Commentary: State should use Fairview Center for disabled veterans

Fairview Developmental Center, a 114-acre, state-owned facility along Harbor Boulevard in Costa Mesa, now houses only about 263 disabled individuals, down from around 2,700 in its heyday in the 1960s.

This has been deemed too burdensome for the state, and the center may ultimately be closed by 2021.

I see this as an opportunity to help our homeless vets. Veterans who return from active duty often suffer mental (not to mention physical) disabilities beyond the traumas and travails that may have driven others into a state of homelessness, and deserve special consideration.

More often than anyone cares to admit, they come back broken, and they cannot be fixed. Perhaps an enlightened council can someday take leadership in persuading the state to take responsibility, because this is not just a Costa Mesa problem.

Perhaps they can communicate with our elected representatives in Sacramento, who can then interact with the authors of two separate pieces of legislation currently under consideration that may seal the fate of the current facility, by 2018 or 2021, respectively.

I would like to see us borrow a page from the handbook being implemented in the vast V.A. West Los Angeles Medical Center 387-acre campus, where they have begun using that beautiful tract of land to implement permanent supportive housing for homeless veterans. (Although this may be too much of a stretch, perhaps the federal government can ultimately be persuaded to do the same with our state-owned 114 acres to serve homeless vets in at least four counties south and east of Los Angeles.)

One of the practical problems with state Senate Bill 82 (recently signed into law) has to do with a requirement that may result in the creation of a new housing development of 500 homes on that land. That could translate to 1,000 more cars, not including guests.

The last thing Harbor Boulevard needs is yet more congestion. Isn’t our city essentially built out? How do the current residents benefit from increasing our population?

And do we need yet more strife regarding needed sports fields vs. open spaces vs. real estate developers?

To burden Costa Mesa taxpayers with a long-term bond obligation (in excess of $100 million) to purchase this land does not appear judicious. And our seriously depleted rainy day reserves have yet to be restored to their pre-recession levels of a few years ago.

Why not throw a break to homeless vets whose big mistake was being at the wrong place at the wrong time?

Let’s pressure the state (or Feds) into doing the right thing. Or, at the least, work at crafting a workable compromise — one that does not result in 500 new homes.

Costa Mesa resident AL MELONE is a former council candidate who says he plans to run again in 2016.