Sebastopol City Council Campaign Issues 2014- Real or Imagined?
Several issues have emerged to date in the 2014 Sebastopol City Council election which would appear, on the surface, to differentiate the candidates from one another. I will be taking a look at these issues individually over the course of the next several weeks. Today, let’s look at “Open Our Hospital”.
The closure of Palm Drive Hospital has been a great loss for the residents of Sebastopol and the West County on many levels. The potential reopening of Palm Drive is not now, nor has it ever been, a legitimate issue in the upcoming election for the Sebastopol City Council. In November, voters will be selecting members of the Palm Drive Health Care District Board of Directors, who are solely responsible for the administration of the hospital. The Sebastopol City Council has no jurisdiction within the Palm Drive Health Care District, nor any ability to influence the outcome of the current efforts to reopen Palm Drive Hospital.
The current City Council clearly recognized this at their meeting of May 6, 2014 , where they voiced their support for the reopening of Palm Drive and issued a letter offering the full assistance of the City of Sebastopol to the Palm Drive Health Care District Board of Directors. They refrained from creating a subcommittee to interface with the Palm Drive Board of Directors, due to an undefined role, vague goals and an absence of jurisdiction. These are two independent public agencies, each with their own publicly-elected governing officials- there is no overlap of responsibility. The Sebastopol City Council has no more role within the Palm Drive Health Care District than it has within the West Sonoma County High School District or the Santa Rosa Junior College District, both of which likewise include Sebastopol.
The population of Sebastopol represents only 12%, approximately, of total Palm Drive Health Care District residents. If any governmental body external to the Health Care District was in a presumed position to help, it would be the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors. They are responsible for the vast majority of District residents, and have greater resources to offer to the District. Remember, Palm Drive is a District facility, merely located in Sebastopol.
The attempt to reopen the hospital that is currently underway will continue to evolve under the administration of those elected officials who have the legitimate, legal authority to do so. There are significant financial and regulatory obstacles to reopening that remain to be overcome. The Palm Drive Health Care District Board of Directors and the Palm Drive Health Care Foundation (two independent organizations) are working closely together towards the goal of creating a legally compliant and financially sustainable District hospital.
To believe that the current or a future Sebastopol City Council or any member(s) of it can play a decisive role in the reopening of Palm Drive Hospital is to subscribe to a false reality, with the promotion of that perception residing somewhere between seriously misinformed and deliberately misleading.
John Eder is a member of the Sebastopol City Council, the Council liaison to the Palm Drive Health Care District, and the partner of a member of the Palm Drive Health Care District Board of Directors. All views expressed here are solely the author’s. They do not represent the views of the City of Sebastopol, the Sebastopol City Council or the Palm Drive Health Care District Board of Directors.
Really? Helping Solve Palm Drive Crisis Is Not City Council's Job? This is why I'm running
I want to start by thanking John Eder for stating clearly and publicly the astonishing position that our City Council has taken in response to the greatest health care and job loss crisis in modern Sebastopol history.
Sebastopol’s City Council is saying: "Don't look at us. This is not our job. Not what we were elected to do."
So, Council Member Eder seems to believe that his job, as our elected representative, is to respond to the closing Palm Drive's life-saving emergency room and hospital, for the first time in its 70 year history, by circling the wagons and defending the actions of the politicians running Palm Drive District Board (one of whom happens to be his wife, Marsha Sue Lustig).
To act, as City Council Member Patrick Slayter (whom I am running for Council this November to unseat) suggested, as "cheerleaders" for the elected members of Palm Drive District Board. The very Board which seems to have violated the Brown Act by voting in secret, weeks before the first public meeting on closure was ever held, to shut down Palm Drive Hospital? Their secret, closed door vote will adversely impact thousands of lives in our community. This seems to me to be the very sort of vote that the Brown Act was created to ensure only happened after significant public debate.
