LOS ANGELES, Sept. 4, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Veterans Park Conservancy today announced it has signed a long-term agreement with the Department of Veterans Affairs authorizing the development of a 16-acre memorial park to honor the nation's veterans.
The memorial park will be located on the historic grounds of the West Los Angeles Veterans Affairs Medical Center at the intersection of San Vicente and Wilshire Boulevards.
Under the terms of the agreement, Veterans Park Conservancy is being awarded rent-free use and occupancy of the site for park purposes, in exchange for its pledge to make a substantial investment of private funds. Terms of the enhanced sharing agreement, negotiated with officials of the Department of Veterans Affairs in Los Angeles and Washington, include a twenty-year term, with an option to renew for ten additional years.
"The signing of this long-term agreement represents the culmination of a relationship between Veterans Park Conservancy and the Department of Veterans Affairs which commenced in 1987. We are now able to create a lasting and dignified tribute to the men and women who have courageously served our country. The park will create a recuperative environment for veterans, as well as a respite for the community within a tranquil oasis amidst the urban bustle of densely developed West Los Angeles," said Major General Gwynn H. Robinson, U.S. Air Force, Ret., chairman and president of Veterans Park Conservancy.
A committee chaired by community leaders Peter and Merle Mullin and Tom Jones, former chairman and chief executive officer of Northrop Grumman, has been established to raise private funds to complete the project within an estimated two-year period.
The team of Nancy Goslee Power, a highly acclaimed garden designer, Laurie Olin, a world-renowned landscape architect and Jim Folsom, director of the Huntington Botanical Gardens, will plan and develop the memorial park. The professional team envisions the park will include fountains throughout the property, a pond, rolling meadows ringed with stately trees, lush gardens, a pavilion, a labyrinth, meandering pathways, as well as educational and commemorative sites to create an open classroom of history and patriotism for children and adults.
The vast West Los Angeles federal property was donated in 1888 by the Senator John P. Jones and Arcadia de Baker family, with the stipulation that it be utilized in perpetuity to benefit veterans. The entire property was originally intended as the site for a National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers following the Civil War. The property is adjacent to the National Cemetery with more than 85,000 interred veterans.
"The restoration of the property will return it to a truly world-class tribute to veterans -- like the once beautifully landscaped Soldiers Home that existed in the 1900's. This was a popular destination for the community, with Angelinos often taking the trolley from downtown to visit and picnic with recovering veterans. I know that my ancestors would be proud," said Carolina Winston Barrie, heir to the Jones and Arcadia de Baker family and a board member of Veterans Park Conservancy.
Veterans Park Conservancy has been instrumental over the last several years in promoting a public/private partnership that serves both veterans and the greater Los Angeles Community on other portions of the West Los Angeles VA Medical Center campus -- contributing more than $5.0 million to date.
A partial list of accomplishments includes:
* Leading efforts to protect the campus of the West Los Angeles Veterans' property from commercial development and being instrumental in facilitating passage of the Cranston Act -- a Congressional action that protects 109 acres of the property; * Preventing attempts to construct a National Football League stadium on the West Los Angeles Veterans' campus; * Designating a one-mile section of Wilshire Boulevard as Veterans Parkway and subsequently highlighting it with American flags; * Planning and commissioning the design and overseeing the construction of the Landmark Gateway Plaza at the intersection of Wilshire and San Vicente Boulevards, which was unveiled last year, as well as the perimeter fencing for the planned Los Angeles National Veterans Park; * Restoring the Spanish American War Memorial Plaza at the intersection of Veteran and Wilshire Boulevard; * Replacing the rusted perimeter fencing of the National Cemetery with 7,800 feet of stately fencing, enhanced by concrete columns and new gateways to the property; * Successfully working with the Bob Hope Family Foundation and elected officials to pass legislation to rename a historical chapel in honor of Bob Hope and restoring it as a functioning spiritual center located at the Los Angeles National Cemetery.
"The American Legion Department of California strongly endorses this park. It will provide a tranquil setting as a monument to all veterans and is in keeping with the wishes of the donors and their heirs -- providing veterans with a place to heal from war," said Leo P. Burke, chairman of the Commander's Advisory Committee, The American Legion, Department of California.
Veterans Park Conservancy is a nonprofit organization established in 1989. Its mission is to enhance and preserve more than 400 acres of land at the West Los Angeles Veterans Affairs Medical Campus to honor our nation's veterans and provide a place of reflection and peace for the enjoyment of the entire community.