6 Years and No Update on L.A. National Veterans Cemetery Project

Applications for gravesite plots at the Los Angeles National Cemetery in Westwood continue coming in, yet it is nearly completely full, according to NBC4's Memorial Day coverage.

Rep. Henry Waxman is urging Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki to follow through on the plan to construct a columbarium for the cemetery. The VA approved the plans in 2007.

“I have worked on behalf of elderly veterans since 2001 to urge the Department of Veterans Affairs to construct a columbarium," Waxman stated in a May 23 letter to Shinseki. "It is difficult to understand why the VA has not made progress on a project that is clearly needed, has no opposition, and is supported by elderly veterans and their families."

According to NBC4, the cemetery's 80,000 gravesites were all either occupied or committed by the mid-1970s and niches remained available for cremation ashes for another two decades in the cemetery's 1940's era columbarium.

However, by the mid-1990s, the cemetery's roughly 5,500 niches had been claimed, while special arrangements have continued to be made for service members killed in action, and family members can share burial space.

"Los Angeles County is home to more than 300,000 veterans, which is the largest number of any county in the nation," Waxman wrote. "The Los Angeles National Cemetery has been closed to burials since 1978 and the nearest national cemetery is in Riverside, California, more than 75 miles away.

Waxman added that since the closure of the National Cemetery, his office has been contacted by numerous family members wishing to have their lost loved ones interred in a proper National Cemetery in L.A.

Waxman asked for an update to the construction project by mid-June.

A columbarium is a structure of vaults for the respectful storage of cinerary urns.

Click here for the full text of Rep. Waxman's letter to Shinseki.

Housing for homeless vets already a longstanding issue

The West L.A. VA is already under scrutiny by Waxman's office to convert Building 209 on the nearby Brentwood campus into housing for homeless veterans. The VA broke ground on the project in January.

However, it was revealed in February the housing projects still were not properly funded. In March, the dispute went into litigation and voices for disabled veterans gathered outside the VA in protest of the federal government not adhering to the deed of 1888.