Council Member Eder has the temerity to write that the notion of the City Council needing to become involved in the reopening of Palm Drive Hospital is an "imagined issue." Try telling that to my 88 year old widowed neighbor who frets about what will happen to her now that I cannot drive her to Palm Drive. Try telling that to my friend who waited seven hours at Memorial Hospital in an inhospitable waiting room while her son moaned in agony with his broken wrist. Try telling that to the single hardworking immigrant mother in my son’s second grade class who lost her job as a nurse and is now forced to spend nights away from home to pay her rent. Try telling that to the thousands of citizens who have put Open Our Hospital signs on our lawns, who feel far less safe because of the hospital's closing, far less safe and far less able to care for ourselves, our families, and our neighbors.
But Council Member Eder argues that what is inappropriate is that some people, meaning me, Jonathan Greenberg, dare to insist that our public representatives on the City Council need to show leadership--and have a role in resolving this crisis.
It was at the May 5 meeting on Palm Drive that Council Member Eder refers to, in which I spoke before the Council to urge them to support mediation and independent legal representation from the Palm Drive District Board (as I wrote about here) so that the community could quickly reopen the hospital immediately.
The refusal of members of our City Council to even resolve to state a preference as to whether the hospital’s emergency room needed to be re-opened or not was the decisive action (or inaction) that convinced me to run for City Council.
At that frustrating moment, the urgent need for leadership in the public interest, and for the practice of “responsive government” by our City Council, became apparent to me.
On that day, I decided to run for City Council, to step in to help provide this new leadership. Having worked, in the years following the World Trade Center attacks, for New York’s City Council as Policy Director assisting with oversight of the federal programs to restore Lower Manhattan, and having studied legislation at Yale Law School, I understand, at least as well as Council Member Eder, the limitations of government. But I also understand the power of elected officials to do more than their technical job descriptions. The power of responsive politicians, and their “bully pulpits,” to work with community leaders, and other elected officials, to be part of a solution. The power to act, instead of pretending, as our City Council sadly has, that an urgent problem is not their responsibility. I understand the ability of elected officials to apply political and public pressure to get other political actors, institutions, businesses, and citizens, to do the right thing for their community. I am deeply disappointed by the choice that the members of our City Council have made to NOT exercise their power on behalf of our community.
As I reported in WaccoBB last May here, this is exactly the sort of exercise of political will that I witnessed when the federal bankruptcy judge in the Palm Drive case, a person with no moral responsibility and very limited legal authority over the Palm Drive District Board, did everything in his power to convince the Hospital to mediate a solution that would reopen its life-saving emergency room immediately.
Like Council Member Eder, during the coming weeks I will be writing regularly about critical issues that are facing our wonderful city.
I look forward to an honest, transparent, and civil debate about the issues facing our city during this challenging time. I am confidant that this debate will benefit the public interest, and demonstrate to voters how important it is for Sebastopol’s City Council to practice responsive government, to take part in creating sustainable solutions for our community, instead of complaining that it is the helpless victim of “imagined” problems.
Re: Sebastopol City Council Campaign Issues 2014- Real or Imagined?
John,
We disagree on the responsibility of the Sebastopol City Council to represent the interests of citizens and businesses in major emergency issues. Closure of Palm Drive (and the curious rushed manner that it happened) is a very serious situation affecting all community businesses and residents... at least equal if not more important than the entire CC present agenda. It is irresponsible to fail to do or support (or recognize!) whatever it takes to correct or at least assist this situation. Count on it being an election issue for both CC and DB.
Big Time Sebastopol and Region Impact - Consider for instance:
1) The loss of 200+ good paying Sebastopol jobs, people who not only work but spend money in Sebastopol. PDH was largest employer in city. Most of these people are lost because they had to find work elsewhere - These are the people who made PDH a recognized leader in quality - in the top 8 of some ten thousand hospitals in the country.
2) The loss of a big part of the Sebastopol medical professional community who considered Palm Drive to be a professional "hub".
