So Long and Thanks for All the Fish!
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thanks for the disclosure, Richard. I'm on medicare and I don't have Kaiser, so I don't think that solution would serve me ...
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What I wonder is if something like Kaiser could operate the hospital, be under the jurisdiction of the Hospital Board, and have PDH open to the district residence even if not Kaiser customers. Just asking questions and not promoting it. There are many ideas floating about.
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Victoria
Some people become a really stinking tirade if you don't agree to their interpretation of the "Facts". What happen to free speech, or the rights to your own opinion, or respect for others. When calling people names you only belittle yourself.
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Given the article by peacetown jonathan that has appeared describing how the board handled mediation requests and the dishonest arguments of their very non local lawyer, I think the only reasonable position at this point is that enough of the Board is corrupt as to make it actively destructive of the interests of the people of Sebastopol and of Sonoma county. No wonder they meet in secret. They need to resign immediately and run for re-election, or be recalled of they do not. I will help gather signatures.
https://www.waccobb.net/forums/showt...805#post179805
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Richard, my hope for the ideas floating around out there is that we can, as a community, come to a consensus that the only ideas that we ought to seriously consider are those that include reopening an emergency room and acute care facility at Palm Drive ASAP. Do you agree with this? Do you feel that there is a consensus among the people you know in our community about this? Thanks!
What I wonder is if something like Kaiser could operate the hospital, be under the jurisdiction of the Hospital Board, and have PDH open to the district residence even if not Kaiser customers. Just asking questions and not promoting it. There are many ideas floating about.
Last edited by Bella Stolz; 05-21-2014 at 12:56 PM.
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I never understood why Palm Drive didn't advertise and market their programs more aggressively. They had a "a state-of-the-art robotic telemedicine program directed by James Gude, MD. Robotic telemedicine helps... physicians consult immediately with on-call specialists throughout the San Francisco Bay Area...", a stroke program, many community programs, terrific physical rehabilitation, etc. I worked with an amazing certified rehab hand therapist with impeccable training. Kaiser patients could be treated in the ER, etc, etc, etc.
Course what hasn't emerged in this conversation is why the hospital had so few beds occupied. Their outdated marketing was one factor but also the insurance company reimbursements were so low or them not paying for months on end. My broken arm surgery Palm Drive billed Blue Cross Blue Shield $20,000 for the related costs of the operation such as operating room, drugs, gloves etc. and Blue Shield paid $6,000. Not sure how much my operation really was but I am sure they didn't make a huge profit on my operation.
Here's the proposal Carol is referring to:
https://ehrinternational.com/PDPhysi...einventPDH.pdf
As for my , I can't speak about management structures aside from I like the idea of at least 1 active Dr. sitting on the board.
My house is around the corner from Palm Drive, and I'm getting older, so I really like that it is there. But that said, I think it should only be offering services that are not duplicated at the Santa Rosa hospitals unless the closer location is critical, rather than merely convenient. And the service should be emergency triage and stabilization and then transported to Santa Rosa if needed/appropriate.
It can also services that are not offered at the Santa Rosa hospitals.
Location dependant services that come to mind are:
- Cardiac/stroke triage
- Birth Center (If we were planning a hospital birth for my second daughter, she would be been delivered someplace on Hwy 12!)
- Urgent Care
- I'm sure there must be others where the 30 minutes can make a difference.
Unique services that come to mind include:
- Advance alternative and complementary medicine
- telemedicine
I'm OK with the current level of public support. If more support is needed, I think more oversight is needed as well.
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I support an immediate recall of the Palm Drive Board members. I don't feel they are capable of dealing with this crisis. They do not seem to have the ability to work with the community or to come up with different solutions than the one they keep repeatedly and adamently proposing. It is a tough situation. We need a Board that consider without bias ways of re-opening the hospital with the emergency room with new modelling. I think the Palm Drive Foundation proposal is a good start but we need a District Board who can work with the Foundation, not oppose every step they try to take.
