Plans for Veterans Affairs clinic in Alameda cancelled
The Trump administration's cancellation of one local project that would have benefited veterans has the city of Alameda up in arms.
For nearly 30 years, there have been plans to build a veterans' clinic and final resting place on the property of the old Alameda air base. But now that the project has been abruptly terminated, leaving veterans dumbfounded by the decision.
The Alameda Naval Air Station sits quiet and largely empty, a relic of the area's military past. When the base closed, the land passed to the city of Alameda, but one corner was retained by the VA to build a new 158,000-square-foot outpatient clinic and columbarium as a final resting place for Bay Area veterans.
Joe LoParo knows the area well. He was a Marine stationed at the base in the late 1970s and has been active in veterans' affairs since getting out of the service.
"Well, the columbarium and the clinic would have been in the northwest section," he said, pointing at the fenced, vacant land. "It was already supposed to be built. We should be looking at the completion of that right now. And here we are in 2025 and it's going to be over."
It's over because the federal government recently announced that the project, with $390 million already approved, has been ditched. On Monday morning, veterans and local officials gathered at Alameda's Veterans' Memorial Building to condemn the decision.
"The defunding of the Alameda Point project is a blatant attack on veterans. It's a continuation of the mass firings and cuts at the VA," said Omar Farmer, Vice Chair of the county's Veterans' Affairs Commission. "Access to high-quality VA healthcare is a sacred obligation. We shouldn't have to continue to fight for what we've already fought for."
"I do not accept this as a forgone conclusion," said Alameda Mayor Marilyn Ezzy Ashcraft. "We do not shrug and say, 'Oh well, I guess that's the way it is.' We stand up. We fight back. And that's what we're going to do."
"The Trump administration's decision not to build a veteran's clinic here in Alameda is unacceptable. Unacceptable," said Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee. "It's a betrayal of the promise that we made to our veterans that when they come home, we will take care of them."
"Who the heck is in charge in that administration that would allow something like this to happen that would hurt a large community of veterans?" said Retired Navy Captain David Foote.
Some of the veterans voted for President Trump and spoke about if the project cancellation would affect their support of him. One of the veterans is Steve Rogers, a Vietnam veteran.
He said he had been happy knowing that he could be laid to rest at the new columbarium, and it might affect his support for Trump if it was his decision to cancel the project.
"It may end up changing things if I find out that what he's doing is on purpose and, you know, cutting stuff away from us veterans who need it!" Rogers said.
Back at the base, LoParo said he wasn't taking a side in the political debate, not after the project has passed through so many administrations over the years.
"Bush, Obama, Biden, Trump. It's been through all of those, this project. And to just be cancelled now, without an explanation, we don't know. Who do you blame?" he said. "Well, certainly the buck has to stop at the top. Because if he said, 'Hey, I want that built.' It's going to get built."
It's not going to be built, at least for now. And the fact that the fight may not be over was enough to bring out the warrior in LoParo.
"I will fight until it is over," he said. "And then I'll fight for something else."