3) Reduced Sebastopol emergency preparedness (already pretty weak and understaffed, under-practiced, under-organized) for our community - given that the next 3 closest hospitals are all located within about 1/2 mile of the major earthquake fault in the Santa Rosa area (and extension of the Hayward fault). Given also the condition of roads and bridges and traffic. PDH was a major part of Sebastopol's preparedness - or, at least, it was supposed to be.
4) Reduced Sebastopol property and business values because Seb is not now as desirable a place to live/work/invest.
5) Poorer response to time-sensitive major medical emergencies for all of Seb and a large portion of West County. Inability of some people to travel to other hospitals - some who have lived here for years and counted on PDH.
6) Impact on Seb Fire an Police departments due to PDH closure (See letters from both chiefs.).
7) Reduced medical response for students attending our schools.
So you try to avoid conflict with another public board or council - despite continued mistakes that let down the people who elected you? Really? Who is more important?
Somebody suggested: How about if the county sewer farm plugged up and Morris street was "full of it"? How deep would things have to get before someone in Seb CC or your employees picked up a phone and pressured that (sewer) board to fix things? Is that interfering? Is there no oversight? How serious do things have to get before the CC gets involved?
In my book the CC has a highly visible umbrella (and catalyst) responsibility to protect (the Sebastopol people who elect them) in more than a self defined narrow way. This mess certainly did happen to Sebastopol on your watch. We do note, for instance, which of the CC members attend and comment in recent PDH meetings (you, for instance) and which CC members attended PDG District Board meetings in the months/years leading up to the closure.
Tom
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Posted in reply to the post by John Eder:
Several issues have emerged to date in the 2014 Sebastopol City Council election which would appear, on the surface, to differentiate the candidates from one another. I will be taking a look at these issues individually over the course of the next several weeks. Today, let’s look at “Open Our Hospital”.
The closure of Palm Drive Hospital has been a great loss for the residents of Sebastopol and the West County on many levels. The potential reopening of Palm Drive is not now, nor has it ever been, a legitimate issue in the upcoming election for the Sebastopol City Council. In November, voters will be selecting members of the Palm Drive Health Care District Board of Directors, who are solely responsible for the administration of the hospital. The Sebastopol City Council has no jurisdiction within the Palm Drive Health Care District, nor any ability to influence the outcome of the current efforts to reopen Palm Drive Hospital...
Re: Really? Helping Solve Palm Drive Crisis Is Not City Council's Job? This is why I'm run
I appreciate this post and agree with it. If you need volunteers for your campaign, please let me know.
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Posted in reply to the post by Peacetown Jonathan:
I want to start by thanking John Eder for stating clearly and publicly the astonishing position that our City Council has taken in response to the greatest health care and job loss crisis in modern Sebastopol history.
Sebastopol’s City Council is saying: "Don't look at us. This is not our job. Not what we were elected to do."
So, Council Member Eder seems to believe that his job, as our elected representative, is to respond to the closing Palm Drive's life-saving emergency room and hospital, for the first time in its 70 year history, by circling the wagons and defending the actions of the politicians running Palm Drive District Board (one of whom happens to be his wife, Marsha Sue Lustig)...
Re: Sebastopol City Council Campaign Issues 2014- Real or Imagined?
Thank you Jonathan for that message - we need accountability, leadership, and goal-driven action in our local government. You can count on my vote for you in the city council election this November!
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Posted in reply to the post by Peacetown Jonathan:
I want to start by thanking John Eder for stating clearly and publicly the astonishing position that our City Council has taken in response to the greatest health care and job loss crisis in modern Sebastopol history.
Sebastopol’s City Council is saying: "Don't look at us. This is not our job. Not what we were elected to do."
Re: Sebastopol City Council Campaign Issues 2014- Real or Imagined?
I think we all want to see Palm Drive open again in some form, but the fact is the City Council has absolutely no power to make that happen. I believe when voting for City Council, you should look at all the very important issues that the City DOES have control over and vote according to that. Look to the hospital district board election for solving the Palm Drive problems.
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Posted in reply to the post by haammer:
Thank you Jonathan for that message - we need accountability, leadership, and goal-driven action in our local government. You can count on my vote for you in the city council election this November!
