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UCLA Baseball might have to play in a van down by the river


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https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-09-26/ucla-baseball-loses-its-home-field-for-now-in-a-lawsuit-over-its-use-of-veteran-land

kicked out at least for now

along with some private school facilities and some oil activities

https://lockwoodarc.org/serenity-park

not sure about the Parrots!

I am not sure what opinion I have overall, but it seems like there was some dicking around that got the judge fired up to the point that he does not want to really negotiate much and said fuck it and started kicking people off the land.....most of these deals were probably done back when it was easier to do shit like this and they were never brought up to "market rates" and the VA probably just took the money and fucked it off who knows where instead of putting most of it right back into that specific location 

I am not sure the Vets will really come out all that great even with this and I like the one guy at least saying "hey we do use the pool and track and shit so lets not just blow it all up lets just make a better deal".....it also sounds like the UCLA Chancellor fucked off court several times and that fired up the judge

Maybe they can do like the Bad News Bears and play in the Astrodome

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1 hour ago, Helobious said:

Lol at the judge demanding 51% of the oil operation’s drilling profits go to veterans. What a psycho. 

Pleading poverty, UCLA will use this as a shakedown of the alumni to get land to trade them, or maybe give X number of veterans full rides to get a degree there.

Jackie Robinson stadium is not near campus at all.  My first visit I had to walk from Westwood through the cemetery to the stadium.  You have to cross 405 to get there.  It's more of a hike than the Disch... 

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4 minutes ago, Beau Vine said:

IIRC, U$C played their entire schedule on the road last season because of stadium construction...

Looks like they played at OC Great Park in Irvine for their home games.

An hour south of campus, but all games were free

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17 minutes ago, Sbbruin said:

The issue is that there is no benefit to the vets, which is what the land is for.  Money will solve the problem.  Where is comes from running the AD at a deficit will be the question.

Y'all need to fork over some of that sweet, sweet B1G cash that you sold out a whole conference over.

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It'll be really interesting to see what happens with Brentwood School.  That is one of the more prestigious and expensive schools in LA, and is packed with celebrities and muckity mucks.  I went to my son's water polo game there and Harrison Ford was sitting 20 feet away from me.

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22 hours ago, Sbbruin said:

It'll be really interesting to see what happens with Brentwood School.  That is one of the more prestigious and expensive schools in LA, and is packed with celebrities and muckity mucks.  I went to my son's water polo game there and Harrison Ford was sitting 20 feet away from me.

IMG_9287.gif.375a737d76688310d54cdc8a8e623bbd.gif

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On 10/4/2024 at 1:18 PM, Sbbruin said:

It'll be really interesting to see what happens with Brentwood School.  That is one of the more prestigious and expensive schools in LA, and is packed with celebrities and muckity mucks.  I went to my son's water polo game there and Harrison Ford was sitting 20 feet away from me.

pos rep for use of muckity mucks

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Do I have this right that the US Department of Veteran Affairs built a baseball stadium over 40 years ago and a judge is saying it needs to be used primarily for veterans?

Then separate the Brentwood School built partially on VA land and is going to lose that?

Edited by n64ra
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4 hours ago, n64ra said:

Do I have this right that the US Department of Veteran Affairs built a baseball stadium over 40 years ago and a judge is saying it needs to be used primarily for veterans?

Then separate the Brentwood School built partially on VA land and is going to lose that?

From what I can tell, the land was donated to the government for the housing of Veterans and for whatever reason the Department of Veteran Affairs decided to lease it to UCLA, Brentwood School, etc.  Presumably they did not want to build housing there (probably the neighbors worried about having formerly homeless vets living in affluent areas), so they leased it at what is clearly way below market rate (at least in the case of the Brentwood school).

A group of veterans sued, saying that the land was not being used to house veterans, and the judge agreed.

From the first page of the Judge's order:

Quote

In the case now before this Court, unhoused veterans with disabilities demand housing on the West Los Angeles VA campus. Their demand is not new. Over a decade ago, in 2011, a similar group of unhoused veteran plaintiffs brought a nearly identical suit, seeking shelter and housing on land given to the federal government in the 1800s for the purpose of establishing a home for disabled veterans. In the years since 2011, the Obama administration, the Trump administration, and the Biden administration have each promised that they would act swiftly to eradicate veteran homelessness in America. Yet, today, approximately 3,000 homeless veterans live in the Los Angeles area alone.