Given the article by peacetown jonathan that has appeared describing how the board handled mediation requests and the dishonest arguments of their very non local lawyer, I think the only reasonable position at this point is that enough of the Board is corrupt as to make it actively destructive of the interests of the people of Sebastopol and of Sonoma county. No wonder they meet in secret. They need to resign immediately and run for re-election, or be recalled of they do not. I will help gather signatures.
https://www.waccobb.net/forums/showt...805#post179805
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I believe Palm Drive Hospital's situation must be happening to small hospitals all around the country. Many beds are going unoccupied thus there is a lack of revenue.
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Thanks so much for your investigation.Richard, my hope for the ideas floating around out there is that we can, as a community, come to a consensus that the only ideas that we ought to seriously consider are those that include reopening an emergency room and acute care facility at Palm Drive ASAP. Do you agree with this? Do you feel that there is a consensus among the people you know in our community about this? Thanks!
From your report it looks like a scheme to acquire a very valuable asset. An old fashioned land grab!
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Dear Friends,
The Palm Drive District Board has called an important meeting on very short notice concerning
the future of our hospital.
Thursday, May 22 ~ 5:30 pm
Location:
Sebastopol Center for the Arts
282 S. High Street, Sebastopol
Please come if you can and wear or hold a small sign
that says 'OPEN OUR HOSPITAL' to support the physicians and the Foundation in reopening Palm Drive.
Come early to find a seat. Space will be limited.
To find out more about the Open Our Hospital campaign, click on www.openourhospital.org
More info here….
https://www.waccobb.net/forums/showt...879#post179879
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The second article in our investigative series has been published here:
Behind Palm Drive Hospital’s Closing Part II: Wells Fargo Bank & the Shutdown Playbook
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I understand your concerns completely. I experience a similar sense of suspicion every time I see two or more traffic signals turn the same color simultaneously. I typically find myself wondering, “Who is behind this? What is really going on here?”Okay, the corner property CVS/Chase wants, the burned out hulk of Frizelle-Enos (whatever happened to the guy who allegedly caused the fire?), and now Palm Drive's board-driven closure. I do not generally see conspiracies around every corner but I must wonder about this chain of possible coincidences.
Your fears are not unfounded. I have it on good authority from a renowned investigative reporter that the invisible flying saucers parked in the Laguna are behind the recent events taking place at CVS, Frizelle-Enos and Palm Drive Hospital.
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I am relieved to hear that you have not fallen prey to this diabolical campaign of disinformation. My own extensive investigation, conducted over a period of ten minutes, proves beyond any doubt that the gullibility of the masses is not only essential, but easily exploited when attempting to get them to believe the opposite of reality.Dear John (I may call you that?),
All in good fun, surely, you jest? I grew up in El Ay and knew from my father's family of the story of how the area was able to grow. Chinatown, remember? And I've been here during the time of great growth possible only by Warm Springs, which closed down the gathering areas for the first people here and did away with the great salmon runs. There's a good sized difference between nonsensical fantasies and old fashioned land grabs. And I'm not saying it's so. But I was at the meeting last night on Palm Drive and glad of it. The board received a thrashing from the public and the "slick attorney" sat with serious space on each side of him. A long way of saying I won't put on the tin hat.
From The Atlantic
Tin Foil Hats Actually Make it Easier for the Government to Track Your Thoughts
Matt Soniak
Let's say some malevolent group -- the government, powerful corporations, extraterrestrials -- really is trying to read and/or control your thoughts with radio waves. Would the preferred headgear of the paranoid, a foil helmet, really keep The Man and alien overlords out of our brains?
