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VA NEWS FLASH from Larry Scott at VA Watchdog dot Org -- 03-03-2007 #5
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MILWAUKEE OFFICIALS DROP PLANS FOR VA CENTER --
Say veterans' groups opposed their proposals.
Background here... http://www.vawatchdog.org/old%
20newsflashes%20JUL%2006/newsflash07-29-2006-4.htm
Story here... http://www.jsonline.com/
story/index.aspx?id=571325
Story below:
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City officials drop plans for Zablocki VA center
Veterans groups opposed proposals
By TOM DAYKIN
tdaykin@journalsentinel.com
Mayor Tom Barrett's administration is dropping plans to create a high-tech business park and veterans housing at Zablocki Veterans Affairs Medical Center, with city officials saying Tuesday that opposition from veterans groups killed the proposal.
Barrett's proposal called for preservation of five historic buildings on the VA grounds that are either vacant or largely unused. The restored buildings would include Old Main, the original Soldiers Home that opened in 1869 atop a hill that now overlooks Miller Park. The Soldiers Home grounds, which include several 19th-century buildings, are adjacent to the modern medical center complex.
Under the city's plan, Old Main would be converted into apartments for elderly veterans. CommonBond Communities, a St. Paul, Minn., housing developer, would have created 57 assisted-living units, along with 17 apartments set aside for veterans with spinal cord injuries.
CommonBond planned to renovate another building into 62 apartments for veterans. A 14,000-square-foot building would have been used as offices for veterans groups. The chapel would have been restored for its original use, and the former Ward Memorial Theater would have housed America's Freedom Center Museum.
Barrett also wanted to develop an office park on 27.5 acres of vacant land east of the medical center, near Miller Park Way and W. National Ave. The office park would have targeted biomedical firms and other high-tech companies.
Some veterans, however, said the office park would interfere with efforts to expand Wood National Cemetery, a burial ground for veterans that borders the medical center and the Soldiers Home grounds.
Wood National Cemetery should be expanded on to that vacant land to provide more burial plots, said Joe Campbell, vice president of the Allied Veterans Council of Milwaukee County. Campbell said the city's plan for a columbarium, a building for interment of ashes of cremated vets, amounted to a "token" gesture.
Campbell said commercial development of the vacant land would intrude on the tranquility of the cemetery and Soldiers Home grounds.
Also, both Campbell and Terry Troutman, state adjutant of the Wisconsin American Legion, said the city's plan would have allowed non-veterans to live in the CommonBond apartments if there were open units and no veterans to fill them.
"This should be for veterans only," Campbell said.
The apartments, working with veterans groups, would have maintained an active waiting list of veterans, said Andrea Rowe Richards, Department of City Development spokeswoman.
Barrett said the city's proposal respected the cemetery, complemented the Zablocki center's mission and sought to create job opportunities at the business park.
But the opposition was too strong, Barrett said. Even when city officials changed plans to accommodate the concerns of veterans, including the housing plan, those efforts were "met with derision," he said.
The city plan, including the development of vacant land, became "a very, very emotional issue" for some veterans, said Rocky Marcoux, Barrett's development secretary.
Funds for improvements
The city wanted to lease the land and buildings from the Department of Veterans Affairs and spend $21 million on the improvements. That money would have been repaid through property taxes generated by some of the new developments. Additional funding would have come from CommonBond and private fund-raising efforts.
City and federal officials also said the development would have created new revenue for the Department of Veterans Affairs, allowing it to plow more money back into maintaining and preserving the 19th-century buildings.
Campbell said local, state and federal officials should work with veterans groups to create an alternate plan to preserve the buildings. He said possible uses could include a recreation center for Zablocki patients, housing for families of veterans receiving long-term care at the medical center, and a facility to help homeless veterans.
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Larry Scott --
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