Hayworth Seeks Support for Bill to Save VA Sites

Rep. Nan Hayworth will hold a press conference Friday, Aug. 5, in Buchanan to rally support for a bill she has introduced to prohibit the disposal of land or buildings by any means at the Montrose or Castle Point campuses of the Hudson Valley Health Care System.

The Mount Kisco Republican introduced H.R.2642, the Hudson Valley VA Health Care Campus Protection Act, in response to attempts by the Department of Veterans Affairs to reduce the size and scope of services at the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Campus in Montrose and lease much of the site to private developers.

The press conference is scheduled for 10 a.m. at Buchanan Village Hall, 236 Tate Ave.

Under the VA’s Enhanced-Use Lease (EUL) process the 184-acre Montrose campus would consolidate operations to new facilities on approximately 12 acres and lease the remaining 172 acres, as well as more than 780,000 square feet of building space, for private development. The proposed leasing has been vehemently opposed by veterans and by officials of the town of Cortlandt, of which Montrose is a part.

“Our veterans were given a promise completing their service, and an important part of that promise is fulfilled through the care they receive within the VA system,” Hayworth said. “Our veterans view the Montrose and Castle Point campuses as valuable assets that honor the sacrifices they made for our country. The EUL process did not take into account the burdens of the global war on terror, Iraq and Afghanistan that created so many new veterans to whom we must honor our commitments. We are serving their needs, and those of our older veterans as well, by preventing the lease of these facilities.

“The Montrose facility is nationally recognized for its post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury programs. We have an increasing number of veterans who require the best care we can provide closest to home. The bill I am introducing will support our veterans by terminating the EUL process that has been under review for Montrose and ensuring continued protection of the Castle Point VA facility,” she said. Castle Point is in the town of Fishkill, in southwestern Dutchess County.

Denis Castelli, Hayworth’s veterans advocate, noted that a similar bill was passed by the House of Representatives last month for the VA’s St. Albans Healthcare facility in Queens, “but the Senate changed the wording of the bill – effectively gutting it and leaving the door open for the VA to lease the property as they have been planning to do” since the EUL program was introduced more than five years ago. “We can’t let that happen to our Hudson Valley facilities,” he said.

William Nazario, junior vice commander of the Department of New York, Military Order of the Purple Heart, and a leading advocate for veterans in Cortlandt, encouraged residents, especially veterans, to attend the press conference to show support for Hayworth’s bill, which he described as the follow-up to her promise to the veterans community to save the Montrose facility from private and commercial development.