Got a letter from my dad today at the Soldier's Home in DC

[durtee librul]

and guess what? They now have decided to 'sell' some of the grounds for ancillary retail development, condominiums, a grocery store and 'market rate rental' units along with a 'small' hotel.

They will be calling for the 'adaptive' reuse of 9 historic buildings, 20 acres of open green space. (WTF is 'adaptive?')

Crescent Resources LLC is a real estate development firm based in Charlotte, NC and is a joint venture of Duke Energy and Morgan Stanley Real Estate. They were chosen above other candidates by a 5 member 'selection' committee headed by the GSA.

This is from the first part of the article...deeper down in the article is tham stating the development will ultimately be on ALL 77 acres of the grounds. Construction will start on the land bordering Irving Street and North Capitol.

And these sleezy SOB's say they are 'taking' care of our vets....I have to go puke.

For those of you who don't know, this is a facility in DC which cares for our vets from the wars (no matter which one) and provides them housing, limited medical care (used to be full until Ronnie Raygun decided it wasn't 'needed'), meals and some recreational facilities/trips. It is the ONLY place many of these fine people have to live.

It is a beautiful area right smack in the middle of DC and has many historical buildings on the property. Abe Lincoln stayed there and I believe he also lived on site for a few years as well. Newt, Trent and Orrin attempted this same shit to 'appropriate' the land for Congressional 'recreational use', 'cept Big Dog Bill didn't let them and it died.

Enter B43 and he sells off part of it to a Catholic University who now share the grounds with the vets. No slam to the kids, but these vet guys (and gals) liked the fact they had a fenced property (area around it is a bit shaky) with limited ingress...that has changed. Plus the kids are all over. It's not so peaceful anymore.

And now what do we have, a commercial venture......all under the guise of 'needing' the funds to care for the vets as they are living longer and they want to 'plan' for the influx of Iraqi and Afghani vets.

This is just WRONG, WRONG, WRONG!

FUCK EVERYONE OF THE SOB'S UP THERE WHO LET THIS HAPPEN!!!! Most of the residents are in thier mid 80's to 90's and this is the thanks they get. Oh BTW, used to be run by the feds, now it's run by some crap consortium.

At the risk of making this post even longer, I will also tell you that the residents have sent a letter to DOD Gates asking that a military officer be assigned as Director of the Home and not the snot nosed kid (Cox - he was the one on CNN a week or so ago) they have now. It appears the DOD stated a clause from teh NDAA (National Defense Authorization Act), sections 578 & 579 which the residents are opposed to. The vets are requesting the decision be reviewed and the position be filled with a Senior Military Officer.

Entire letter can be viewed at hhtp://www.hjs-enterprises.com/sec-def/

I guess b43 won't be happy until he messes every f'g thing up and I do mean EVERYTHING.

Time to get my dad out of DC.

Oh, one more thing, they are levelling the Gulfport facility - used it for sp ops training for the FBI until recently. They say they are going to rebuild it.

The name of the paper all this information is in is called the AFRH Communicator. March 30, 2007 edition. There is more in it as well.....like the norovirus outbreak (hmmmmmm wonder why M$M didn't cover THAT story??? Guess they would have had to be on a ship) and of course, the required whining column on why they have to 'SELL' the property to better take care of all of the residents from the CFO (does that stand for Chief Fuckup Operator?)

Sorry, but I just thought y'all should know how well our vets from previous wars were being treated as well. I am really really angry and have made copies of this and they are already in the mail to Mrtha, Conyers, and my fav, Russ F from WI. Someone has to STOP this madness.

[CrazyOrangeCat]

1. K&R

Vile bastards. Miserable, vile bastards.

[SpiralHawk]

2. Why do the republicons hate and mistreat our veterans?

I think it's because so many republicons -- Cheney, Hannity, Limbaugh, O'Reilly, Commander AWOL, etc. etc. ad nauseum -- are chickenhawks who never served America for even 5 minutes.

The sight of real, honorable vets is excruciatingly EMBARASSING to republicons -- so they trash talk about real veterans, and slash and burn the services that were promised to them.

