The Palm Drive District promised to dissolve itself by the end of June, but now they're backsliding--and they want to illegally spend another $500,000 out the door. We still need your signature to...

The Palm Drive District promised to dissolve itself by the end of June, but now they're backsliding--and they want to illegally spend another $500,000 out the door. We still need your signature to...

Despite a promising start at February's meeting, the Palm Drive District board is slowing its move towards dissolving itself while spending more money on its way out the door. Read more in this...

Last night, in front of an overflow crowd demanding dissolution, the Palm Drive board of directors voted unanimously to dissolve the District! The Board directed its legal counsel to prepare a...

As of yesterday, Feb. 1, we've collected over 1000 signatures on our petition!


And don't forget to attend the District board meeting tomorrow, Monday, at 5:30 PM at the hospital conference room....

What used to be Palm Drive Hospital is now Sonoma Specialty Hospital (SSH). It is wholly owned and operated by a private, for-profit corporation. The Palm Drive District has no more connection to or...

No one has said that the District hasn't done some good for community health. But a public healthcare district in California, especially a very small one like Palm Drive, necessarily carries an...

​Dan Smith was a founder of the Palm Drive Healthcare District, a former board member, and former chairman of the board of Sonoma West Medical Center. He spoke in favor of dissolving the District at...

COMMENTARY: Time to dissolve the Palm Drive Health Care District

This article was posted today in Sonoma West Times & News by Jeff Weaver, former Sebastopol police chief and Gravenstein Union...

Release the Opinion!

The Palm Drive District has received an outside legal opinion on allowable uses for our parcel taxes (at a cost to taxpayers of $30,000)--but they won't make it public. Has...

48664We'll be collecting signatures on our petition to Dissolve the District at Pacific Market in Sebastopol on Saturday, Jan. 18, from 10 AM to 4 PM.

If you're a registered voter in the Palm...

As some of you know, I was a director of the Palm Drive Health Care District for several years. Last May, I resigned from the board out of frustration with the District’s poor fiscal management and...

I'm voting only for Richard Power, a local attorney who is very interested in and knowledgeable about our community and in the Palm Drive fiasco but doesn't have an axe to grind or past mistakes to...

In the fall of 2017 and spring of 2018, SWMC Inc. made likely illegal "kickback" payments as part of its ill-fated drug testing program with Aaron Durall and Reliance Labs. Certain Palm Drive...

I don't have time to respond to all of the misinformation and personal attacks coming from Dan Smith and Jonathan Greenberg in other threads--fact-checking those two is like fact-checking Trump--but...

Despite misleading posts from Dan Smith, Jonathan Greenberg and others, I do not want to close Sonoma West Medical Center (SWMC). I do want to sell or lease it to a qualified operator (like the...

It could be that no one else is voicing concerns because, when you do, you're immediately attacked in this forum and others for "disinformation," "deception" and all the rest of it...

And I don't...

So, Barry, should everyone who has serious questions and concerns about this plan shut up--or just me?

Just askin'...

Regarding my recent commentary that appeared in Sonoma West, Dan Smith writes the following: "Sadly, Jim Horn continues his history of disinformation in this piece and Rollie aids and abets by...

Thanks, Barry.

I accept your view that I will "wait to see the full plan along with financial projections (which have yet to be submitted) and vote as he sees fit." I think that's my job as a...

And continuing to misstate my words and misrepresent my positions won't fool the voters, Dan. I agree that an emergency room is better than an urgent care center. But I'm not yet convinced that an ER...

For someone who says he hates negative campaigning, Mr. Greenberg spends a lot of time attacking me—and I’m not even running against him! All of his allegations in this post are false; here’s why:
...

In a recent post, Dan Smith (aka Farmer Dan) stated that 85% of patients visiting the Palm Drive Emergency Room in 2013 actually required an emergency room rather than urgent care. The Foundation...

Dan -- I agree that there is some truth and some fiction in what you wrote:

“It has been represented in multiple places that Palm Drive lost $64 million over the last 13 years.”

Since you don’t...

Hot off the presses...

SIERRA CLUB SONOMA GROUP ENDORSED CANDIDATES
FOR NOVEMBER 2014 GENERAL ELECTION

Your Sonoma Group Political Committee has been very busy over the past few months making...

Sorry for the delay in responding to your post.

I've heard a lot of different opinions about what would happen if the parcel tax was repealed, if the Palm Drive District was dissolved, if just a...

So let me get this straight...

According to your website, ProgressiveSebastopol.com, you are a "grassroots effort" that is "independent of any campaign, organization, corporation or PAC." Yet your...

You're completely wrong about my position on reopening the Palm Drive Hospital with an ER. Here's what I say on my website (jimhornforpalmdrive2014.com) and what I said in an article in Sonoma West...

On April 7, the Palm Drive District Board voted to close Palm Drive Hospital. I sat in the audience with my wife, Susan, who had cared for patients as a Palm Drive nurse for six years. When the...

Dan -

I have to work for a living, so here goes...

No, I still believe that Glenn Minervini-Zick would have a conflict of interest serving as Hospital CFO and an employee of OffsiteCare;

No,...

I guess I should have written "why can't you recognize his conflict of interest?" Sorry, I thought the last five words were understood.

Dan -

My comments on potential conflicts of interest in the Foundation's original plan were and are valid. As I've said repeatedly, a potential conflict doesn't make you a bad person--it just...

Thanks, Barry.

About a month ago I wrote this commentary about Palm Drive Hospital for Sonoma West that can be found here.

In that commentary, I discussed some of my concerns with the Palm...

Thanks for your thoughtful and thorough post, John. For the record, you and I spoke briefly on the phone yesterday; before then, I didn't know you from a hole in the wall...

When I have time, I...