on behalf of homeless veterans with severe disabilities. It also challenged the misuse of the 387-acre VA. In settling the lawsuit in 2015, a new master plan for the West L.A. VA was initiated.
In 2015, the federal government settled a lawsuit accusing the VA of misusing its property. By 2017, most of the tenants on the VA were gone, except for Brentwood, UCLA, L.A. City and oil drilling.
LEASES STILL REMAINING:
UCLA:
UCLA was allowed to construct an artificial turf baseball practice field on the VA, next to Jackie Robinson Stadium.
In addition to Brentwood School, the UCLA Jackie Robinson baseball stadium is on 10 acres leased from the VA. Their 10-year lease required them to pay $300K rent for the stadium; pay $500K for a VA-UCLA Family Resource and well-being center. They will spend $250K to sponsor a homeless mental health and addiction center and $400K for a UCLA Legal Clinic for Veterans.
OIL DRILLING:
WG Holdings SPV, LLC, which has replaced Breitburn and Maverick Resources on a 2.5-acre site by the freeway for oil drilling, is still in operation. Its lease required a monthly donation of 2.5 percent of its revenue to Disabled American Veterans for free transportation.
LA CITY:
The City of LA was granted the use of the 12-acre park for three years (with the possibility of renewal or extension), which included the baseball diamonds, athletic fields, dog park and a parking lot. In exchange the park will be renamed Veteran Barrington Park. The financial commitment from the city includes 200K per year in Veteran employment, on and off campus; 50K per year in beautification efforts and 100K for design and build-out of Veterans memorial at the park.
The City also agreed to maintain the park, sponsor athletic, recreational, social and therapy programs and make them open to veterans and their families, and finally, the City will seek to relocate the dog park to a new location off campus and downsize the current one by 50 percent.
L.A. City is responsible for upkeep on Veterans Park, which is located on VA land.