Re: Sebastopol City Council Campaign Issues 2014- Real or Imagined?
With respect, the city council can and should show it's support for Palm Drive. Avoiding the topic and being "neutral" on the issue is damaging, and does not reflect the hundreds of Open Our Hospital signs reproducing everywhere in our town. Our city council's job is to represent us, and right now, clearly, we want the hospital reopened. We need someone who is going to boldly address and support this issue instead of ignore it with excuses.
Re: Sebastopol City Council Campaign Issues 2014- Real or Imagined?
Read the minutes of the CC meeting of May 6, 2014 and you will see that the CC gave lengthy time to public comments, supported the move to open the hospital, and they are in no way neutral. Attacking the CC is a bogus issue created to help who? All it does is divide us. If you want the hospital open, get involved with the Hospital District board elections, and let the Sebastopol CC get on with important city business. They, like almost everybody in town, would like to see the hospital opened.
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Posted in reply to the post by haammer:
With respect, the city council can and should show it's support for Palm Drive. Avoiding the topic and being "neutral" on the issue is damaging, and does not reflect the hundreds of Open Our Hospital signs reproducing everywhere in our town. Our city council's job is to represent us, and right now, clearly, we want the hospital reopened. We need someone who is going to boldly address and support this issue instead of ignore it with excuses.
1 Attachment(s)
Re: Sebastopol City Council Campaign Issues 2014- Real or Imagined?
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Posted in reply to the post by Richard Nichols:
One of the outcomes of the May 6th, City Council meeting was Unanimous support for the following resolution. The full resolution is attached.
Re: Sebastopol City Council Campaign Issues 2014- Real or Imagined?
Tom,
What exactly do you propose the city council do? Considering they have no power or control over hospital business, represent only citizens in the city limits (a small percentage of the hospital district), do NOT have the about $10 million estimated to be needed, and have a LOT of other city business on their plate. Please see Barry's post with their resolution of support - they are not neutral, but they are powerless to control the outcome or the financial crisis that the hospital finds itself in. This should not be a city council campaign issue, but a Hospital District Board issue. Why not direct your energy there to elect some people that CAN do something!
Or maybe you should be complaining to the board of supervisors. They have jurisdiction over more of the hospital district than the city council does.
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Posted in reply to the post by Tom95472:
We disagree on the responsibility of the Sebastopol City Council to represent the interests of citizens and businesses in major emergency issues. Closure of Palm Drive (and the curious rushed manner that it happened) is a very serious situation affecting all community businesses and residents... at least equal if not more important than the entire CC present agenda. It is irresponsible to fail to do or support (or recognize!) whatever it takes to correct or at least assist this situation. Count on it being an election issue for both CC and DB.
...
Re: Sebastopol City Council Campaign Issues 2014- Real or Imagined?
I agree.
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Posted in reply to the post by haammer:
With respect, the city council can and should show it's support for Palm Drive. Avoiding the topic and being "neutral" on the issue is damaging, and does not reflect the hundreds of Open Our Hospital signs reproducing everywhere in our town. Our city council's job is to represent us, and right now, clearly, we want the hospital reopened. We need someone who is going to boldly address and support this issue instead of ignore it with excuses.
We are complaining because the City Council is not doing what it "pledged" to do
Marty, it sounds as though you and Richard Nichols are really upset about my "complaints" about our City Council's unwillingness to do anything to be part of the solution to the largest public health and job loss crisis in the history of Sebastopol.
Please tell the public here, what do you make of this resolution of May 6?
The unanimous resolution stated that the City Council “pledges to work with the Palm Drive District Board and the community to pursue a viable plan that will lead to the reopening of Palm Drive hospital and provisioning of needed services.”
Can you understand how a citizen might come to expect that the Members of the City Council might actually be expected to do something to honor their "pledge?"
Can you perhaps show us a similar resolution from the Board of Supervisors, whose members you suggest we complain to instead?
