carolina winston barrie resignation letter

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Carolina Winston Barrie 1707 San Vicente Blvd. Santa Monica, CA 90402 February 12, 2011 The Board of Directors Veterans Park Conservancy 11661 San Vicente Boulevard, Suite 204 Los Angeles, CA 90049 RE: Letter of Resignation from the Board of Directors Dear Members of the Board of Directors: After much thought and deliberation, this letter is to inform you that, effective immediately, I am hereby officially tending my resignation from the Board of Directors of the Veterans Park Conservancy (“VCP”). When I initially accepted my appointment as a director, it was my understanding that the activities of the VPC would be in furtherance of the intention of my great-aunt, Arcadia Bandini de Stearns Baker, one of the original donors of the land of the West Los Angeles VA to the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, a predecessor to today’s VA. I firmly believe that her intention was for that land to be used solely as a permanent home for veterans and not for any non-veteran related activities. I believe that my great-aunt felt passionate about this, as evidenced by the specific language she chose to use in the March 5, 1888 deed that conveyed this land to the VA. That deed contains no less than five separate references to the requirement that the land be used to “locate, establish, construct and 7005673_1

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Ancestor of Arcadia Baker, Carolina Winston Barrie, resigns from Veterans Park Conservancy board, citing that the property is held in trust for veterans as a home and not a park.

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Page 1: Carolina Winston Barrie Resignation Letter

Carolina Winston Barrie1707 San Vicente Blvd.

Santa Monica, CA 90402

February 12, 2011

The Board of Directors Veterans Park Conservancy11661 San Vicente Boulevard, Suite 204Los Angeles, CA 90049

RE: Letter of Resignation from the Board of Directors

Dear Members of the Board of Directors:

After much thought and deliberation, this letter is to inform you that, effective immediately, I am hereby officially tending my resignation from the Board of Directors of the Veterans Park Conservancy (“VCP”).

When I initially accepted my appointment as a director, it was my understanding that the activities of the VPC would be in furtherance of the intention of my great-aunt, Arcadia Bandini de Stearns Baker, one of the original donors of the land of the West Los Angeles VA to the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, a predecessor to today’s VA. I firmly believe that her intention was for that land to be used solely as a permanent home for veterans and not for any non-veteran related activities.

I believe that my great-aunt felt passionate about this, as evidenced by the specific language she chose to use in the March 5, 1888 deed that conveyed this land to the VA. That deed contains no less than five separate references to the requirement that the land be used to “locate, establish, construct and permanently maintain” a branch home of the National Home and it specifically stipulates that the land was conveyed in return for the promise of the National Home to permanently use the land as a branch home for veterans.

My role as a director of the VPC was meant to honor the legacy of my great-aunt in seeing that her intentions were followed. Unfortunately, the park that the VPC intends to establish on the West Los Angeles VA campus will not be limited to veteran use, but will, in essence, be a public park. I do not believe this is what my great-aunt intended and I feel that my continued presence on the board of the VPC at this point would not honor her memory.

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Page 2: Carolina Winston Barrie Resignation Letter

I would also note that I was quite disheartened by the letter that Sue Young recently sent to Lauren Bon of the Annenberg Foundation, an organization that had previously contributed one million dollars to the VPC. I am in agreement with the conclusion of the position paper that was issued by Ms. Bon’s Metabolic Studio that the land of the West Los Angeles VA is required to be used only as a home for veterans and that a public park, which by definition is not limited to veteran use, does not fulfill this purpose. I believe that Ms. Bon is entitled to her opinion on this matter, which I happen to agree with, and I do not believe that Sue Young’s response to Ms. Bon was appropriate.

Sincerely,

Carolina Winston Barrie

cc: Sue Young, Executive Director

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