[riderinthestorm]

3. Are they kicking out your dad??

I'm not understanding what's happening, are they kicking out all of the vetsat this facility??

[durtee librul]

7. Not yet...it's coming.

So far, they have let the college take over several buildings the men used to have (the King Hospital - now they have a 'walk in center' and if they need specilized care, they go to WRH).

They had access to the entire grounds - which consist of a small golf course, a lot of open green area with trees, really nice. Now, they have limited access to the green area and none to the golf.

They had several recreation buildings which housed pool tables, a small bar and restaurant. Now they have a 'bar' which is about 30 x 30 and serves sandwiches...recently reduced the hours it's open. The recreation buildings are all now for the college or off limits to the vets.

They still have a small bowling alley in the basement of the Sheridan (might be the Scott) building and a small wordworking/ceramic shop as well. But the larger facilities they used to enjoy are now all downsized to practically nothing.

Their BX has also been made smaller along with just about everything else.

The kicker to all this? The vets from the Gulfport facility (destroyed by Katrina) are there now as well and I think there are over 1100 vets on site.

Average room size is about10 x14, not all rooms have private baths. Meals are served in a mess hall and it is a serve yourself. Selection isn't that bad, but again over the years has steadily degraded since lil bit has been in office.

It just seems to me that they just keep taking away from these people little by little and pretty soon, it's just not going to be there for the ones who need it the most....and the latest with the 'retail' developement just firms up this belief.

Thanks for caring and asking. My dad has the purple heart and several other medals from WWII and is 'worried' about if there will be room for him at Arlington. At 87, that should be the least of his worries.

[riderinthestorm]

8. I am so sorry. It sounds like you need to try to get this to the media

anything that diminishes the quality of services for vets is pretty touchy these days. This could be a big story.

:hug:

[jody]

4. AFRH is an independent federal agency under the jurisdiction of Sec. of Defense.

AFRH is an independent federal agency under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of Defense. AFRH relies upon its Trust Fund for operations, maintenance and construction of equipment and buildings. It receives no annual appropriation from Congress.

In 2002 Congress {Republican Congress} authorized the AFRH to use its biggest asset, its land, to replenish its Trust Fund. The Master Plan outlines a development plan to guide the institution for the next 25 years, guarantee any development generates money for the institution and be compatible with the smooth operation of a retirement community.

Previous administrators spent down the Trust Fund to pay for operational expenses. The Fund fell from $156 million to $94 million in less than ten years. This pattern of spending put the institution in jeopardy. To address this problem, Congress passed reform legislation in 2002 that not only authorized redevelopment of underutilized land but also directed the Defense Department to hire professional managers with experience in retirement communities to bring costs under control and run the institution.

[durtee librul]

9. What you fail to mention is that my dad's rent

there has gone from $1100 a month to over $2000 to 'help cover' these expenses....AND his 'bennies' have dwindled to almost nothing.

Very rarely do they get fresh fruit anymore - it's all canned. They used to get fresh quite often. Oh, they get bananas and apples....oranges? No more.

I could go on and on, but I just get too angry when I know from visiting over the past 15 years he has been there to what it has become. It sucks.

[durtee librul]

11. Oh yeah, one more thing....

Most of the furniture there is from the 40's and the 50's and looks it.

They have some 'new' stuff, but it is cheap stuff (Couches) and the tables are all that contact paper waferboard stuff.

Cafeteria chairs/tables are ALL from the 50's (think chrome and formica)...chipped.

This isn't what these people deserve. They fought for our country so we today could have blogs such as this.....it's just not right. That's all I am saying.

CNN was there and they never went back to revisit the story. I even emailed CNN and told them some specifics, but of course, they are too busy worrying about Hillary's corporate friends and how she is going to counter Obama's fundraising from the little people.

Bottom line, there hasn't been any 'real' money put into this place in a long time.

[riderinthestorm]

15. I don't have a lot of problems with the money he's being charged

as most retirement facilities cost a lot more than even $2k/month in a major metropolitan city. Don't get me wrong, it sounds as though the quality of care is diminishing and you have a case against the management but your dad was living in an amazing place at an amazing "rent" at $1100/month for a long time - as someone with a 94 year old grandmother who I just had to move into a new retirement home because her old place was sold and the rent tripled (from $2500/mo to $6500/mo and we are NOT in a major metropolitan area), your dad was truly in an unheard of situation.