The scientific reasoning behind the foil helmet is that it acts as a Faraday cage, an enclosure made up of a conducting material that shields its interior from external electrostatic charges and electromagnetic radiation by distributing them around its exterior and dissipating them. While sometimes these enclosures are actual cages, they come in many forms, and most of us have probably dealt with one type or another. Elevators, the scan rooms that MRI machines sit in, "booster bags" that shoplifters sometimes use to circumvent electronic security tags, cables like USB or TV coaxial cables, and even the typical household microwave all provide shielding as Faraday cages.
While the underlying concept is good, the typical foil helmet fails in design and execution. An effective Faraday cage fully encloses whatever it's shielding, but a helmet that doesn't fully cover the head doesn't fully protect it. If the helmet is designed or worn with a loose fit, radiofrequency electromagnetic radiation can still get up underneath the brim from below and reveal your innermost thoughts to the reptilian humanoids or the Bilderberg Group...
The full article can be found here: https://www.theatlantic.com/health/a...oughts/262998/
Researchers at MIT, using a network analyzer, tested the impact of tin foil helmets on receptivity of radio-frequency signals. They highlight the method and results in the study abstract:
Among a fringe community of paranoids, aluminum helmets serve as the protective measure of choice against invasive radio signals. We investigate the efficacy of three aluminum helmet designs on a sample group of four individuals. Using a $250,000 network analyzer, we find that although on average all helmets attenuate invasive radio frequencies in either directions (either emanating from an outside source, or emanating from the cranium of the subject), certain frequencies are in fact greatly amplified. These amplified frequencies coincide with radio bands reserved for government use according to the Federal Communication Commission (FCC). Statistical evidence suggests the use of helmets may in fact enhance the government’s invasive abilities. We speculate that the government may in fact have started the helmet craze for this reason.
The above was taken from: https://www.howtogeek.com/114037/res...nment-signals/
As you can see, I have conclusively proven that, as with all grand conspiracies, the “truth” is out there, and will eventually emerge if you look hard enough for it.
Please note: All quotes shown above were acquired from the internet, so you can be assured of their validity and accuracy.
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Thursday’s gathering at the Veterans Center was remarkable in its unanimity. For the hour and a half I was there the large crowd, alerted on such short notice, opposed the Palm Drive Board’s actions, and did so without exception.
How could this Board of volunteers have gotten so far out of touch with its community? I find it difficult to believe they sought their positions in order to act in bad faith. How could it have happened?
As I pondered this question I remembered an episode from my college days in the 60s. I and a few other anti-war students organized a student party to take over student government and use it for anti-war purposes (along with its traditional functions). We won. As I should have known, almost immediately the student organizations that continually set up information tables on campus to seek student support and cash disappeared. Their people began hanging around the student senate office because we decided where the student activity fee would go.
I was alarmed at the collapse of campus-wide educational tables, and so proposed a measure where students could ranks the categories of organizations to receive student senate funds during enrollment, with a requirement that the student senate respect those collective judgments. This meant organizations with a visible presence would probably receive more funding than those that simply sought to ingratiate themselves with student senators.
The proposal was voted down in the student senate and the reasoning given is what is interesting today. Average students were deemed too uninformed and too self-centered to be trusted with such ‘power.’ These claims were made by people whom I had often personally begged to run so we could offer a full slate, people who had never distinguished themselves for any initiative on their part beyond being anti-war.
Later, when I went to Berkeley for my Ph.D., I saw the same problem and worked with the student treasurer to develop an even better proposal to do the same there. Again student senate members disparaged UC students’ ability to make these judgments. I remember one saying students would give everything to the pom pom squad. UC Berkeley, as most know, is the Flagship campus for California, attracting many of the best students in the state.
Afterwards I thought if being elected to student government could do this to someone's judgment and intelligence what must be the case when someone finds themselves elected to a real position of authority and power? There seems to be something about being elected that goes to most people’s heads and gives them the illusion that those who elected them suddenly fell in IQ and judgment while theirs suddenly increased.
Back now to our Board.
