Jan 25, 2008

Letters

Clintons and Obama

Dear Editor: This country has rarely had such an accomplished team of policy wonks running for president as Bill and Hillary Clinton. They understand policy and how power works in our government, but the Clintons are also lightning rods for enmity. We need a president who can inspire a vision of our country working together - Democrats, Republicans, independents and non-believers - to solve the enormous problems Bush and Cheney have left us. Barak Obama reminds us of the best that America can be. With the Clintons working in his administration as policy advisers, activating the levers of the power they are so experienced with, we really could turn our country toward the good society we want and that the world needs.

Bruce Joffe,
Piedmont

Children's Hospital

Dear Editor: Alameda County taxpayers will soon vote on whether to subsidize construction of privately owned Children's Hospital and Research Center Oakland's new $700 million high-rise. Measures A and B on the Feb. 5 ballot ask voters to approve a $300 million special tax to build a 12-story tower with a rooftop helicopter pad right next to single-family homes in North Oakland.

Consider these questions:

What exactly are we paying for? Seven hundred million is an enormous sum for one building. Children's has never filed a master facilities plan so we have no idea how they intend to spend this money, or how they arrived at this figure.

Why are there two almost identical measures on the ballot? The answer is telling: Children's Hospital initially made an end run around county supervisors by collecting signatures for Measure B, which did not earmark any of the $300 million for the administration of the tax. Costs associated with its administration would have been paid for by the county, likely redirected from needed services. Tricky? Yes. Confidence instilling? No.

Why does private Children's Hospital get taxpayers' dollars when public hospitals and schools could benefit from these funds? What happens next year if Highland Hospital determines it needs additional funding for seismic retrofitting and voters aren't willing to support another hospital-related tax increase?
The services Children's Hospital provides are exemplary. However, no institution should be free of accountability when receiving taxpayers' dollars. Voters should think carefully before signing a blank check for Children's Hospital.

Sharon Spain,
Oakland

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Dear Editor: As a child advocate for more than 15 years, I scraped to buy a small house with my husband in North Oakland after graduation. Our little home will become uninhabitable if voters approve the Feb. 5 ballot Measures A & B - Children's Hospital's tax measure to supposedly "retrofit" its now-three-story building by constructing a brand-new, 12-story high-rise with a helicopter landing pad on top a mere 2 blocks from our house.

Our county and city officials should affirmatively seek the "pro-children" moniker. What else could our county do with $750 million? We could finance and retrofit county-owned Highland Hospital, which serves the vast majority of the county's children. We might increase funds for abused children caught in the county's dismal foster care system. We could provide dollars to strengthen public schools so children receive a quality education in a safe, healthy environment. Those actions would benefit children all across Alameda County and demonstrate our public officials' courage and commitment to children.

Instead, our elected officials, terrified of the "anti-children" label, have cowered to a private hospital's massive tax measure that would provide public funds to bulldoze through my small neighborhood, take Oakland residents' homes and leave its current building unretrofitted - all while Alameda County's foster kids, public school children, and child patients at Highland go wanting. Because they do an appalling disservice to this county's children, we are voting No on Measures A and B.

Katina Ancar and Rafael Ebron,
Oakland