Each administration since 2011 has been warned—by the VA’s own Office of the Inspector General, federal courts, and veterans—that they were not doing enough to house veterans in Los Angeles. Despite these warnings, the VA has not made good on its promise to build housing for veterans. Instead, it has continued leasing portions of the West Los Angeles campus to a private school, UCLA’s baseball team, an oil company, and other private interests. The cost of the VA’s inaction is veterans’ lives.

Over the past five decades, the West LA VA has been infected by bribery, corruption, and the influence of the powerful and their lobbyists, and enabled by a major educational institution in excluding veterans’ input about their own lands. It has allowed the drastic reduction of the size of the original plot of land deeded in 1888 to be an Old Soldiers’ Home. In a series of lengthy, renewable leases, the VA authorized leaseholders to build permanent athletic facilities—after permitting these concrete structures to be built on veterans’ land, the VA now points to the waste that would be incurred by tearing them down. In effect, the VA has quietly sold off these lands just as surely as granting a quitclaim deed.

The VA argues they are out of space, and that the lack of available acreage precludes any increase to the 1,200 units they have promised to open on the West LA campus by 2030. They contend that any injunctive relief by the Court would burden the VA financially and deprive them of the flexibility they need to solve the complex issue of veteran homelessness. The problem, however, is one of the VA’s own making. The VA must remediate its mishandling of this resource so that the land may once again be available for its intended purpose: the housing of veterans. 

 

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8 minutes ago, n64ra said:

Interesting and bizarre that the VA let a baseball stadium and private school build on it initially then.

It's not that unusual, to be honest.  It reminds me of my current county.  They require builders to include a certain amount of affordable units in order to increase the density of a site, but in almost every case, they agree to let the builders pay towards an affordable housing fund instead of including the affordable units on the more valuable property.  Theoretically, the county's affordable housing fund is then used to build the affordable housing elsewhere in the county, but who knows how much of it is actually used for that.

What's ridiculous is how the Brentwood school sought to provide a "benefit" to veterans - by allowing them to use the athletics facilities during certain house as long as there were no high school plans to use the facilities during that time.  I don't have the decision in front of me any more, but it was like 4:30-6:30am MWF.

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25 minutes ago, Beau Vine said:

You think they'd have a chance to win the Big 10?

Have you seen Washington's schedule?  Of course I also expect Arizona State to win the big 12, so I'm stupid.

 

 

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On 10/11/2024 at 3:58 PM, Texas Wahoo said:

It's not that unusual, to be honest.  It reminds me of my current county.  They require builders to include a certain amount of affordable units in order to increase the density of a site, but in almost every case, they agree to let the builders pay towards an affordable housing fund instead of including the affordable units on the more valuable property.  Theoretically, the county's affordable housing fund is then used to build the affordable housing elsewhere in the county, but who knows how much of it is actually used for that.

What's ridiculous is how the Brentwood school sought to provide a "benefit" to veterans - by allowing them to use the athletics facilities during certain house as long as there were no high school plans to use the facilities during that time.  I don't have the decision in front of me any more, but it was like 4:30-6:30am MWF.

I think in this case there would be a lot less of an issue if there was even an attempt to increase the housing available for vets.....if this entire time they had been taking lease money and putting it aside and buying other land and building housing on it there would be a lot less of an issue

the other issue I have is I see this a lot more like lodging, marinas, restaurant, and other concessions that are on government land in national parks and federal lakes.....every so often those assets and the rights to operate them go up for bid and the government (supposedly) gets a "market price" for them and all is "good"......but in this case the assets that are built are specific to two entities and they are really the only ones that have a big demand for them and yet they are probably not paying close to what would be market rates and there are probably no other interested parties that want a high school athletics facility or a baseball stajium with no team to put in it

if the VA had built a strip center or a grocery store or some warehouse space they could put the management of that out for bid like they do with national parks concessions or they could look to lease the space (themselves) to interested parties at market rates (possibly with the help of a broker each time).....and then if they fucked off the money the vets would still have a complaint, but it is more with the VA and "where did the money go"

in this case it is "where did the money go" and why did you let shit get built on the property that really only two parties (plus the oil company that is probably he one really getting fucked here) have an interest in leasing/occupying

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7 minutes ago, petscii said:

Isn't UCLA a bigger draw baseball wise?

See - this was posted in another thread and I went with - "Good. They should build a new fucking stadium." - but your angle was more clever. 

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Not a good look for the VA.  They had literally dozens of homeless vets camped out on the street right in front of this facility on a major road in LA.  Their solution: give the vets tents.  Then when that wasn't enough, they were nice enough to let confirmed vets pitch their tents on the VA property.  So you have vets living in tents on the same property as UCLA baseball and the Brentwood school where tuition is nearly $50k per year per kid.

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