Episode

Welcome fellow veterans and friends of veterans. This is a wake-up call. We are in a state of emergency. We are broadcasting live downtown Los Angeles, Skid Row Studios. We're right in the belly of the beast. We're the largest concentrated population of homeless people living. And a good portion of that are homeless veterans. And we are in a state of emergency. And we're going to keep sounding this Reveille wake-up call until we finally get to the... Mayor of Los Angeles to the Secretary of the VA and a lot of other politicians who have been sleeping as this population of war-injured, impoverished veterans are being forced to live homeless and hungry in back alley squalor while the VA land was taken over by the powerful, wealthy elitists. That's changing. But we've got to... keep the pressure on. Tonight we're going to be covering a lot of areas of issues and I want to first introduce and welcome our guest Jay Handel. I've known Jay for a long time and considering Mr. West Los Angeles he's involved in everything and he's a volunteer. He's not like your normal public servant that out there raising campaign funds and seeing how much money they can get and everything else. This man volunteers. I don't know how he does it but he's been an advocate for an awful long time for our veterans but say hello Jay and give a little background on what you're doing and where you want to go. So good evening Bob and thank you for having me. I really appreciate it. It helps get more of the word out from another side of the group. I'm a resident in Brentwood lived adjacent to the West LA VA property for the last 43 years. I am not a veteran. I have owned restaurants around Los Angeles and Pasadena. I have done stand downs in Santa Monica for the years that they did them along with the vet center donating my time my staff's time all of the food for years and years and years and I believe that what this country has done to the veterans is a national and international disgrace. I've always believed that I fought hard. I continue to fight hard for what's right and what's right is treating our veterans with the respect and dignity they deserve when they come home and it's time to stop teaching people how to go kill and bringing them home to just die on the streets. And I think we're seeing some change now after decades of constant fighting and doing all the things that you've done and I know some of the things that I've been involved in We're starting to see some change. So my my current situation is I chair the West LA neighborhood council for those of you out there who don't know what neighborhood council's on there on 96 around the city of Los Angeles We are elected by the people and our job is to bridge the gap between the stakeholders and the city elected officials and in this particular case with homelessness you know our stakeholders are the homeless as well and um it's it's something where they've been underrepresented in the past and the situation in skid road the situation in west la the situation along the riverbed now and everywhere else where the homeless are constantly just being put out into camps is a disgrace so you know as we see these changes now uh in in the west la campus starting to happen and hopefully nationally uh we're going to treat our veterans with much more respect and we will not i will not stop fighting until the last breath i have comes out of me or until the veteran homeless situation and and the medical and and mental care gets put up to speed where we're not being lied to about four days 40 days three months four months you know it's kind of like whack-a-mole trying to figure out how to get people into into care and certainly you know the mental health issue is a really big issue and we're not going to solve the homeless issue for veterans until we figure out both housing supportive housing uh and physical and mental true physical and mental care in a timely manner for everyone coming home so i am proud to say that i keep fighting i am sad to say i have to keep fighting but the fight is still on the battle is not over until the war is won and i don't think i have to tell that any differently to any veteran who's out there listening you're absolutely right jay you know that's interesting is that you know there's an old saying that war is hell and the issue the fact is that the war never leaves if they're on the combat field is there they come home that war is still in the mind and instead of coming back to a grateful nation a grateful government that you know sent them in to harm them and to hurt them they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they commit suicide nationwide. That number is never out there, but I can assure you if 22 politicians committed suicide every day, it'd be on the front page of any group or organization that we're losing 22 people a day. But unfortunately, this is just swept under the carpet. But I really applaud you, Jay, because I know you've been out there. I've watched you work, and you're a working person, and I saw it in your restaurants, family-run restaurant, which is what America is all about. You owe your wife, your son, working like crazy there, and the rents that the small businessman has to pay today are outrageous. We'll talk about that as to what you had to pay compared to what UCLA pays for 10 acres, that kind of stuff. Yet you're working to support your family and the community. And those 10 acres were taken away, as over the 21 acres for the Brentwood School. It just went on and on, and we're waiting to see what this exit strategy is really going to be. A lot of promises, but I came from a meeting today, and I'm inspired because heretofore, I was never involved or invited. I wasn't even invited to the so-called settlement agreement, and I'm glad I wasn't. I wouldn't want any part of that thing. I was just, at first, I resented it, but I'm so darn glad. And I think there's a lot to be said. And as you pointed out, that just, I think it was back in August, this Sky McDougal was telling the investigative committee, VAS, congressional committee, that there was only a four-day wait. And we were stunned by that. All of us were. So, oh, gosh, we would have never suspected. Well, there was