Operation Gratitude Denied Building by LAUSD Because of Anti-War Sentiments!

The Pasadena Pundit ^ | August 17, 2006 | Susan King

[WayneLusvardi]

Operation Gratitude Denied Building by LAUSD Because of Anti-War Sentiments!

Operation Gratitude sends care packages to our troops

Carolyn Blashek via Susan King, Pasadena

Dear All, I am sorry to report that the deal we had for the new facility was pulled out from under us at the last moment. To say I am angry and disappointed is an understatement, as you can imagine. However, I, and I trust all of us, are committed to press on and I have already re-initiated my outreach to various quarters to find another space. Time is clearly of the essence as we need to be completely situated and ready to start prep work by October 1 in order to make the Holiday Drive happen on time. I urge each of you to also contact anyone you know and spread the word for us regarding our need. To reiterate from earlier emails, we are looking for 7000-10,000 square feet of mostly open warehouse space in the San Fernando Valley. While donated space would be most appreciated, at this point I am willing to pay rent (even tho it may deplete our reserves) to make sure the Holiday Drive happens. Dennis McCarthy of the Daily News will also be putting out a call next week in his column.

While the details of what occured are no longer important, I am including below a brief description for those who are interested, particularly because this may receive publicity and as the people most closely involved with Operation Gratitude, I want you to hear it first from me.

In early June (while we were completing the Patriotic Drive), I reached out to various city, state and federal politicians, as well as real estate brokers to let people know we were looking (actually, I had started looking last February, but then made it more urgent in June when the armory let us know they needed us out immediately). I was contacted by a city councilman's deputy to say that LAUSD had a special situation with the old Granada Hills Community Hospital property that would eventually be demolished and a high school built on the site. There was an out building that housed the hospital's maintenance, housekeeping and purchasing departments that would be retained for the District's ultimate use once the school was built. Technically, the property was owned by the "Land Bank", not yet by LAUSD, so the deal was exempt from the normal District bidding process. We viewed the site and while it needed renovation work to be suitable for us, it was perfect in many ways. We said we were definitely interested, as long as we could knock down some of the walls to open the existing large bay areas. We were told repeatedly that as long as our plans did not cost LAUSD any money, and as long as we were willing to vacate when the District was ready to occupy for its own purposes, we were free to do whatever renovation work we wanted. We agreed to all of that. From June through the last few weeks, I kept pressing to sign the paperwork so I could move forward to find a tv Makeover show and or contractors to do the renovation work. Finally, I received a draft License Agreement on August 1 for discussion at a meeting with the leasing and asset management people August 2, during which we reviewed the License Agreement and discussed the nature of the renovation work we intended. It appeared that the agreement would go forward (I only had minor changes to their prepared document). Every day I contacted the Asset Mgmt office to find out when we would get a final draft. This past Thursday, I was finally contacted by their outside legal counsel to say she needed to look at it. I told her what I had been telling everyone: there is an urgency with time as we needed to do alot of work to make the facility functional by October 1, the date required to start prepping for the Holiday Drive. I began to get messages from various parties involved that there were "legal issues." Friday I received a call from the leasing and management office saying that the LAUSD's General Counsel office late Thursday stated they were now fearful, "GIVEN THE LIEBERMAN SITUATION and general anti-war sentiments, that someone might bring a lawsuit complaining that the property was leased to Operation Gratitude without a public hearing," and were therefore unwilling to approve the deal.

I leave it to each of you to form your own opinion about their decision. I simply remind everyone that Operation Gratitude is completely non-partisan and makes no judgments regarding military conflicts. All we care about is raising the morale of troops serving our country.

In all fairness, despite alot of feet dragging, I feel that the other people involved--the Board members, the Councilmen, even the asset management people, were all trying to make this happen for Operation Gratitude. It was the General Counsel who nixed it at the very last minute. While we might have legal recourse, I prefer to concentrate our efforts on moving forward and finding another space. I will let public opinion take care of the LAUSD General Counsel's office. I urge you to assume the same attitude. Let's focus on what we do best: putting smiles on troops' faces.

I will of course keep you posted on new developments. Please let me know if you have any leads to follow--I am out of town for a few days but will have email access.

As ever, thank you for your love and dedication to Operation Gratitude. Each of you, along with our service members, continue to be my inspiration. Love, Carolyn Carolyn Blashek, Operation Gratitude www.operationgratitude.com cblashek@aol.com

[dangus]

LAUSD?

[WayneLusvardi]

Los Angeles Unified School District

[AlaskaErik]

So much for we love the troops, we just hate the war. We get care packages from all over here in Afghanistan, but they seem to always come from red states. But wherever they come from, we always appreciate getting them. Thanks to all those who remember us.