As the Spirit Moves Me
by Pam Burns-Clair

No on C!

February 27, 2006

(For those of you not in Sonoma, California, we are dealing with the city wanting to build a new hospital and junk the old one.  To do this, they will invoke Imminent Domain on a piece of property belonging to a family that has owned it for generations!  Once again, the natives and the cows are getting the shaft!  I couldn't agree with Pam more!)

Dear Editor,

I have questions to throw into the ring as a relative latecomer to the discussion on the hospital.  I had assumed others could competently handle the question of retrofitting/relocating the hospital so I could concentrate my political efforts on local education and domestic/global issues.  But I’ve been disturbed by what I’m learning since the controversy of the bond issue has hit the papers.

Why must the hospital be relocated?  Could we not raise enough through a similar bond issue to appropriately retrofit the existing hospital whose use is modest by comparison to other neighboring cities?  Why the necessity of additional size and the expenses associated with that?  Does not the federal government who requires this retrofitting contribute anything to meeting the demands?

• Why are we threatened with the argument, “A No Vote Could Doom Us to No Hospital?”  Why is it so narrow that if we vote no on the current bond—taking over the land of unwilling sellers with the eminent domain tactic—we have no other option? 
• Why would we use eminent domain if there are other viable properties with willing sellers, 1 of which is apparently within the city limits?  Why would we be so willing to doom a longtime local dairy business and prominent longstanding family to our local culture?  Why would we select an active agricultural site whose beauty many object to intruding upon with this expanded hospital and all its intrusive ‘amenities’?
• Why reject the most recent, I believe, proposal of the 15+ acre RV storage site on 8th street?  It hardly compares to the pastoral Leveroni property—especially since the Eucalyptus trees have been stripped, the RV storage is an eyesore, and it apparently has the advantage of a medical treatment spa being built directly across the street.  As for the argument that we might lose the “Glen Ellen market share” with this site (only 8 blocks from Broadway and the Sonoma Plaza), isn’t it likely that Glen Ellen uses Santa Rosa Memorial for their emergency needs anyway?
• Whatever happened to consensus—a process that most everyone could agree with?  It seems the consensus so far is that everyone wants a hospital in Sonoma—can’t we pick up there and explore the options further instead of pitching this bond issue—sure to fall short of the necessary two thirds—as a black and white up or down vote for a hospital??

Perplexed, 

Pam Burns-Clair