By The Times Editorial Board
The years-long tussle over land use at the Department of Veterans Affairs’ sprawling 388-acre West Los Angeles campus took an important step closer to being resolved Wednesday. Yet even as the department made real strides locally, the efforts to deliver more services to veterans on the campus remain hampered by inaction in Congress.
The VA announced agreements Wednesday with the Brentwood School and the Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks over their leases on the West L.A. campus, settling the last thorny disputes over how non-veteran enterprises have been using the acreage.
UCLA — the most high-profile of the VA leaseholders — signed on to an agreement in January that allows it to continue using the baseball field there (Jackie Robinson Stadium) in exchange for $300,000 a year, a fivefold increase in rent. The deal also commits the university to spend $1.35 million annually to set up and run a UCLA-VA Family Resource and Well-Being Center, a Homeless Mental Health and Addictions Center, a veterans legal clinic and other programs.
Click here to read full article.