another. There was another lie. As you pointed out, it was not 40, it was 50, 60, 90 days. And one of the things that just doesn't seem to change over the past is the lying. But I think we're starting to get over that hurdle. I mean, we were just discussing about the big change that's coming about. You know, already Henry Waxman, Congressman Waxman, after 40 years. Zav Yaroslavsky, after what, how many, 40 years at the public trial. They're gone. Don Abider, Ralph Tillman. That alone is major. And Veterans Park Conservancy has now been given their exit papers. Their name's coming down all over the place over there. So, the thing we have to be very vigilant now is that, yeah, maybe all this stuff is kind of going away. But we've got to be working super strong to make sure that what comes in now is superior, not just, you know, good quality, but the very best we can give. We spend trillions of dollars in equipping our men and women to fight overseas. And as you point out, they come back to die in miserable, inhumane conditions. Crimes against humanity like you could never expect. And I think we're, you know, being able to broadcast live down here at Skid Row means so much. It means so much to me. And I know you, you've been doing a lot. You wrote a great article the other day about running the L.A. Marathon through Skid Row. Powerful message. Elaborate a little bit on that. Well, you know, a couple of weeks ago, I did a tour of Skid Row with Senior Lead Officer Dion Joseph and a couple of other officers and the mayor's deputy for homelessness. And I got to take that tour with him because I actually wanted the mayor, Mayor Garcetti, to come on that tour. And he gave me his deputy. Which is fine. You know, I understand how things work in City Hall. So the first step is let's go with the deputy and take a walk around. Well, it's a crime. You know, walking around Skid Row, seeing the city's basically abandoned Skid Row and the homeless down there. It reminds me of the episode on The Wire where the commanding officer for the police department in Baltimore basically says, we're going to let everybody do whatever they want between this block and this block and from this side to that side. And if they step out, we're going to lock them up. And if they step out, we're going to lock them up. But if they have prostitution, drug dealing, whatever they do within that square, we don't care what they do. Well, you know, when I was on my walk and I was sitting on the second floor of a building on Wall and Fifth with the police overlooking Wall and Fifth in broad daylight, filming and watching 20 drug deals in five minutes, you know, and the police office is telling me there's really nothing they can do because narcotics trade has become... Um, right. It's almost like a misdemeanor to the district attorney. They don't want to prosecute. But the problem is the gangs, you know, the Crips and the Bloods have gotten together and they've basically taken over Skid Row. They're charging the homeless to go into the toilets that we, the city, put in for free, you know, where people would have a place to at least go to the bathroom in dignity. They're running the drug trade down there. I have a picture of two guys exchanging money and drugs with a third guy, a gang member, watching and a social worker with a clipboard standing there smiling, watching it all happen. I saw that photo. So the system is completely broken and our city has given up and it's wrong. We should not be the model worldwide for how not to take care of our citizens. And there's a lot of homeless veterans down there. And the problem is these gangs and these bad guys that come in at night, you know, they prey on the old, they steal their money, they sell them drugs, they get them hooked. You know, the mental illness in downtown in Skid Row is absolutely vile that we have no place to take these people and do something to help them, get them the proper medication, get them stabilized, get them into supportive housing, you know, and I'm talking veterans and I'm talking non-veterans at this point as well, you know, but the fact of the matter is we've basically given up down there. And then you go to the West LA area now, you know, you go under the, the 405 freeway and see 2025 encampments under there. Two weeks ago, I reported graffiti on Beloit, south of Santa Monica Boulevard. And the city came back and said, we're canceling the graffiti call because there's such a huge homeless encampment in front of it. It's too dangerous. We can't go in and paint the graffiti. Well, how bad do things have to get for this city? So our group, the Los Angeles Alliance of Neighborhood Councils, we have already passed a motion asking the mayor to declare a state of emergency for homelessness and veteran homelessness in particular, because this is a mayor who came out after Michelle Obama was here and stated, I am going to end veteran homelessness by 2015. That all sounds really good. Makes me want to, I have this visual of him, you know, standing next to, you know, the cub reporter ripping his shirt open and a big S on his chest, flying out the window and taking care of homelessness. Well, you know, everyone knows that taking care of homeless veterans is not going to be a situation that he's going to be able to fix by the end of this year. It's, it's the middle of March, you know, and we're just starting to look at programs and, you know, I don't see them building housing and getting supportive services and getting money to be able to do this. You know, our mayor is really good at going to Washington and I really love working with Eric Garcetti. I have to tell you, I know him a long time. He's a good mayor and he goes to Washington, a lot. And he goes there to get money for our city for transportation. You know, he's really big on getting transportation money. How about we go and ask for a couple of billion dollars? You know, if we can spend a trillion dollars a day to go drop bombs and make holes in Afghanistan, okay, then we can spend a couple of billion dollars to get proper housing, proper healthcare, proper mental healthcare set up for the homeless veterans and ultimately for the homeless in general. You know, and let's treat them with