If the same dynamic worked with them (and unlike student senators they have genuine power and serious responsibilities) then over time they began to see themselves as islands of sagacity within a potentially turbulent community of ignorant and short sighted simpletons.
Being puffed up by their election, they were amenable to having their egos stroked by the sociopaths in banking and their dishonest lawyer, people whose loyalties were demonstrably not to them or to us. Those ruthless folks long ago left any ethics they might have once possessed at the door, the better to seek wealth by manipulating, tricking, and lying to others. That's what big bankers and those who serve them do these days. I can well imagine some Board members being pulled aside to be told now that they were now 'insiders' and needed to 'grow up' and grasp how the 'real world' worked. They needed to cozy up to those with power and wealth, not with those who elected them.
A Board of elected volunteers would be putty in their hands. And so the Board embarked on a pattern of bad faith to their constituents while turning their judgment over to people who did not live here and had not the slightest bit of concern for the well-being of this town and its surroundings. They trusted those who treated them with bad faith while operating in bad faith towards those who trusted them. They rejected mediation and held meetings in secret. They worked with outside organizations to manipulate public perceptions. They acted dishonorably for (in their minds) the noblest of ends: doing for us what we were too stupid or emotional to understand needed to be done. If only we were as bright as they were supposedly we would appreciate them.
This is a perpetual problem for anyone who finds themselves elected to any position of authority, and is why no politician, professional or volunteer, should ever be completely trusted, especially when they say “trust us.” As individuals and as a species we handle power poorly.
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(quote): "And so the Board embarked on a pattern of bad faith to their constituents while turning their judgment over to people who did not live here and had not the slightest bit of concern for the well-being of this town and its surroundings."
This is just like "our" (now retired) County Public Works director, Phil Demery, who's not from here, and who decided that, since money was tight, he would only maintain 150 miles of the deteriorating county roads, and said the rest "could go back to gravel".
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I almost shared this a month ago, but it's still good. I have somewhat distant relatives living in Carmel. They sent me an email that said among other things:
"Thought you would like to know that Palm Drive Hospital is one of 15 listed in Consumers Report of top rated hospitals!
"The CR issue also advises that lots of folks die each year in hospitals due to medical errors with 440,000 deaths!
CR: "The hospital you choose really matters". I think we should think about moving to Sebastopol."
The Board really did a grievous disservice to our community. If they weren't blinded by their egos they would resign and get out of the way. If it turns out they were right they could then say "We told you so." That they are refusing to do this suggests they are not sure they are right, but their pride comes before anything else.
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Councilman Eder,
It's easy to ridicule something if you rely on cheap jokes about conspiracy theories and avoid any reference to facts.
Jonathan Greenberg's exhaustively researched report on the likely conflicts of interest that lay behind the advice given to the Palm Drive Board by its PR consultants and the actions of PD hospital attorney Michael Sweet, to mention only two of the most sensational revelations in the report, is nothing short of brilliant. Sebastopol owes him a big debt of gratitude.
If you have a quarrel with any of the facts Greenberg laid out or any substantive corrections to make, I'm sure we'd all like to hear them.
I understand your concerns completely. I experience a similar sense of suspicion every time I see two or more traffic signals turn the same color simultaneously. I typically find myself wondering, “Who is behind this? What is really going on here?”
Your fears are not unfounded. I have it on good authority from a renowned investigative reporter that the invisible flying saucers parked in the Laguna are behind the recent events taking place at CVS, Frizelle-Enos and Palm Drive Hospital.
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Last edited by Bella Stolz; 05-25-2014 at 10:44 AM.
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Seems to me it would be pretty chicken shit to resign in the middle of a crisis with no one to replace them. Can we just come together as the strong smart community we are and work out a solution without making enemies of each-other?
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Did you read my earlier post on how honorable people could get swept into something like this? Please do so.
