Anyone concerned with the health of veterans in Dallas should read this editorial from the Dallas Morning News. Here are the opening paragraphs:

Few planned projects carry the high stakes that City Hall puts on Veterans Place, a seven-acre, transit-oriented development across Lancaster Road from the VA Medical Center in south Oak Cliff. It’s a core feature of Mayor Mike Rawlings’ GrowSouth initiative, and the city already has granted $4.4 million to help developer Yigal Lelah move forward.

Yet nearly four years after the project was unveiled, not a shovelful of construction dirt has flown. Inexcusable delays linger over issues that should have been resolved long ago.

Depending on how ongoing negotiations conclude among Lelah, the city and the Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Place could help transform a deeply troubled neighborhood.

If communication problems are allowed to persist among the stakeholders, the project could falter. This newspaper urges all sides to keep foremost in mind the benefits that Veterans Place could bring to the surrounding low-income community, the hospital’s 3,600 employees and the VA’s clientele: thousands of medically needy veterans.