dignity. You know, when a soldier, when a soldier gets hit and he dies overseas, he's dying for his country. He's dying with dignity. When, when that same soldier freezes to death on the street on a cardboard box and the morgue comes for John Doe until they can find out who he is. Did he die with dignity? Did he get a hero's salute on the way out? He couldn't get in. He couldn't get in to get a salute on the way out. The gates are locked. You know, it's just not fair. It's just not fair. And then we have a whole other category of veterans who are people who were discharged, not dishonorably, but not honorably. And they're entitled to nothing, absolutely nothing. And this is a sin. This is wrong. So, you know, we have a lot that we have to look at. We have a lot that we have to fight. You know, you mentioned the West LA VA property, And, you know, now with Yaroslavsky gone and Waxman gone, you know, I hate to say it this way, but, you know, we've had three directors in West L.A. who disappeared because there were improprieties alleged and they were just kind of gone all of a sudden. And then we had a new director. We have these politicians that are now gone. And all of a sudden people are realizing that everything you've been saying, I've been saying and many others have been saying has been true. There's corruption on that property. The GAO report says there's money missing on that property from these illegal leases. There's money missing. There's leases for a dollar which violates federal law. You know, all this has been going on under the very nose of those politicians who swore they were going to do something but did absolutely nothing. So now the challenge was issued by Mayor Garcetti to himself to end veteran homelessness by the end of 2020. And I promise that I will do everything humanly possible to help. But I have to say it's an insurmountable task and I just don't believe it can be done. So on this radio show today, and I urge everybody who's listening, call 311, ask for the mayor's office and ask him to come on a walk of skid row with me. OK, veterans unite. I don't care what VSO you're with. You know, let's stop separating veterans. It's not veterans amvets. Veterans, Vietnam vets, veterans, somebody else. We're at war and we we have to. When I say we're at war, I don't mean overseas. I mean right here in our backyard. We need to unite. So if you're in the city of Los Angeles, dial 311. Ask for the mayor's office and say we want the mayor to go on a walk of skid row and West L.A. V.A. campus with Jay. Tell him that's what you want. And if you're not in the city of L.A., find a number for for City Hall. And. Call and make that call and let's start lighting up this switchboard and letting them know that the veterans are uniting for a common cause. The dignity of all veterans in the United States of America. Very well stated again, Jay. It's you know, you hit on a couple of issues there. The veterans, as you know, you've been around for a long time. And the VSOs, which are veteran service organizations, they are chartered by Congress. They get money from. Congress. Those are certain ones like the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars or VFW, Disabled American Veterans, etc. They're good entities, but they are beholden to Congress first because they hold the power over them. And we have never been able to unify. But I am so, so proud of your Los Angeles neighborhood neighborhood council coalition. Ninety-two. Ninety-two. Ninety-two. Ninety-two. Ninety-two. Ninety-two. Ninety-two. Ninety-two. Ninety-two. Ninety-two. Ninety-two. Ninety-two. Ninety-two. Ninety-two. Ninety-two. Ninety-two. Ninety-two. Ninety-two. Ninety-two. Ninety-two. Ninety-two. Ninety-two. Ninety-two. Ninety-two. Ninety-two. Ninety-two. Ninety-two. Ninety-two. Ninety-two. Ninety-two. Ninety-two. Ninety-two. Ninety-two. Ninety-two. Ninety-two. Ninety-two. in this cause. And I'd like for you to expound on that, on the motion that was presented. You wrote it, presented it. It was passed. Of course, Rafer Johnson spoke so eloquently. And I think, you know, the listeners need to hear this motion, how simple it was. Now, we had a 21-page report come out of how the VA was going to end veteran homelessness. No budget was mentioned. No names were mentioned. Nothing. Just it sounded more like somebody's thesis for a midterm paper for sociology or whatever that they were going to figure out how to generically end veteran homelessness. But what you have in your hand right there, that motion, I think is one of the most powerful documents that this city has produced. And I appreciate your reading, Jay. Sure. Well, let me just... I'll just say this. If we spent as much money housing and giving service to veterans as they spent on the two GAO reports, finding that there was $6 million missing, there were illegal leases, you know, and there was all this other stuff that was going on. And the fact we have all this homeless and how they're going to try and do it without putting any money up. If we spent as much money as they spent putting all these reports together, we'd probably be housing a couple of thousand people already. So... So the Los Angeles Neighborhood Council Alliance got together. I wrote a motion that says the following. The Los Angeles Neighborhood Council Coalition recognizes Los Angeles to be in a state of emergency for homeless veterans and hereby request the City of Los Angeles Council direct the City of Los Angeles with all of its resources and the Veterans Administration to unify and open a large-scale crisis humanitarian relief project on this land. The City of Los Angeles Council has a motion to immediately house and care for thousands upon thousands of disabled and homeless veterans. And the land I'm talking about is the West LA VA property that's roughly 399 acres, of which there's probably 200 acres that are underutilized or non-utilized, with a giant lock that you'd have to use two hands to unlock on the giant, beautiful, multi-million dollar gate they build to keep veterans off veterans' land. They can't get into it. So this motion that was passed by the Coalition is to advise our elected officials, because that's what neighborhood councils do. We advise our elected