West Los Angeles Veterans Affairs campus
The currently proposed Draft Master Plan (DMP) for the West Los Angeles VA campus has been under continuous, detailed planning and close scrutiny for the past four (4) years or more. Recently, the plan was presented in detail multiple times to local Veterans in the WLA VA catchment area (i.e., to WLA VA Veteran “customers”), to local residents as well as to the general public for their review and comments.
During this lengthy planning and review process, the Master Plan has been updated and modified continuously, based on frequent input from national Veterans Service Organizations, local Veterans and residents in the area. The plans are still evolving today, as they should (e.g., addressing the “wet” utility (water, sewer, drainage) infrastructure to support the entire plan, etc.).
The inherent nature of all long-term Master Plans, such as that being proposed for the WLA VA campus, is that things will inevitably change over the 5-10 year implementation window. Thus, the Plan must come with the commitment that it remains flexible, subject to continuous review and modification, which this plan does. This is a requirement for all Master Plans of any merit, be they public, private or those being conducted by the Veterans Administration.
With that said, the concepts of common sense prioritization and dual-track or parallel planning come into play: Whether to hold up beginning to implement the entire Master Plan in favor of completing plans for services that can be addressed in parallel (i.e., simultaneously) while the initial Master Plan begins to be rolled out. Good examples here would be the proposed Town Center and Enterprise Center, which can both be handled on a separate and simultaneous planning track, without delaying the entire Master Plan start-up itself.
At this point, the Draft Master Plan (DMP) for the West Los Angeles VA campus should be implemented as presented for the benefit of homeless Veterans and Veterans in general. Further and continuous review will simply delay the availability of needed services for those in most need of that assistance. To paraphrase the judge in the original 2015 settlement of the ACLU vs VA lawsuit: The review could continue for years but, during all that time, the only ones to suffer would be the homeless Veterans themselves who are most in need of services. That sentiment directly applies to the potential hold up of the Master Plan today.
–Larry Van Kuran is chair of the Los Angeles Region, WLA VA Community-Veterans Engagement Board