Is there something about this resolution, or the practice of responsive government, that you and Richard understand that We, the People of Sebastopol who want to see local government be part of solving problems instead of suggesting our complaints are "imagined, might not be getting?
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Posted in reply to the post by scamperwillow:
Or maybe you should be complaining to the board of supervisors. They have jurisdiction over more of the hospital district than the city council does.
Re: Sebastopol City Council Campaign Issues 2014- Real or Imagined?
As previously stated, the closure of Palm Drive Hospital has been a loss for both Sebastopol and the West County on many levels, and has deeply affected many people’s lives.
With its loss, it is easy to understand that many of the people who came to rely upon it may now feel scared, angry and vulnerable. It is equally understandable how many of those same people would be highly receptive to a message that appeared to address their hopes and ease their fears- a message of “I will open the hospital.”
The unfortunate reality is that this situation is much more complex than campaign promises, on anyone’s part, can resolve.
Looking briefly at the past, the Sebastopol City Council made a unanimous offer, in writing, to assist the Palm Drive Health Care District in any way that the District’s Board of Directors saw fit. No request for assistance of any type was received by the City from the Board.
Some now hypothesize that the City erred by failing to insinuate itself into this situation (uninvited) and, in some manner, “forcing” the District and the Palm Drive Health Care Foundation into mediation that would result in the reopening of the hospital. The reality is that there was nothing to mediate, and reopening at that time was a fantasy. The hospital was closed because it was out of operating funds and heavily in debt. The Foundation had created a well-intentioned plan in the short timeframe allotted to them. The problem was that the proposal was not viable, for a variety of reasons, and lacked adequate funding to allow its implementation. This was the primary reason that no Foundation-sponsored financial analysis of the proposal was commissioned. It is clear why this initial proposal was eventually abandoned by the Foundation. Many people associated with the original proposal now concede that it was unworkable. I question what role an outside agency (the City) could play in attempting to pull together an insolvent hospital and an unworkable plan to reopen it.
Despite erroneous public perceptions to the contrary, the District is actually committed to reopening the hospital if at all possible. Looking to the future, the District issued two Request for Proposals in July, 2014. Three proposals were received, only one of which contained an Emergency Room-based acute care hospital. This proposal by the Foundation (“A Real Plan”) is currently receiving the District’s full consideration. To that end, an independent Proposal Review Committee, comprised of leaders in emergency response, and experts in emergency medicine, nursing and hospital finances has been convened by the District to review the proposal in detail and to identify any areas that might impede its implementation.
The critical accompanying financial plan that will provide the details of how this proposal will be funded both initially and into the future has yet to be received by the District. It is anticipated that it will be received by mid-October. It will then need to undergo an analysis to determine its feasibility and to identify any areas that may need revision to support the stated goals of the Foundation’s proposal.
This is where things currently stand. Both the District and the Foundation are diligently working towards the goal of reopening Palm Drive Hospital. There are regulatory and licensure issues that are currently being resolved, one by one. New staff members, consisting of a CEO and CFO, have been hired by the Foundation to direct these efforts.
The primary obstacles facing the reopening of the hospital may be financial in nature. It is estimated that approximately $6-10 million dollars will be required for “start-up” costs alone. A consistent, on-going annual requirement of $1-2 million in philanthropic giving will be required, over and above operating proceeds and the parcel tax revenues, to sustain Palm Drive’s future viability. It has been said by a leader in the campaign to reopen Palm Drive that people have to be prepared to pay more- a lot more- to have a hospital. There are an estimated $20 million dollars in infrastructure repairs/upgrades to Palm Drive Hospital that have been identified. Several of these are required to reopen, with most being capable of being deferred. They will still need to be funded at some future date, however, and will likely increase in cost as they are delayed.
In conclusion, the reopening of Palm Drive Hospital is a complex situation that defies simple solutions and “soundbites”. Many knowledgeable and highly-skilled people are currently working towards this goal, but most, if not all, of them clearly recognize the significant challenges that remain before them. The hospital’s reopening in the recent past has not been a realistic possibility, and remains elusive to this day. A million “Open Our Hospital” signs will not make a bit of difference in whether or not Palm Drive reopens- there are no magic wands, silver bullets or easy answers. An honest spirit of cooperation, hard work, creative solutions and substantial, consistent new sources of funding are required to make this a reality.