officials. And this motion is to advise the elected officials that we recognize, we the 1,800 duly elected by the public neighborhood council board members citywide recognize that we are in a state of emergency. I paid $184,000 a year as a city councilman. I tell people all the time, it costs me $1,000 a month out of my pocket to do what I do for the neighborhood councils. So the fact is, these people that get paid the six-digit figures, have the seven-digit budgets for their own individual offices, it's time for them to wake up. It's time for the mayor, no more rhetoric, no more stepping over homeless. It's time to pick them up, give them a hand up. And I think that's what we need to do. We need to get them out and bring them forward and get them back into society as dignified as we humanly can and recognize this is a state of emergency in our city and do something. No more talk, time for action. Absolutely. So when I say walk the walk and talk the talk, we've talked the talk. I challenge again, Mr. Garcetti to walk the walk and come with us and do that walk. I totally agree. I can't express again how proud I am. I'm so proud of the city of New York. I'm so proud of the city of New York. I'm so proud of the city of New York. I'm so proud of the city of New York. I'm so proud of the city of New York. I'm so proud of the city of New York. We've held every instruction every instruction every instruction every instruction every instruction every instruction every instruction every instruction every instruction every instruction every instruction every instruction every instruction every instruction every instruction every instruction every instruction every instruction every instruction every instruction every instruction every instruction every instruction every instruction every instruction every instruction every instruction every instruction every instruction every instruction every instruction every instruction this. I encounter so many homeless veterans and they're so distraught because there's no hope. Life's tough enough if you've got things going for you. You've got a house, a family, a job, or whatever. But when you're just flat out broke, no friends, nothing, and you're sleeping behind a dumpster and begging for money and worried about somebody stealing a sandwich from you or something. This is horrific for anybody, let alone the veterans. But we have not, as a society, it's simply amazing. Just not too long ago, President Obama was bringing in tens of thousands of these illegal, he called them refugees, they were illegals, coming up over the border. They put them into different housings on military bases and all. But they refuse, and yet they talk about ending veteran homelessness, but they refuse to take any kind of action that could even come close to what you're proposing here. It's so simple. And I think that, you know, as I mentioned, we, over seven years, when you go back to World War II, it lasted three and a half years. And we sent our troops, millions of troops overseas. They went over and kicked the enemy's butt all over the place. And came back in three and a half years. We've been at this twice that long, fighting our own government to try to help the very men and women who have defended this country. It is despicable. It's disgusting. You know, one of the great messages I think I ever received was when Henry Waxman announced his retirement. I challenged him, and he can never, ever deny it. In the nearly 40 years, he said that he never appropriated $1 for one blanket for one homeless veteran. Yet he was in charge, the steward to oversee the largest VA in the nation and were the capital for homeless veterans. And he couldn't deny it. But you know what he did then? He went out and appropriated $20 million to rehab a rat-infested building, and it'll house 65 veterans. And they started that two and a half years ago. It's still not even finished. That's the kind of so-called leadership. It's despicable. It's despicable. It's despicable. It's despicable. It's despicable. It's disgusting. This country could never have ever become what it was, is under that kind of leadership. We need new, bold leadership. And again, I applaud you, Jay, because I think you're a real role model of what it means to be a public servant. When you go back to the founding fathers, they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor. Today, it is so, so bad. The way everything is about greed and money, first and foremost, there's nothing they can do to show they deserve the instruction they deserve. Today they show they deserve the instruction they deserve. Today they show they deserve the instruction they deserve. Today they show they deserve the instruction they deserve. Today they show they deserve the instruction they deserve. Today they show they deserve the instruction they deserve. Today they show they deserve the instruction they deserve. Today they show they deserve the instruction they deserve. Today they show they deserve the instruction they deserve. Today they show they deserve the instruction they deserve. Today they show they deserve the instruction they deserve. Today they show they deserve the instruction they deserve. work, but it doesn't need to be fundamentally transformed. And we're heading in some very, very bad directions. And we need new, strong leadership out there to turn this sinking ship and save it. Well, it's interesting because here you have a president that's talking about fundamentally transforming our entire government, but yet his wife is actually the smarter one because she's actually trying to fundamentally transform veterans off the street and into housing. So at least she's got a better focus than her husband, because, you know, she's looking at the immediate, she's looking at the crisis, you know, and she knows these veterans deserve better. And hopefully, you know, she'll keep her focus and hopefully he won't. We'll have a good country and we'll have veterans off the street. What a bonus that would be. Well, it's, you know, one of the things that you and I have also agreed upon, and we've touched lightly on it, is about the, just the simple terminology of the crime against humanity, against our veterans. And I, you know, we