IF they can honestly work with people seeking to reopen Palm Drive I would be 100% in favor. They have so far proven unwilling to do this. They were elected to represent a community that so far as I can tell has lost faith in them. NO ONE spoke in their defense while I was at the Thursday meeting and so far as I know they have been unwilling to change their approach.
If they are unwilling even to have a mediator they are incapable of performing their job as the people's representatives. If they are not our representatives they should resign because they are representing third parties or they are so ego filled as to be unwilling to listen to those who care about Palm Drive.
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In 2010 Nancy Dobbs ran for re-election stating “Crisis management and bankruptcy are behind us” and “Palm Drive is no longer running at a deficit”. Four years later the hospital is closed. In August of 2009 the Tennessee based management firm, Brim, was brought in to save the then failing hospital. By May 2010 the Palm Drive sinking ship was saved.
While Brim management firm certainly did a fine job “back in the day” it appears, in my layman's opinion, that there were some questionable circumstances surrounding the facelift. One interesting contractual tidbit was the clause that explicitly allowed Brim to purchase medical supplies and services from a purchasing organization run by Brim for which Brim received up to a 3% kickback. Standing on it's own that seems, to say the least, a bit odd to me but perhaps I'm old school when it comes to competitive and fair business practices. However, juxtapose that against the grounds for the controversial ousting of Jim Russell just prior to the Brim contract and suddenly “odd” as a descriptive is a polite understatement at best. Jim was dismissed, officially without cause, after concerns were raised about staff contracts awarded without competitive bidding. It seems to me we jumped from the pot into the fire on that one. Certainly it would appear that something had to be done to remove Mr. Russell considering that the contract signed with Brim, just seven days after Jim's dismissal, stipulated that the Palm Drive permanent CEO must be an at will Brim employee. The Brim contract was signed for 3 years and it is my understanding that controversy over this contract was at the root of some of the board's vacant seats in 2010. One might notice and ask, this is all water under the bridge so why stir up the pot? I think it lends credibility to the question of the board's ability to perform. Some of these current players have been calling the shots since the troubles began. Long story short, Palm Drive's administrative and board's history and current activities might well be suitable material for a few segments of General Hospital but where does that leave our real life drama here in Sebastopol?
Currently, the board's actions: illegal secret meetings, hospital closure, legal council with a conflict of interest, mediation refusal, saving Wells Fargo's financial interests over serving the public's best interests and finally misrepresentation of the communities needs and desires, I'm sorry to say, leaves me with little confidence that the board can be trusted with this time sensitive and crucial decision. It would appear that there is sufficient evidence to support this allegation and that debating the pros and cons of niceness is of little consequence given our present circumstance. In light of the board's questionable actions coupled with the urgency of the situation is there not some mechanism that might allow a public vote to accept or reject the doctor-led foundation plan?
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I agree with Gus and others that the Board members are susceptible to community pressure. Sent this to them today and urge all to contact them.
Dear Palm Drive Board members,
The events leading to the Board's decision to close Palm Drive are extremely troubling. The decision was taken without any public meeting. The consultants and lawyers had major conflicts of interest which should have disqualified them from representing the hospital.
Now is the time to publicly admit mistakes were made and make amends.
Sebastopol residents have shown overwhelming support for keeping an emergency care facility open.
I urge you to engage in mediation with the Palm Drive Foundation on the possibility of re-opening Palm Drive Hospital as an acute care facility.
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I greatly appreciate Jonathan Greenberg’s investigation and Gus's commentary.
There’s one element alluded to in his analysis on which I haven’t seen any commentary. As I read it, the lawyer’s advice to the Board suggested that they might have a “fiduciary responsibility” in the matter if they didn’t act on his advice.
What does that mean? It’s my understanding that while board members are normally shielded from personal liability for debts of the corporation, they might be personally subject to lawsuit on the grounds of malfeasance or willful neglect of their responsibilities — this is why there’s a huge market for “board liability” insurance. If I were one of those board members, I could readily imagine that, if I risked a decision that went against my legal advisors and approved a plan that resulted in a loss to the bondholders, could not the bondholders sue me personally for “neglecting my fiduciary responsibility”? The threat would surely be there, and I think it’s implicit in that lawyer’s words. How’d I like to be subject to being bled dry by the legal eagles of Wells Fargo Bank?
