Standing by beleaguered hospital
With all the talk about the 100th anniversary of the Great Quake, lost in the shuffle is current state quake legislation that has put El Camino Hospital and others between a rock and a hard place.
A bill passed in the wake of the 1994 Northridge quake in Southern California requires hospitals to rebuild to meet more stringent seismic requirements by 2008. While the reasons for the bill are wholly justified, El Camino, for one, is struggling mightily to comply.
The construction industry currently has hospitals over a barrel. With skyrocketing costs for building materials and the difficulty involved in hospital construction, bidders can basically name their price. That price keeps rising by the millions. Despite being financially well managed in recent years, El Camino officials have seen estimated costs for their rebuilding project go from $298 million a little more than two years ago to a whopping $480 million currently.
Adding insult to injury is a lawsuit by Saratoga attorney Aaron Katz that has tied up work on construction and continues to cost the hospital untold millions of dollars in delays. Katz said he as a property owner in the hospital district, should have been allowed to vote on a $148 million bond measure that voters passed in 2003 to help fund the hospital’s construction project. He also claims that only landowners should have been allowed to vote.
Why his arguments were not earlier dismissed by the local courts is a mystery. Officials now find themselves in the sorry position of having to negotiate a settlement so that the process can move along.
Our local community has long supported this revered public hospital. It would be a shame for that support to stop now. Despite all these obstacles, El Camino continues to deliver.
Hospital officials are pushing forward on the rebuilding plans to make facilities better than ever. A new hospital tower is the centerpiece of plans that emphasize incorporating current and future medical technologies. What can we do? A hospital fund-raising gala, scheduled for May 20, is a start. Check the hospital’s Web site, www.elcaminohospital.org, for more information.
LAH council should remove deadline
The Los Altos Hills City Council has given local school districts until April 27 to find a solution suitable to returning public education to town, namely reopening Bullis-Purissima Elementary School. Otherwise, the council has vowed to pursue redistricting to take control of the site. However, since that shot across the bow, both sides have proven willing to work on a compromise settlement.
With this in mind, we think it only right for the council to lift the April 27 deadline so that both sides have adequate time to work on the best solution to this contentious issue.