have a guardian angel over in France of all places, not here, not locally. Joe Rosamond, who read one of my articles, in the Canada Free Press, and again, realized in order to get our story out, we had to go to Canada to publish stories. You know, they're not going to get anything in the LA Times, they're never going to print, excuse me, print this truth. But I had oftentimes complained about the inhumane treatment and the notion of filing against the United, with the United Nations on... I got an email and said, I read that you were planning on filing against the United... With the United Nations on... with the United Nations on, I got an email and said, I read that you were planning on filing with the United Nations or the Vatican, have you done it? I go, no, don't know how, and she said, well, I do. And we haven't made it a big issue because we know these things take time, but Joe filed a human rights complaint human rights complaint with the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, not in New York, in Geneva, Switzerland, and as well as with the Vatican. And that's to me as major that, because when you read the report that you put together and everything, it's so right on that, how we, the United States are mistreating of all people, the men and women who have defended the world, not just the United States, our troops are everywhere and they come back broken and our own government turns their back on it. These are crimes against humanity, it's war crimes. I would say the reverse. And I think, you know, we kind of got Shanghai in the legal aspect, we had a federal judgment and the plaintiffs with the ACLU attorneys now bailed out on it and vacated it. And I think our next step is really going after the human rights aspect, because we cannot continue as a nation to allow what's happening to these men and women. And, you know, right now there are more homeless veterans who served in the Vietnam War than were killed in the Vietnam War. There's 60,000 nationwide, 58,000 were killed. And we, you know, we've discussed, you know, we've discussed this also back in the 40 years ago at the fall of Saigon, this grateful nation brought in 50,000 Vietnamese refugees. They had nothing but the clothes on their back. And they had Camp Pendleton. In one week, they put in a thousand tents. They got sponsors from churches, families, corporations, and assimilated them. They couldn't speak the language. And yet today, the men in particular, that went over to fight on their behalf, tens of thousands, 60,000 or more than we brought in are homeless today. And by the way, you know, I'd like to, you and I talk about a lot of issues, how we can unify and all, and I want to make a proposal to you on the air here. We've got some contacts. And because of the community alliance that you have established, is to go down to Orange County into the Vietnamese American community, a national community, and we're gonna do that. And we're gonna do that. We've got to get the health health east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east east Orange County if I'm willing to fly out to Washington to meet with Secretary Principi on my own time and dime to alert him to what the problems were on the VA property. Interestingly enough, looking at history, the secretary came out three weeks later, held a roundtable at the West L.A. property, and in fact issued me a letter that I have that says we will not have any more of these illegal leases and all this stuff going on on the property. That was a long time ago and many secretaries ago and a lot of corruption ago and millions of dollars gone ago. At the same time, a few years ago, I took a bus trip for three hours around the VA property in West L.A. with then State Assemblywoman Karen Bass, currently a congresswoman. And showed her what was going on and talked to her about the properties and talked to her about the homeless. And she said she would do something at the state level. Well, the only thing they've done from the state level is they built a state home with no kitchen. So we've got a lot of beds and we can't feed them. $900,000 later, we're two years away from having the kitchen fixed and all those empty beds filled with people that are now filling cardboard boxes on the street. Appalling. A year ago, Congresswoman Bass held a town hall. In the Palms area, Mar Vista area, which I attended and I got up in public comment. And I asked her, Congresswoman, you and I took a bus trip. And you promised something would happen and nothing happened. Well, it appears it'll take an act of Congress to get anything to happen on that property. And well, guess what? You're a congresswoman. So maybe it's time to make that act of Congress happen. Well, needless to say, it didn't happen. So. You know, when we talk about what's happening to our country, when you see 8% voting in the city of Los Angeles, you know, the city council people's answer to 8% voting is, let's move the elections to the national election time and everyone will come out and vote for the city people. You know, the real answer is stop lying to us. Start doing your job. Start earning your pay. And you say you're going to start by fixing veteran homelessness. Well, I will go to Orange County. I will go to the Vietnamese community. I will go to Hawaii. I will go to Samoa. I will go to New York. I will go to Idaho. I will go to Texas. I will go wherever I have to go. And being someone who was number 169 in the last draft of the Vietnam War, the one place I never did say I would go was Canada. If I had to go, I was going. But if there's someone in Canada that can help us, I'll go to Canada. I'm not looking to run away from anybody. I'm looking to run at them. Like I said, I'm not looking to run away from anybody. You know, they're my parents. You know, they're my parents. You know, they're my parents. You know, they're my parents. You know, they're my parents. You know, they're my parents. You know, they're my parents. You know, they're my parents. You know, they're my parents. You know, they're my parents. You know, they're my parents. You know, they're my parents. You know, they're my parents. You know, they're my parents. You know, they're my parents. You know, they're