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 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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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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