LIVERMORE, CA — Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 7265 has opened a public campaign pressing the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to publish a plan for the Livermore veterans medical campus, arguing that the absence of one has left the community unable to advocate for itself.
The post's call to action, issued on Facebook last week, asks members and supporters to contact both of California's U.S. senators and State Sen. Jerry McNerney. The effort responds to a two-decade paper trail rather than any new federal announcement.
Courtesy: VFW Post 7265, Livermore, California
The 112-acre campus, built in 1949, has carried a closure recommendation since 2004, when the independent Capital Asset Realignment for Enhanced Services Commission first proposed shutting it. A 2022 VA Asset and Infrastructure Review report reaffirmed that conclusion and supplied the cost case: about $63.9 million in facility deficiencies and roughly $6.2 million a year in operations and maintenance. The report also cited a single entrance and exit road, limited parking, buildings unsuited to modern care and an aging sewage treatment plant.
That report set the order of events now unfolding. It called for a new multi-specialty outpatient clinic near Pleasanton and the elimination of those services at Livermore, which makes the clinic's opening the trigger for closure rather than any fixed date. According to the VA's website, full closure remains many years away and clinical operations at Livermore will continue until services shift to the new clinic.
Services have thinned in the meantime. The campus community living center closed earlier this year and its residents moved to the VA facility in Menlo Park. Post adjutant Michael Gilmore said the pharmacy has closed and dental care has stopped, sending patients to Menlo Park for routine appointments.
The site is still receiving money. Under a $4.8 billion nationwide maintenance commitment for fiscal year 2026, the Livermore Division is slated for an X-ray machine replacement.
McNerney said he has long argued the property should keep serving veterans. Gilmore said the post would accept reuse of the land for veterans housing or a rehabilitation center if the hospital cannot stay open.
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