The project, known as Housing for Heroes, is a collaboration between A Community of Friends (ACOF), an affordable housing provider to special needs clients and New Directions,Inc., a housing and recovery center for veterans. Housing for Heroes would convert the two buildings, which have been abandoned since the 1994 Northridge Earthquake, into 147-studio apartments for disabled veterans. The program would also provide services such as case-working, mental and physical wellness programs, budgeting guidance and job-placement assistance.
The project first met with opposition when New Directions proposed that the buildings would be "veteran-preference," rather than veteran only. After protest from area residents and veterans, New Directions agreed to offer the housing to veterans only. The lease, which would be held by ACOF and New Directions, would be held for 75 years, after which the VA would resume ownership of the buildings.
Since the veterans only agreement, 11 neighborhood councils, and veterans groups such as the American Legion have demanded that they would rather see the buildings converted into a hospital.
Toni Reinis, Executive Director and Co-founder of New Directions, said Homes for Heroes and a new hospital should be able to coexist. "There's 160 acres. You can build the hospital anywhere if the VA approves it and we would support it."
Dadisi Elliott is a case manager at New Directions. He acknowledges the need for medical services at the Sepulveda VA but does not believe Homes for Heroes would hinder the creation of medical facilities. "My long term prediction is having the program there would probably create more of a favorable atmosphere for a future VA hospital to be there."
Nichan Kulukian, Land Use co-chair of the North Hills Neighborhood Council said the group fears that if the buildings are converted to housing units, veterans will go without physical and psychological medical care. He said veterans should not have to travel to West Los Angeles for care at VA facilities.
"If someone were to suffer from a heart attack they would die in the ambulance."
In reference to Community of Friends Kulukian said, " They are doing good work as a sober living facility." However, he said, the council is fearful that the acquisition of the buildings would lead to the continued loss of veteran land to private entities.
New Directions is located at the West Los Angeles VA facilities just west of UCLA. The program was created to serve veterans who are homeless, disabled, suffering from chemical dependency or are looking for a way out of the penal system and serves as inspiration for Homes for Heroes. Many of the employees at the center are veterans that have graduated from the recovery program.
Roland Hutcherson is a graduate of New Directions and current case manager. He attested to the necessity of the services provided by the program.
"When you go to war, some people come back affected by it and others don't."
Hutcherson said the community should be willing to assist those who have been affected to get their lives back in order, which involves needs outside of the realm of hospital care.
All sides agree that veterans are in need of support and services. How this support is to be implemented remains to be seen. For the time being, Reinis, said New Directions and A Community of Friends will proceed with fund raising for the project.
Like one's digital footprint, Alexander Cockburn is more than what initially meets the eye. Someone not entirely familiar with his work might simply label him a liberal, a leftist, someone to send all of conservatism into a frenzy. But he is much more than that. Cockburn manages to push people of all persuasions over the edge. He is not merely a leftist but an extremist of words, an non-discriminating critic who is willing to cross ideological boundaries, offend, and invoke humor to make a point. 
Upon entering my google search the first result was, of course, the faithful Wikipedia. Any snooping member of Generation Y can be quickly transported to the primary publications, which Cockburn is affiliated: The Nation, CounterPunch, The L.A. Times and The First Post.
I first became familiar with Cockburn's work in his column, "Beat the Devil" in The Nation. "Beat the Devil" is a collection of political rants and undeniably well-researched opinion. But do not be fooled, these columns are not paying homage to the broad liberal consensus or even the general consensus of The Nation. During the 2008 presidential campaign, Cockburn was one of the few in the liberal camp to openly discount the Obama campaign. This was displayed most notably in his article "Against Obama," which labeled Obama's campaign as "the negation of almost every descent progressive principle." Upon rediscovering this article I decided to look for more examples of Cockburn's personal ideology that is all over the political spectrum.
Cockburn's anti-war stance is no secret. I located one of his articles, "Panic and Indignity: The Currency of Revenge" on antiwar.com. Cockburn blasts the anti-Muslim sentiment that was flooding the United States in 2001 and compared it to the creation of Japanese internment camps implemented after Pearl Harbor. Many people opposed war, at the time, but Cockburn had an especially pointed way of expressing it. He then took it a step further by addressing the liberals' contribution to the perpetuation of war. In "How Long Does it Take?", Cockburn states that "As far back as President Woodrow Wilson in the early twentieth century , American liberalism has been swift to flex imperial muscle, to whistle up the marines." No one party or affiliation is excluded from criticism, because any entity in power is capable of harm.
Finally, in my digital footprint search I was able to dig up Cockburn's resistance to the "carbon footprint" argument. In "I am an Intellectual Blasphemer," he is exposed as a doubter. Yes, he doubts the "anthropogenic origins" of global warming.
You heard it right.
More specifically, he said, "The left has bought into environmental catastrophism because it thinks that if it can persuade the world that there is an environmental catastrophe, then somehow the emergency response will lead to positive development in terms of social and environmental justice."
That is enough to be exlcluded from the ranks of fashionable liberal ideology. Somehow, I doubt Cockburn is extremely concerned with popular acceptance. His is not a journalism of timidity and if he sees the big elephant in the room, it is likely that he will announce its presence. After all, he is the man that said, "The First Law of Journalism: to confirm existing prejudice, rather than contradict it."
Thanks to sites like brainyquote.com, that one is forever embedded into Cockburn's digital footprint.