Unless a person possesses ready resolutions to the layers of administrative issues that remain to be resolved and access to millions of dollars in capital, they cannot say with any legitimacy, “I will open the hospital.” Without the possession of these items, it is just an empty campaign promise, whether seeking a seat on the Sebastopol City Council or the Palm Drive Health Care District Board of Directors.
It is important that we become aware of the facts, and base our decisions upon those facts. We must not fall prey to attempts to foist empty promises upon the perceived gullible. Otherwise, the results we get after the facts have gone through the rhetoric filter may be similar to those we get after our breakfast has “gone through the process”.
This is not intended to be an attack on any individual. It is intended to help prevent election season bluster, misinformation, hyperbole, manufactured realities or just plain old BS from misleading voters when they receive a carefully-crafted message that the messenger is fully aware they are clamoring to hear.
John Eder is a member of the Sebastopol City Council, the Council liaison to the Palm Drive Health Care District, and the partner of a member of the Palm Drive Health Care District Board of Directors. All views expressed here are solely the author’s. They do not represent the views of the City of Sebastopol, the Sebastopol City Council or the Palm Drive Health Care District Board of Directors.
Re: We are complaining because the City Council is not doing what it "pledged" to do
Please see John Eder's reply - he said it far better than I ever could. My point is - let's focus the city council election on the many issues that the Council has control over.
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Posted in reply to the post by Peacetown Jonathan:
Marty, it sounds as though you and Richard Nichols are really upset about my "complaints" about our City Council's unwillingness to do anything to be part of the solution to the largest public health and job loss crisis in the history of Sebastopol.
Please tell the public here, what do you make of this resolution of May 6?
The unanimous resolution stated that the City Council “pledges to work with the Palm Drive District Board and the community to pursue a viable plan that will lead to the reopening of Palm Drive hospital and provisioning of needed services.”
Can you understand how a citizen might come to expect that the Members of the City Council might actually be expected to do something to honor their "pledge?"
Can you perhaps show us a similar resolution from the Board of Supervisors, whose members you suggest we complain to instead?
Is there something about this resolution, or the practice of responsive government, that you and Richard understand that We, the People of Sebastopol who want to see local government be part of solving problems instead of suggesting our complaints are "imagined, might not be getting?
What does 'pledge to assist" mean to our City Council and John Eder?
Council Member Eder, I would like to ask, on behalf of the thousands of us who look to our elected officials to practice responsive government, how you interpret the unanimous resolution that you signed soon after that May 6 meeting, which states that the City Council of Sebastopol "pledges to work with the Palm Drive District Board and the community to pursue a viable plan that will lead to the reopening of Palm Drive hospital and provisioning of needed services?"
How do you read this as a statement to the public that the Council will do nothing at all if there is not a letter from the District Board requesting specific assistance?
How do you reconcile the words, "work with the community with your inaction, and The Council's unwillingness to assist, in any way, with the reopening effort that dozens of members of our community have been working on?
Earlier in this post, you wrote, " the Sebastopol City Council has no more role within the Palm Drive Health Care District than it has within the West Sonoma County High School District." If our schools shut down, with the decision made by the elected School Board behind closed doors in violation of the Brown Act, and my kids were locked out of their class, do you not think that I would be joining hundreds of parents to demand that our City Council, and other officials, take action to reopen them?
Why, then, Mr. Eder, do you think that the people who have elected you do not expect you and the other members of our City Council to work with the community to be part of a solution to the shutdown of our city's life saving emergency room, for the first time in 75 years?
Your saying, on behalf of the City Council, that this is "not an issue," is, to me and thousands of us, a refusal to be part of the solution.
On behalf of our community, I really hope that you, the other members of the Council, and the Palm Drive District Board, will join us in the effort that is underway to open a hospital with a life saving emergency room.