I don’t know if this was a factor in the Board’s punchdrunk stumble on this issue — destroy the village to save it — but it seems a possibility. Hope I’m wrong, as that would make any voluntary reversal of their decision even more difficult.
Is there any movement toward legal action against the Board for the Brown Act violation? And are we inextricably trapped into paying a parcel tax to keep Wells Fargo Bank in operation? Might the bank at least open a drive-up window for ER services?
Cheers—
Conrad
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I hadn't thought about the ramifications the board being personally responsible if they went against the lawyers' advice. That would really make it very hard for them to do anything but whatever 'advice' was handed down to them. Hence the stonewalling maybe.
I might take my bank accounts out of Wells Fargo. I am not liking the big boys right now as much as I did before all the hospital went down. I know its about money and risk. The hospital is a risky business (ironic isn't it) and I guess banking is also but this is also about living in a town and community of people needing basic services.
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I don’t know if this was a factor in the Board’s punchdrunk stumble on this issue — destroy the village to save it — but it seems a possibility. Hope I’m wrong, as that would make any voluntary reversal of their decision even more difficult.
Is there any movement toward legal action against the Board for the Brown Act violation? And are we inextricably trapped into paying a parcel tax to keep Wells Fargo Bank in operation? Might the bank at least open a drive-up window for ER services?
Cheers—
Conrad
Not being a Sebastopol resident - I live in Cotati - I don't pay a tax that keeps the wonderful, safe, hometown Palm Drive going, but I always choose it over any other nearby hospital. I had been to all of them except Kaiser, that I won't join even after several dozen mailings by them trying to attract me in. Having had to use many hospitals over my seven+ decades, I know a great one when I'm treated in one. Palm Drive - May We Revive It and help it thrive, specialize and enrich us as a community, has got itself an excellent reputation over these many years, as so many showing up to community meetings have expressed.
Why the Board has not got this message is an open question; Gus' shakedown of their behavior is spot on, judging from my own experience, also in a college and university setting. I have played a small part in recovering Antioch College from the indifferent and massive gobbling up by Antioch University; we are on our way again there with the best efforts of thousands of Alumni who also know a great and progressive community asset that they've been helped and nourished by. Palm Drive is in this same wonderful tradition.
I do wonder why more people needing medical care in this area, especially West County, have not chosen to use Palm Drive for an array of services. Are people so entranced by 'bigness' that they pass up a treasure right next door, right under their very noses, so to speak? I have chosen Palm Drive while being loaded into an ambulance and barely coherent, when looking for the most reliable and up to date surgical doctors and teams (3 times so far), to get blood tests, for Physical Therapy - an area that my own training allows me to
evaluate closely; and more.
If it is possible to hold a new election for a new Board, even perhaps allowing members of the existing Board to run again, while being held to a higher standard of competency, people in the voting area might want to develop a kind of questionnaire for candidates. It seems more than reasonable that there be a mandated position on a new Board for a Palm Drive Doctor, one who can get it across to other members the meaning and impacts of any decisions to be made. Another would obviously be how to select a more competent CEO; another would be how to, and who to, hire for legal services that are not in direct conflict with the hospital's wellbeing. Others would be a searchable resume of qualifications, possible conflicts of interest, statements of intent for the good health of the community. I'm sure others can add to these ideas.
Here's a great quote to partially suit the situation that has developed. It's from a letter written by John Adams in 1815 to Thomas Jefferson. They had a long and rich correspondence and died on the same day, July 4, 1826:
"The fundamental article of my political creed is that despotism, or unlimited sovereignty, or absolute power, is the same in a majority of a popular assembly, an aristocratic council, an oligarchical junto, and a single emperor."
