Letter to the Editor: Veterans' housing development

Dear Editor:

While I respect and enjoy reading the Patriot, the article on plans for American Legion property on Garfield Avenue was misleading.

For one, we don't call this facility a shelter and I wish Downey City Council Council would stop leaping on this because of one sign out of hundreds. I am sure you must play nice with your own council, including Mayor Pro Tem Rick Rodriguez, but it would have been reassuring to see the other side of the equation where folks from South Gate and Downey could have been heard also.

The facts are that nothing is written yet on what will be placed at the Legion property. Now Downey and LA County have evicted our American Legion (as of Nov. 17, 2018), a staple of our neighborhood for 70 years and whom LA County and Downey have never bothered to help with the taxes, fix their roof or help with any horticulture on the land.

Now we come to the proverbial "it is for veterans” — come-on. Not true. This is where all these non-profits (taxpayer money) come out of the walls calling everything "for vets". In 2016, a popular homeless housing non-profit came to South Gate saying they were building permanent homeless housing for veterans. After many meetings the answers to our questions were, “we are hoping for 38 veterans and the rest will be homeless and chronic homeless,” and because these units are permanent homeless housing, the resident can do anything in it that we can do in our homes.

One question was can they do drinking and drugs and the answer was yes, this is their home. Another question was must the residents attend the self help programs and the answer was a resounding no. "We cannot force people to attend career or other counseling."

When questioned if dishonorably discharged vets were allowed, it was said at one meeting that yes, since a lot of them had PTSD. Does that mean if they were in for a month and decided they didn't like it they had PTSD? Will there be a curfew?

This property in the city of Downey is right next to thousands of South Gate families and two schools but almost a 1/2 mile away from Downey council members’ constituents. Will Rick Rodriguez, co-founder of the non profit Living Tree Foundation and on the Board of Courage Forward, have a piece of this pie? Fame? Fortune? Both?

We don't want homeless facilities every two blocks and I don't think the voters of Measure H and other voter-approved funds knew how badly our tax dollars were going to be mismanaged.

Virginia Johnson
South Gate