LETTER: Why Is the V.A. Spending Our Taxes on a Solar Farm?

Editor,

Attached is a cartoon depicting a solar farm that appeared in  the L.A. Daily News on 4/19/12.  I don't know if the author  has visited the Sepulveda VA lately but it is an exact replica of  what the VA has done there and is a perfect example of how the Veterans  Administration wastes our tax dollars.  If you have visited or driven by the Sepulveda VA on Plummer St.  between Haskell  and Woodley lately you probably wondered what the Hell that monstrosity is on the Plummer and Haskell side?   Well, friends, it's an atrocious solar farm!  The VVA  Greater Los Angeles Health Care System (GLAHS) spent hundreds of thousands of our tax dollars to bulldoze down the beautiful orchard that used to grace that side of the property (and destroyed all the avian wildlife habitat in the process)  to build that solar monstrosity!  So much for the peace and serenity our combat Veterans need to heal from their war wounds.  

The VA will not spend a dime to upgrade the medical services or facilities to better serve our Veterans... but think nothing of spending hundreds of thousands on a project that benefits absolutely no one and destroys the property values of the adjacent neighbors.     

Worse yet, they built this solar farm  without consulting with the Veterans, the community or even the neighbors immediately surrounding the VA whose property values are impacted by it.  Can you imagine trying sell a home across the street from such a monstrosity.  Also, I don't know that much about how much heat is radiated off solar panels but I have a feeling the neighbors are about to find out and they're not going to like that  either.  

Suggest everyone write their federal, state and local representatives and demand the
VA remove that solar farm and replant the orchard or something similar that is a benefit to our Veterans and the neighborhood.  

Peggy Burgess
North Hills West Homeowner