I am not trying to make this quote fit exactly to the actions or inactions of the present Board members, but am putting it out as a reminder to citizens to keep track of the doings of those they've elected, perhaps with a watchdog group that can report to the community as a whole. Obviously, with the Brown act giving people the opportunity to sit in on all meetings, it's better to apply this openness in an ongoing way. When most journalism these days seems to suck at its job, the PD and Sonoma papers cannot be at all relied on in their present configurations to deliver the depth of information one would hope for, even expect. Thank you Jonathan Greenburg for your excellent digging and reportage. Apparently these are the times that try our souls with half-hearted 'news' that more pointedly serves corporate entities. Having once taught a course on "Media as Propaganda", I know that we all at least need be wary of what's dished to us. Believe me, 'propaganda' is so often the hidden code at the limits of reportage, that one wonders if the Fourth Estate is ever not the property owned by those who buy-to-own information itself.
Remember to get yourselves over to the Wednesday community meeting, on 5/28 at Sebastopol's Community Church. Palm Drive is by no means a lost cause, considering all the positive forces who have shown up to make it happen. The Palm Drive Foundation should be heard! Deeply and rightly considered!
And led by the people who have worked and studied and supplied so much to bring us the real thing, the one needed by so many members of the surrounding community - our own community supported hospital with a long and good track record, excellent service and fine doctors and staff. Make yourself one of this dedicated group in any way you can. Please and thank you.
robome
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Conrad, you ask one of the most important outstanding questions in our community's collective search for answers into why our hospital closed--and why this Board rejected the doctor led foundation plan to keep it open.
If any member of the Board reads this and can provide the answer to it as a reply, or anyone reading it knows a Board member and can ask them to answer this question and reply for them, please do so:
Have Palm Drive's Board members been told, as I have reported from a second hand source, that they have no legal choice but to NOT allow a Foundation group re-opening the hospital to use future tax revenues to keep an emergency room open? Has this lie which we see told by bankruptcy attorney Michael Sweet in a video of the April 23 meeting, become the received legal advice of this Board?
The Board members may have been told that this is "privileged information" and that they cannot disclose it.
This is untrue. Michael Sweet, our taxpayer-financed $520 attorney from Fox Rothschild (which also represents Wells Fargo Bank) is bound by attorney client privileges, and cannot reveal this information. But the Board, which was elected to serve the voters, can disclose what they want to the public. Indeed, in my view, given the urgency public interest of having n emergency room, and the apparent false information they were provided in public, they have an obligation to disclose it.
If any Board members reading this agree, and wish to comment, you would be doing a service to us all to do so on this thread as a reply to this post. The longer it takes for you, our Palm Drive Board members to reveal the truth behind why you decided to reject the doctor led foundation plan to keep the emergency room and hospital open, the more the sense will grow, among your neighbors, that you are doubling down on misleading advice, and acting secretly, against the interests of our community.
Attorney Michael Sweet's legal advice, instrumental in getting the Board to reject Dr. Gude's plan on April 23, is a deliberate distortion of what Chapter 9 bankruptcy law clearly states. The fiduciary responsibility of this elected Board is to operate a hospital with an emergency room. That is primary. The legal advice, given By Mr. Sweet, of Fox Rotschild (a law firm that also represents bond trustee Wells Fargo Bank) was that they could not approve the doctor led plan because they had a fiduciary responsibility not to "raid the kitties" and not to "squander" tax revenues due this coming year to support the operations of the hospital and emergency room.
Here, again, is Mr. Sweet's public LEGAL advice on this matter to the Board:
"Those funds just aren't available to startup this new process. What falls on the shoulders…of the board, is your role as a fiduciary, and the knowledge that right now that money is available is the concern that the money could end up being squandered or spent on something that the return isn't clear and could leave us in a very complicated situation down the road if money was available today to pay the creditors and fund the plan and exit the bankruptcy, and that money is spent in a way that the court might conclude was done imprudently… I think that the board puts itself at risk as a fiduciary for doing that; it could create complications for us in the bankruptcy case going forward.”
