Angry Vets Confront VA Official on Gym Closure

NORTH HILLS — In a town hall meeting packed with 200 angry veterans Friday morning, a top Department of Veterans Affairs official pledged to hire an outside consultant to assess the seismic condition of a gym he abruptly shut down Monday.

After reading a 1997 engineering report on the building, Philip Thomas, chief executive officer for the Department of Veterans Affairs for the Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, said he closed the facility because he believed it to be unsafe.

When asked whether the gym at the Sepulveda Ambulatory Care and Nursing Home facility would reopen if found to be safe, Thomas told the agitated veterans, “I don’t see why not.”

Thomas said he expected the study to be completed within 30 to 45 days.

Friday’s meeting--closed to news media--was called after Thomas closed the gym, igniting outrage among Valley veterans.

Some veterans were furious the facility--used about 1,000 times a month, gym regulars said--was closed for stated seismic reasons five years after the Northridge earthquake.

Others saw the gym closure as another example of a government steadily hacking away at services the veterans believe they deserve.

“This follows a series of serious cutbacks for veterans in this area,” said former U.S. Rep. Bobbi Fiedler, a Northridge resident who is married to a veteran and spoke as a representative for many attending Friday’s meeting.

“There is a climate of complete lack of confidence in the leadership because of endless promises that are broken. This is just the straw that broke the camel’s back. What else can they take away from the vets?”

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Thomas, appointed in June, has made significant cuts in his short tenure--including a decision to slash another 400 VA employees soon. But on Friday Thomas said he aims to expand services to the veterans. He said the gym was shut down for safety reasons, not financial reasons.

“When everything is said and done, I made this decision because I have been advised that it is not safe,” Thomas said.

The Los Angeles City Council approved a motion Wednesday opposing the closure.

Until a final decision is made, the gym will remain closed. Exercise machines, hastily moved to a converted office space in a nearby building, are still available to veterans.

The gym, housed in Building 23 at the expansive North Hills VA facility, is situated across a lawn, outdoor track and some worn tennis courts. It offered the exercise machines as well as basketball courts and a volleyball court.

Veterans say the gym is not just a San Fernando Valley facility, but is the only such gym in the region, which runs from Santa Barbara to Long Beach.

It is used for kinesiology classes and exercise rehabilitation programs, as well as a training center for veterans aspiring to take part in the Wheelchair Olympics, and others who compete in the National Veterans Golden Age Games.

It is also a place for sick, lonely veterans to meet and see their friends.

“There are men in wheelchairs and walkers who go to the gym just for a little camaraderie, if nothing else,” said Steven Palmer, a World War II veteran who served four years in the Navy Corps.

When talk of the closure first arose, Rep. Howard P. “Buck” McKeon (R-Santa Clarita) persuaded Thomas to keep the gym open until the end of October. But a few days later, after reading a 1997 engineering report on the building, Thomas said, he changed his mind and closed the facility.

Jeff Soulanges of Degenkolb Engineers, which issued the 1997 report on the building, said in the report he was “surprised to learn” patients and staff members were still using Building 23 and was “uncomfortable” knowing the building was in use three years after the Northridge earthquake.

Although the report stated Soulanges hesitated to use the word “unsafe” to describe the building, he said he considered it the most seismically vulnerable building on the North Hills VA campus.

The report said engineers did not red-tag the building, nor did they “perform a formal seismic study” of the structure.

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The report estimated it would cost $4.7 million to fully repair the gym and pool, and $3.2 million to construct a new building.

The pool in the same building has been closed since the earthquake because of cracks in the pipes around the pool.

Some veterans remained doubtful after Friday’s meeting, but others expressed hope.

“I’m satisfied with what he said, to a point,” said Donald Williams, 52, a Vietnam veteran who was chosen by his friends to represent them. “At least we’re having a dialogue.”