Re: Sebastopol City Council Campaign Issues 2014- Real or Imagined?
Thanks to John Eder for the post. What I'd like to see is the self serving attack on the City Council stop ASAP.
It serves no purpose whatsoever to do this. If people want to help open the hospital, they should support the work of the District Board and the Foundation.
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Posted in reply to the post by John Eder:
Several issues have emerged to date in the 2014 Sebastopol City Council election which would appear, on the surface, to differentiate the candidates from one another....
Evading Inconvenient Truths is No Substitute for Debating or Helping Resolve Them
Richard, I hear that you, as well as Marty Roberts, and John Eder, would like to see an end ("ASAP") to any debate on whether our City Council should be doing anything to support the dozens of people who have been working for five months on a plan to reopen the hospital?
On whether our elected City representative should continue to ignore our efforts, entirely, as they have (except to criticize the plan during public comment sessions, as Council Member Eder has done).
In times like these, Richard, accountability, transparency and questions like those I raise above provide the "inconvenient truths" that sometimes makes democracy challenging. Saying "stop talking about this" does nothing to resolve this controversy. It only reflects upon the people, like you, trying to shut down the debate.
No, Richard, neither you, nor Marty, nor Council Member Eder, can will this issue away by ordering it so, or by maligning the intentions of the person raising these issues.
On behalf of the urgent public interest in this matter, Instead of working to shut down debate, perhaps you can try to answer the questions I ask Council Member Eder above?
Let me repost them here:
How you interpret the unanimous resolution that the Council signed soon after that May 6 meeting, which states that the City Council of Sebastopol "pledges to work with the Palm Drive District Board and the community to pursue a viable plan that will lead to the reopening of Palm Drive hospital and provisioning of needed services?"
How do you read this as a statement to the public that the Council will do nothing at all if there is not a letter from the District Board requesting specific assistance?
How do you reconcile the words, "work with the community" with the Council's unwillingness to assist, in any way, with the reopening effort that dozens of members of our community have been working on?
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Posted in reply to the post by Richard Nichols:
Thanks to John Eder for the post. What I'd like to see is the self serving attack on the City Council stop ASAP.
It serves no purpose whatsoever to do this. If people want to help open the hospital, they should support the work of the District Board and the Foundation.
Re: Evading Inconvenient Truths is No Substitute for Debating or Helping Resolve Them
Jonathan, what would you do to help reopen the hospital should you be elected to the Sebastopol City Council?
Please refrain from restating the issue and history and just specify what actions you would take. :waccosun:
How I Will Help Palm Drive Reopen If I Am Elected to the City Council this November
Barry, this is an excellent question. :thumbsup:
I appreciate the spirit in which it was asked, and the invitation to answer it. I look forward to the possibility of getting elected, and adding new leadership to the City Council by working to be an active part of the widely-supported community solution to reopen an economically viable new hospital.
I want to preface my response by saying that these are my personal ideas, as a candidate and citizen who has spent a lot of time understanding why Palm Drive closed and what it will take to reopen it. These five ideas have not come from discussions with, or requests made by, anyone associated with the Foundation.
From the very first public meeting I attended of the Palm Drive Foundation Board, back in May, I heard a consensus that this reopening will only occur once there is unanimity among every key political and economic player in our community that we are moving forward together to reopen a viable hospital WITH an emergency room.
So the first thing I would do is ensure that the Council expressed clear, unambiguous support for the one single group, with more than 50 participants, that has been working to reopen the hospital. This is the Palm Drive Foundation effort. It is hard to describe how counterproductive it has been to the reopening effort to have both a majority of members of the Palm Drive District Board--and Sebastopol's City Council-- treat the only group that has run this hospital in the past "as one of many options" for the District's future. And having John Eder, the only Council member to speak publicly about the hospital, use public comments at packed meetings to repeatedly assert that he doubts any plan that contains an emergency room can ever be viable. So letting the political, philanthropic, and general community know that Sebastopol's City Council is standing behind the Palm Drive Foundation's efforts to reopen would be the first thing I would do.