The law clearly states the OPPOSITE of this; that a Section 9 bankruptcy court has no power whatsoever to determine how a municipal entity uses its tax revenues for its operations. Indeed, federal bankruptcy law was WRITTEN to PREVENT creditors from shutting down vital government operations, like emergency rooms!
As I suggested at the most recent public meeting of the Board last Thursday, the Palm Drive District Board needs to fire Fox Rothschild, Wells Fargo's law firm, and hire one that honestly represents the taxpayers and citizens of our community.
We need a bankruptcy lawyer like the one Palm Drive hired in 2007, whose mission is to work through bankruptcy while re-opening the hospital.
Not a lawyer hell bent on running through a shutdown playbook, while rejecting a doctor led Foundation plan that would keep the emergency room open, alleging it is economically "unviable" because it uses the hospital's tax revenue to operate. Instead of, as Mr. Sweet so deceptively advised, keeping the hospital closed while using our future parcel tax revenues to pay off the creditors, the largest of them the bondholders Wells Fargo represents.
Palm Drive Board members: the people of your community need you to do the right thing. Fire these conflict of interest encumbered attorneys.
And use our tax dollars to find someone to represent the people of Sebastopol.
I greatly appreciate Jonathan Greenberg’s investigation and Gus's commentary.
There’s one element alluded to in his analysis on which I haven’t seen any commentary. As I read it, the lawyer’s advice to the Board suggested that they might have a “fiduciary responsibility” in the matter if they didn’t act on his advice.
What does that mean? It’s my understanding that while board members are normally shielded from personal liability for debts of the corporation, they might be personally subject to lawsuit on the grounds of malfeasance or willful neglect of their responsibilities — this is why there’s a huge market for “board liability” insurance. If I were one of those board members, I could readily imagine that, if I risked a decision that went against my legal advisors and approved a plan that resulted in a loss to the bondholders, could not the bondholders sue me personally for “neglecting my fiduciary responsibility”? The threat would surely be there, and I think it’s implicit in that lawyer’s words. How’d I like to be subject to being bled dry by the legal eagles of Wells Fargo Bank?
I don’t know if this was a factor in the Board’s punchdrunk stumble on this issue — destroy the village to save it — but it seems a possibility. Hope I’m wrong, as that would make any voluntary reversal of their decision even more difficult.
Is there any movement toward legal action against the Board for the Brown Act violation? And are we inextricably trapped into paying a parcel tax to keep Wells Fargo Bank in operation? Might the bank at least open a drive-up window for ER services?
Cheers—
Conrad
Last edited by Peacetown Jonathan; 05-27-2014 at 10:59 AM.
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I received a card in the mail inviting me (okay, inviting "Local Postal Customer"...) to the Palm Drive Health Care Foundation meeting this coming Monday evening at the Community Church of Sebastopol. I appreciate the invitation, and I intend to attend.
I was disappointed, however, to see that this mailer was produced by PrintingCenterUSA.com, based in Great Falls, Montana.
What ever happened to GO LOCAL?
During my campaign for City Council, I used Sprint Copy Center in downtown Sebastopol for my literature. They offered excellent service from great people at surprisingly competitive rates. They are an amazing local privately-owned business, and a member of GO LOCAL. It doesn't get any better. Find them at: https://sprintcopycenter.com/
For mailing services, I had to leave town for Santa Rosa. Here I used AD-Vantage Marketing, Inc. They are another local, privately-owned business that provides excellent service at great rates. Find them at: https://ad-vantagemarketing.com/
I believe that it is important to keep our money in our community and help employ our friends and neighbors as much as possible.
Recycled paper/card stock would help out Mother Earth as well.
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