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FRENCH CAMP — If you asked any of the nearly 300 military veterans at a Friday rally where they would like to see a new Veteran's Affairs nursing home and clinic built, they would likely reply in cadence: "Build it here."
With dozens of elected officials from San Joaquin, Amador and Calaveras counties represented, Congressman Jerry McNerney, D-Pleasanton, led a rally in support of putting the new facility in French Camp, near the San Joaquin General Hospital and an existing VA clinic.
He called French Camp a "terrific spot" for a new health facility for the estimated 42,000 veterans who live in the area.
"(San Joaquin) county has been very generous in terms of providing the VA with a large incentive to build this facility here, and we're going to do that," McNerney said. "We want to pull out all the stops. We want to make this thing happen right here, right on this piece of ground, right in San Joaquin County, to serve the veterans that live all over this area."
San Joaquin County is competing with Stanislaus County for the new clinic, which would replace the aging facility in Livermore.
Livermore area politicians and veterans strongly oppose closing the hospital and have hopes that under the Obama administration a different fate awaits it. McNerney has said he supports keeping the Livermore location open in addition to building the French Camp site.
A decision on which county the new facility will be built in is
The county has offered the VA seven acres of land — leased for a dollar a year — to attract the health care facility which in turn would create 900 new jobs in the area. Leroy Ornellas, the chair of the county's board of supervisors, said they are willing to provide more property if the VA needs it.
A spokeswoman for the VA's Palo Alto Health Care System said three-quarters of the veterans who use the Livermore facility are from the Central Valley.
Stockton resident and Medal of Honor recipient Richard Pittman said as a user of the VA facility in Livermore, he found a lot of things wrong with the services for veterans from the Central Valley.
"This facility will be a big, big step toward improving that," Pittman said. "I can only ask my fellow veterans, if you see or hear anything about support rallies, or contacting a congressman — not just McNerney, we have a lot of other congress members in Northern California I feel should be involved as well — if you see them, let them know how important this is to us."
Vietnam veteran and Tracy City Councilman Mike Maciel said Tracy has a great tradition of its young men and women serving the country.
"Sadly, we have given more than our fair share of losing our young people to the current war on terror," Maciel said. "This is a great example, and hopefully people in Sacramento can learn from it, of setting bipartisan differences aside and coming together for a common goal and to get something done. It would be wonderful to see the facility here to serve all (the veterans) ... and those that are serving now when they come home. Let's get this done."
McNerney has also enlisted the endorsement of Rep. Bob Filner, D-Chula Vista, chairman of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs, to build in French Camp.
Reach Mike Martinez at 209-832-3947 or mike.martinez@bayareanewsgroup.com.