my parents. You know, they're my parents. You know, they're my parents. You know, they're my parents. a humanitarian relief center to bring in the veterans, evaluate them, see what their true needs are, and then get them to places where they can be taken care of with the need. So if it's vouchers for housing, that all they really need is a house, a hand up, you know, there's vouchers. We can get them to some housing, but they can't be houses where they don't have access to transportation to be able to get to the VA to get their meds and to get their medical taken care of. We can't put them out in the boondocks, you know, and if it's mental health, we have to get them to mental health services or whatever it happens to be. But, you know, let's start that process of evaluation right now while you're trying to figure out how to better spend money than $20 million on 65 beds in a decrepit building. You know, it's really time to bring it together. So I love your idea of the tenting on the property. I believe that's a great way to start with the humanitarian processing center, you know, an evaluation center. I certainly would have no problem, going down to Orange County. You know, there are some, quite frankly, cities in not even Orange County, but in LA County, where we now have elected officials and I believe even a mayor who is from Vietnam. You know, so maybe it's time to go and speak to these politicians because you know what? These politicians are politicians that will understand what it means for these guys that are out and women that are out on the streets. I think that would be a great approach. I agree, man. Because, you know, you had something right there. I know I was reading about, I don't know her name. She recently was elected to the California Senate and she wrote a bill, I think, regarding UC Irvine when the students removed the flag and it was stating that any and all colleges that receive state funding must have a United States flag. She went on to say, I came from Vietnam. And she said, I know what this country is all about. And I know what that flag means. Too many people here in the United States do not know what it means. And of course, I want to reflect out on a little something that, excuse me, you know, we stood out there for 66 Sundays with the American flag on the front gate and the POW and nobody paid any attention to us. They ignored us. And Disney held a celebrity fundraiser for not for veterans and everything. We decided, you know, we're going to do this. We're going to do this. We're going to do this. We're going to do what's within the U.S. flag code. And that is when life or property are in danger, you can hang the flag in distress. And we certainly knew that the lives of our veterans or homeless were in danger as well as that property. And of course, as you also know, six quick arrest citations, they were all false trumped up. And that led to the ACLU that defended me. We won a judgment for violating my constitutional right to free speech, but they us hang the flag back up. And Peter Eliasberg, my attorney, appealed it in the Ninth Circuit. It was overruled two to one. And then he appealed all the way to the Supreme Court. And I can't thank him enough because it's that message is what really turned things around. As you know, had they ignored us, we'd left a long time ago because it was getting frustrating because we weren't making an headway. And the flag in distress, there's a reason it's in the U.S. flag code. It sends a message. And that message got answered. And I always call it, though, divine intervention. I'm so grateful. I'm not ashamed to say that I believe and trust in God Almighty because stuff that's happened, I certainly couldn't do on my own. And we've had great intervention there. And it shall be interesting. How that plays out. But the V.A. claimed that when we hung the flag for three hours out there on one Sunday afternoon, it drained their resources. It was a distraction. And all these reasons, of course, you know, last week they ran the marathon through there. Twenty six thousand people. They trashed it. And the employees had to get up at four o'clock in the morning. You talk about draining resources and everything else. But that's what we've had to deal with, that kind of a counter that when you do something as simple and is patriotic, actually, to hang the flag in distress because your fellow veterans, their lives are in distress, in danger. And so is their land. But that was completely trashed in a sense, while inside there are nine illegal occupants. They're running a marathon through. And police, V.A. police, all of just the amount of money. And of course, as you indicated a little while ago, they're in the with the. In your motion there with all of L.A.'s resources, what happened? But last week, the mayor, they, you know, they essentially shut down the streets so the president and his wife could come through. A couple of days later, they're running the L.A. marathon. And still, like you said, not a peep from the from the mayor. And he's the guy that says he's going to end it. So I'd like to know what you think. I don't know what his magic is. But the big thing is what I don't like is keeping our veterans waiting. If you say you're going to do it, do it today. As Rafer Johnson said, if you if you say there's an immediate urgency, that's a state of emergency, then get on it. Do it right now. Don't talk about ending it by the end of the year. Well, it's really interesting to me to bring up the the marathon and the run through the property because a few years ago in the 405 Freeway construction was going on. The VA actually used to be a cut through for the people on the west side to well to avoid Wilshire Boulevard going to the 405 or coming back off the 405 going back to the west side. And they decided to close the gates because they said that the constant traffic was a drain on the police sources and that it was dangerous to have all the cars driving through the property. The signs are really clear, you know, outside. If you don't have business on the property, you shouldn't be able to get on the property. This is veterans property for veteran use, you know, and it's a health care center. So now let's let's