Good luck on your battle with the powers that be - our vets deserve every perk.

[durtee librul]

16. Oh we get that he is 'on the cheap'

don't get me wrong....what IS wrong is that the services he was promised when he was active military are now being taken away....yeah, I know we are ALL in that boat...however, most of us didn't spend 6 months in the SOuth Pacific on a Japanese held island, didn't get shrapnel in both legs and lower back.

I think what he paid and is paying is immaterial to what he has ALREADY paid.

And he is not alone. If you ever get to DC, I suggest you go to the home there and see those folks. They watch the war coverage on tv and for most of them, there isn't a dry eye in the room. They KNOW what * is doing and has done.

And to denigrate or lessen thier service by eroding thier care and living situations is nothing short of criminal....

[jody]

20. Why should I mention that? I was just providing facts about AFRH and that congress authorized the

sale of land to finance the "bennies" veterans receive in AFRH. :shrug:

[ceile]

5. K&R

[riderinthestorm]

6. Do you have a link to this action, or an article?

You are saying your Dad sent you a letter but you don't have a link to the data for any kind of reference for this. Are they kicking the vets out? That would be a substantial news story - especially in light of Walter Reed. Or are they just re-organizing the community??

[durtee librul]

10. I am looking at the paper right now, trying to find if it is online somewhere

so you all can read it yourselves. The only link I found so far was to the letter the vets sent to Gates asking for Senior Military oversite. I will keep looking.

The name of the paper Dad sent me is:

Armed Forces Retirement Home Communicator, Vol IV, Number 03, March 30, 2007.

Believe me, I find a link and it'll be here.

As far as 'reorganizing' the community, let me put it to you this way. Let's reorganize your back yard by putting in a 7/11 story with a 24 hour laundromat and parking for 12 semi trucks and trailers. You still have your 'home' but at what cost to your privacy and sanity? You still 'own' the land, but have no say in what is being done with it.....only in this case, the land is sold.

[Nickster]

13. I'm pretty sure this is what he's looking at.

http://www.afrh.gov/afrh/news/newslet/newslet_0307communicator.pdf

[Nickster]

12. Check out this GAO report from September. They discuss removing up to 90% of VA Nursing Homes. When

they got "called" on it, they said 90% was too aggressive, but they would at least remove 30%.

http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d06958.pdf

[durtee librul]

14. Found the link to the paper!

http://www.afrh.gov/afrh/news/newslet/newsletter.htm

You will have to click on the March edition. I can't get that link to copy over for some reason.

[Nickster]

19. Look at my post #13. It's a huge file, about 30mb. n/t

[durtee librul]

17. Open that report

and look who was on that committee - Salazar? Durbin?

Interesting read. Gonna have to print that out and send it to Dad.

Thanks for providing it.

[Stinky The Clown]

18. That facility was a client of mine back in the mid 1980s.

Back then it was run by a retired Colonel ..... and he ran a tight ship. A prick to work for, but really a sweetheart of man and one who was focused solely on the welfare of his residents.

Even then money was an issue and there was a great deal of deferred maintenance. I also seem to recall that the major ongoing funding came from a payroll deduction of everyone on active duty (not certain this was exactly the case, but something like that).

Leave it to the Republics to privatize and then try to make money selling 'under utilized' land.

This place was established in 1851 (the Gothic building in the picture). Part of it also served for a time as Lincoln's 'Summer White House' (the cottage in the picture). I guess like so much else of our once great heritage, its just become 'quaint'.



I wish your Dad the very best.

[durtee librul]

21. Thank you for the kind thoughts...

The house is still there along with several of the other buildings but they are no longer open to the public as they once were.

The big tree that Lincoln was to have sat under died a couple years ago and was removed.....maybe it knew something and just gave up.

Again, thanks for the kind thoughts. Until one has been there and seen what has been allowed to degrade over the years, you really can't understand.

It always seemed to run better under the military than it is now.