VA benefits

I know some folks are excited about the ARRA agenda item on the VA transfer.   But, you all realize that it’s not really much, right?    The agenda item is simply one to “adopt a resolution supporting the transfer from the Navy to the VA.”   It’s a largely ceremonial move because if the City of Alameda didn’t want to make the transfer happen, it’s not as though the City could actually do anything to halt a fed-to-fed land transfer.

But if folks want to get all excited about ceremonial resolutions, then who am I to rain on anyone’s parade?

I could’ve had a VA

As mentioned by ANT, the Department of Veterans Affairs will be holding a meeting next Thursday to talk about their possible plans for a swath Alameda Point.   But as mentioned by Mark I., the land is indeed the land that was initially set aside as a national wildlife refuge.   From a 2005 article:

A U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs official has confirmed that the agency is negotiating for control of about 600 acres at Alameda Point originally intended as a national wildlife refuge.

Veterans Affairs wants to build a mausoleum and health care center on the property, but has indicated it would retain nesting grounds for the endangered California least terns.

The birds return every April to what was once a jet landing strip on the former Alameda Naval Air Station by the hundreds to breed, lay eggs and raise their chicks in the weedy, cracked asphalt.