speed up to the marathon, which is run by Frank McCourt, by the way, the the famous former Dodger owner. I noticed the other day and I noticed it last year, too, that do you realize that all the speed humps are taken out and the street is flattened for the runners? So that they don't have to go up a hill or they're going to trip. Yet there's broken sidewalks all around the VA property. There's broken signage around the VA property. The property is not well maintained overall for these these veterans who live there, work there, get treatment there. And at the same time, with twenty three to twenty five thousand people running through, plus the outside community coming in to. Tear them on as they go through and all the police resources used. And what about that quality of life for the veterans who are housed there? You know, when it's it's clear on paper when they closed the gates to the traffic, they said it was because it interrupted the treatments and made it very edgy for the people who were in care on the property. Yet bringing twenty five, twenty six, twenty seven thousand people on the property through an entire day. Yelling, screaming, cheering, throwing water cups, water bottles, saliva filled water cups on the ground that people would be stepping on and transmitting whatever possible diseases would live on what they have there. It's just appalling, you know, and the speed humps are back. It's amazing how fast they can grind down all the tar, let people run all over the property and then throw the tar back on so that people can't drive fast. You know, when when they're running through the property, but we can't get people into treatment. You know, if we could get veterans who are ill into treatment as fast as they can take down and put up a speed hump, we would end mental illness and illness among veterans today who are out on the street. And if we could build housing, tenting, intake and distribution of people who have illnesses that are identified or housing. Needs that are identified into places where they could really get the treatment they need as fast as we can take down a speed bump, put it up, open the gates, close the gates and bring in, you know, the the street sweepers to clean up all the mess that they leave all over the V.A. Not to mention how much money did the V.A. get for all that to happen? We could we could absolutely end the problem tomorrow. Eric said he would be right if we could do it at the light speed that they do to accommodate. And by the way, you know, the mayor was at the fair. In where? Santa Monica. Santa Monica. OK, bringing in the Kenyans who were the first winners, you know, and applauding their win and coming right through our property. So, you know, they don't have their priorities. This is the problem with the politicians. The priorities aren't there. So they're more interested in getting elected every couple of years, spending everybody else's millions of dollars to get elected. You know, and at the same time, they turn their back. They turn their back on veterans. They turn their back on citizens who are homeless. They turn their back on citizens, veterans that have mental illness, you know, and other and physical illnesses and debilitating diseases. You know, it's time to go back to we really need to hit the reset button. You know, Mayor Mayer said he's doing this with the budget. And I will say I'm a co-chair of the budget committee citywide in the city of Los Angeles for the neighborhood council system. They're called budget advocates. You know, it's. Prioritize the mayor. The mayor's five major goals now. Part of it is prioritizing, which means getting services back to the people that we lost over the last five years because of budget cuts in the bad economy. You know, and and not just prioritizing, but actually performance based budgeting. Well, how about the V.A. do performance based budgeting? Wouldn't that be interesting to see the health care centers get not a flat amount every year that they can go throw around, you know, and take golf trips like Mr. Tillman did, you know, or do whatever these other people are doing with the monies? You know, you're going to get money because you perform. And if your department doesn't perform, if you don't perform, you're not going to get the money. Well, how about it? No, I agree. That's what I mean. How about you as a businessman? Could you how long could you last if you had an open end? Flow of money going out the door and it's not accounted for. But you see, the difference is you have to work. You have to sell food. You have to do this and that cut here and there. All they do is go back and say, well, we need an extra three hundred million dollars next year. And they get it. You know, they're running a billion dollar a year budget over there. Go over there on the weekend. There isn't a soul there. You know, I don't know who takes care of the people with the medical hospital. But when you go there during the week, the place is jammed full and they got employees working overtime and everything else. But you go over there on a weekend and not a soul over there. But they still run a billion dollar budget over there. So I, you know, it's I told you, you know, I met with a couple of the officials from the V.A. from D.C. today. And it's been encouraging for the first time in seven years that I'm talking with, I think, level headed people who have no. Interest in this V.A. in the sense of helping their friends, they're here to change things they don't care about. Who's who? As I told me, we're not here to win friends. And I have great hopes. But we've seen that before. From all kinds of avenues. And you think somebody is on your side and suddenly they run into. Oops, I can't go any further because my wife. Plays cards with, you know, the wife of the executive. Who knows whatever. But we've seen it over and over. We get real big promises on individuals and they get find out that they're linked somehow and they can't can't deliver. But I just think that, you know, one of the things you remember, too, is that, you know, we're the old veterans guard. We stand out on the corner. I remember a guy come up to me one time. She was in Brentwood. He said, Yeah, I see you out there every