Second, I would move to take the place of Council Member Eder as the Council liaison to the Palm Drive District Board, and ask to chair a new Council sub-committee on reopening the Hospital. Since April I have spent hundreds of hours researching and reporting the finances and laws and issues and history surrounding Palm Drive's closing. There are two openings for the Palm Drive District Board seats this November, and the likelihood is that voters will elect Dr. Richard Powers and retired police officer Dennis Colthurst to join Jim Maresca as a new board majority willing to work with the Foundation’s revised and convincing plan to reopen the hospital.
If you look at page 18 of the City Council May 6 minutes here, Mr. Eder makes a point, understandably, of expressing that because he is the partner of Board Member Marsha Sue Lustig, he needs to recuse himself from serving on the Council Subcommittee that was then being considered at the meeting. I was present and heard him speak, from his heart, about how emotional the situation made him, because the decision to close the hospital was both the most difficult and controversial thing that his partner had ever done. The fact that he asked to be recused from being on the sub-committee (which was never formed), but remains the Council's liaison seems problematic. Appointing me in his place, and forming this sub-committee, would be a positive step toward our community's shared vision of a City Government that is working together with the District Board and community to reopen a hospital with an emergency room as soon as possible.
Third, I would help make this subcommittee a political liaison entity to help build alliance bridges that will be necessary for reopening. For example, Palm Drive’s impoirtant Medicare reimbursement number has been relinquished by the closed hospital. It can take months from a new hospital's opening before getting this Medicare number back, and during tho time, cash flow without Medicare reimbursements will be reduced. Getting the Medicare bureaucracy to reinstate reimbursement status more quickly will take political assistance from the offices of both California Senators, and Congressman Jared Huffman (he and I talked about this on Labor Day and he is eager to help when the time comes). There will be the need for political and legal efforts on the hospital’s behalf from both the State Legislature, and the Board of Supervisors. A Sebastopol City Council subcommittee is the natural entity to provide such assistance.
Fourth, I would try to find room in the city’s water and sewage department’s budget to provide special abatements to the new hospital for at least a few years while it gets up and running. Palm Drive Hospital employed more than 200 employees. Providing water subsidies might be a small price for our City to bring back these employees—and the hospital’s life-saving emergency room, back. Palm Drive pumped an estimated $80 million each year into our area’s economy. Any contribution will be returned to our economy many times over through increased taxes and real estate values in years to come.
Fifth, I will work to use our City’s communications outlets to market a newly opened Palm Drive Hospital, and the new insurance plans that allow citizens to patronize it. I understand that the financials for the new ‘Sonoma West Medical Center" hospital plan contain the first significant marketing budget that a Sebastopol hospital has ever had. The Foundation planners will need all the help they can get marketing both elective surgeries and new departments. Sebastopol’s citizens all want to support our local hospital. It will be helpful to learn which insurance plans and Medicare options help us do this, perhaps as an insert in our monthly water bill. And the City could make, and widely publicize, an informative City Council proclamation about what we, the people, can do to support our local hospital.
These five concrete actions will allow our City Council to do its part to help reopen a thriving hospital with an emergency room at Palm Drive—and help solve what is the toughest challenge our community has ever faced.
Re: Evading Inconvenient Truths is No Substitute for Debating or Helping Resolve Them
First, I'm not upset with you. Second, I did not say I wanted an end to "any debate" on this issue. I did say that the self serving attacks on the council should stop because they are not productive. Third, I don't need a lecture from you about democracy.
I think everyone in this discussion has made clear the different opinions and positions. I for one don't have a need to do more of this, but the debate is open for all who want to continue.
Quote:
Posted in reply to the post by Peacetown Jonathan:
Richard, I hear that you, as well as Marty Roberts, and John Eder, would like to see an end ("ASAP") to any debate on whether our City Council should be doing anything to support the dozens of people who have been working for five months on a plan to reopen the hospital? ...
