Monterey, CA Veterans Cemetery or Horse Track On The Old Fort Ord Base? That's The Battle Being Fought

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I hope everyone had a great Memorial Day weekend.  I've personally served in the military and have a number of family members who are serving their country or have served their country so the holiday means a lot to me.  It's been sad to see many of these men and women who have been deployed  overseas to come back to find their own country in a shambles, not from war, but from the recession.  It's been hard for them to find jobs, many of their spouses are out of work and times are tough.  If that isn't enough, the Veteran's Administration has an unprecedented disability claims backlog, so many of these heroes are waiting months, sometimes more than a year, to get the benefits that they deserve.  I own a company called Family inHome Caregiving which takes Veteran's Insurance for caregiving service and I can tell you the red tape is unbelievable, both for the Veteran to get approved for benefits and for the vendor (me!) to get paid.  It's unfortunate that against this backdrop, Monterey County Residents are in the midst of a big battle over a parcel of land on the old Fort Ord site.  They have been trying to build a cemetery for Veterans there for years, and it's a perfect place for it.  About 20,000 people have signed a petition sponsored by the Fort Ord Access Alliance to turn a portion of 540 acres of the old military base into a final resting place for Veterans and leaving the remainder undeveloped.  The state has already approved an adjacent endowment parcel next to the 540 acres ensuring there will be funding for upkeep of the cemetery.   However, another group (Secure The Promise) has emerged and obtained more than 3,000 signatures arguing that the cemetery land should be open for development.  Secure The Promise is being run by backers of Monterey Downs, a proposed equestrian-themed part that includes a horse racing track.  Both groups are trying to get enough signatures to have it voted on during a special election which will cost voters about $1 million.  The special election takes the control of the land out of the Fort Ord Resuse Authority, which was supposed to decide its future.  Please read any petition carefully before you sign it.  Both sides have hired temporary employees to get more signatures and these workers may not be well informed about what they are trying to get you to sign.   To get more information from the source, the Web sites of the two groups are www.fortordacess.org and securethepromise.org.