Sunday. And he said, I see. I read some of your stuff. And you say there's twenty thousand. Homeless veterans. He said, I got an idea for you. Really? What's that? He says, Go on, get those twenty thousand guys and stand out. He says, That'll make a difference. This is me. I said, Why should I go out and get them? Why don't you? I said, Are you a veteran? Well, no, I'm not. I said, Why should I be the guy out there? First of all, I said, You didn't serve. And yet, you know, there are twenty thousand homeless veteran. Why aren't you in twenty thousand of your friends standing out there and fighting for the veterans? And of course, you know, the man looked at me like. Couldn't wait to get away from me. But that's the mentality we deal with instead of saying, you know, hey, you know, those old guys shouldn't be standing out there in the corner. We need to go out and give them a hand. Well, you know, Bob, first of all, I applaud you and your handful of veterans, old guards and Mr. Palmer, who is now gone, who was there day after day, you know, month after month, Sunday after Sunday out there trying to get the right thing done as you have. I applaud that big time, you know, and I kind of feel like what what you just said about that one guy. Why aren't you out there? You know, it's you. And sometimes I see three or four other people, sometimes ten, sometimes twenty. You know, I've been, as you know, to a lot of town halls. I've been to a lot of the V.A. Invited stakeholder meetings. I kind of feel like you outside the fence in a sense, because, you know, I'm I'm up until now with the Lank motion. And getting the neighborhood council system to recognize how bad things are for years. I've been the lone community guy standing out there saying, open the gate, you know, and I almost feel like finally we're getting, you know, the community people involved, realizing how bad things are. You know, I want to go back. I want to touch on something. You mentioned the, you know, the illegal leases and the politicians doing the things they do. You know, one of the illegal leases, the Brentwood School was 20 acres for three hundred thousand dollars. And that that lease was executed, quite frankly, because then entertainment mogul Lou Wasserman, you know, made a phone call to then President Clinton and said, get the lease signed. And the lease was immediately signed. And the school got these 20 acres of property in Brentwood, some of the most valuable property that the federal government owns. And he said, you know, we're going to have to pay $300,000 for so very little money. And in retrospect, I think about my Brentwood restaurant that was on the very north end of the Brentwood property just outside the gate on city property. There was 2500 square feet that I paid $156,000 a year in rent. So I had 2500 square feet for $156,000. And here's a school with a political favor getting 20 acres for $300,000. Now, you know, I'm not saying that's a bad thing. I'm not saying that's a bad thing. Now, if someone would have given me five of those leases, give me 100 acres for $1.5 million, I could have built enough housing to put a couple of thousand people in there, taken a very small portion of the money the federal government gives to each guy that go or woman that goes in there, still leave them with plenty of money to go out and have a life outside of being in these houses that would have been built. And we would have had people. We would have had people. We would have had people. We would have had people. We would have had people. We would have had people. unprioritized federal and state and city government people that just don't have their eye on the ball no no well there's you know that as you mentioned the priorities when you look at veterans um that's not a very uh sophisticated crowd if you're a homeless veteran they don't donate any campaign funds so why should they care yes and yet yet it's very interesting i i have a couple of homeless veterans living behind the library in west la and you know the homeless i consider the homeless situation you know the way they're treated is like the broom theory they get pushed from west la to westwood westwood to palms palms to culver city culver city to venice venice to santa monica santa monica to brentwood brentwood back to west la and we start again you know and i'm really happy to see that that broom has now been brought out and we've gotten rid of tillman and and beider and you know we're finally using the broom to get rid of the real trash and not using it to push our our uh veterans around and our homeless around um but my hope you know moving forward and i talk about these veterans that are living behind my building uh where my office is in in the library and municipal building area west la you know we don't throw them out we give them a purpose you know serge salutes every day when i walk by you have any more garbage bags jay he's got brooms we get him brooms we get him rakes we get him everything he needs to keep the area clean so he has a safe gated area to live in with shelter there in case it rains um is it optimal no is it the best we could do without a building in my house absolutely for now but the reality is we're trying to work with them to help them and at the same time they're helping us so they have a purpose and they're happy to have that purpose but the ultimate goal obviously is to get them out of there and get them into housing i totally agree well you know jay this has been a very very inspiring talk it always is with you um i only uh hope and pray that there are more public servants out there that can do what you're doing willing to do uh we can win all battles if if everybody steps up and um we're going to be closing out as and you know we start this with revelry uh we're going to be closing out as and we're going to be because there's no rest until this job is done uh we will march on and um we um want to acknowledge martinelli's our sponsor as you know you carried them at your restaurant what a great product great family um so we're going to close out and remind that you know it's better to do right and have enemies than to do wrong and have friends god bless america and the veterans revolution you you you you you