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UPDATE: COUNTY EXECUTIVE JOINS FIGHT TO SAVE

MONTROSE VA -- "We're working to make sure that whatever

is done is done for veterans. We're very serious about this..."

For background on the VA's plans to sell off land at the Montrose campus to developers, use the VA Watchdog search engine... click here...
http://www.yourvabenefits.org/sessearch
.php?q=montrose&op=and

Story here... http://www.lohud.com/ap
ps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008810130330

Story below:

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County exec pushes for 'Veterans Village'

Richard Liebson
The Journal News

The Department of Veterans Affairs will solicit proposals for the private development of pristine Hudson River property at its Montrose site tomorrow, but Westchester County Executive Andrew Spano said local officials and veterans groups are continuing to fight for the creation of a "Veterans Village" there.

"We're working to make sure that whatever is done is done for veterans,'' Spano said after meeting Friday with VA Secretary James B. Peake in Washington. "We're very serious about this, and Secretary Peake assured us that our proposal will receive due consideration."

The VA has scheduled an "industry forum" at 9 a.m. tomorrow, when developers will pitch proposals to build housing on more than 100 acres of the 184-acre Montrose property off Route 9A. The agency would award the developer a long-term lease, while maintaining existing veteran-service programs on 12 acres. Originally scheduled to be held at the Montrose campus, the forum was moved to the Westchester Marriott in Greenburgh after the town of Cortlandt Veterans Committee announced that it would rally at the campus at noon tomorrow to protest the VA's actions.

Officials and veterans groups from the Lower Hudson Valley have pushed the Veterans Village concept, which would keep the entire campus for veterans' uses. That plan envisions the construction of affordable housing, senior housing, a continuing-care retirement community and temporary housing for families of veterans receiving medical treatment, among other amenities. The plan would preserve the 50 buildings already on the site, many of which would require renovation. An existing state-run nursing home for veterans would remain and other veterans' medical services would be enhanced.

Sens. Chuck Schumer and Hillary Clinton, Reps. John Hall, Eliot Engel and Nita Lowey and Cortlandt Supervisor Linda Puglisi have voiced support for Veterans Village, which proponents say would be achieved through a public-private partnership with funding from local sources.

The Montrose property, acquired as parkland by the county in 1928, was sold to the VA for use as a veterans hospital complex in 1944. At its peak, the campus housed 2,000 staff and clients, but budget cuts and the transfer of some services to the VA's Castle Point facility in Dutchess County has left many buildings vacant. Montrose now has approximately 290 beds for veterans. In 2001, the VA signed an agreement for a mixed-use development with the Montrose Elders, a nonprofit consortium of veterans and developers, but later put the agreement on hold and let it expire.

"Westchester would never have sold the land to the VA if it wasn't going to be used for veterans,'' Spano said. "We have the best plan for the site - one that would benefit veterans and their families and wouldn't cost the VA a penny."

Spano said that his 45-minute meeting with Peake went well and that the secretary seemed receptive to the Veterans Village idea.

"He indicated that the VA will still meet with private developers, but that we're not going to be left out of the running or ignored,'' Spano said.

Developer John Dodson, a Vietnam veteran who heads the Montrose Elders, and Ronald Tocci, chairman of Spano's Veterans Village Advisory Committee and former commissioner of veterans affairs for the state Department of Labor, accompanied Spano.

"I think we softened (Peake) up a bit,'' Dodson said. "His staff seemed to be against it, but I think he was open to our ideas.''

Tocci spent part of the day Friday meeting with national leaders of the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Vietnam Veterans of America and other veterans groups, which all back the Veterans Village proposal.

"I think Secretary Peake was impressed with the support we have from veterans groups at the local, state and national levels. I'm hopeful that as this moves forward, the VA will do the right thing and keep Montrose as a veterans' facility," Tocci said.

Dan Griffin, executive director of the Westchester chapter of Vietnam Veterans of America, said a new generation of combat veterans would need the services Veterans Village would provide.

"The demand for this kind of facility is going to grow as our troops come home from Iraq and Afghanistan,'' Griffin said. "Let's keep Montrose for the veterans. Westchester County doesn't need any more luxury condos."

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