Letters to the Editor

Bulgarians’ anti-Howell hostility
understandable

Editor: Being a huge fan and follower of the Bulgarian mime Krassimir (I am an American), I stumbled upon Daedalus Howell’s recent article about acting as host at Krassimir’s show.
I was there that day. I thought you were very funny and were really very good in handling the delay.
I am not surprised, however, that there were a bunch of Bulgarians in the back row wanting to “kill” you (said with humor). I have since discovered that Krassimir is truly one of Bulgaria’s national treasures and is loved beyond anyone’s imagination and rightly so. He is a very, very, very gifted singer and an extraordinary mime. His country loves him. Any teasing is considered a put-down, but I forgive their hostility since they were only protecting their treasure.
Maxine Smith

Good writing,
research Joan

Editor: Joan Huguenard’s articles are always so well-researched and well-written. The one in the Jan. 25 issue about Antonia Juhasz’s presentation at Readers Books was especially insightful. How I wish I had been there!
Flora Durfee

Build hospital on business park site

Editor: Why not negotiate for the perfect hospital site: Eighth Street East where the yet-to-be-built “Carneros Business Park” is located? Here are my reasons:
1. This site is already set up with water, electricity, roads, etc.
2. It is the perfect part of town for a hospital – on the way to Napa and to San Francisco.
3. It is near the airport and therefore a perfect helicopter-landing area.
4. We don’t need more businesses in town so I don’t think an enormous “business park” is appropriate until sufficient infrastructure is in place (read wider roads, which hopefully never happens). The traffic congestion in Sonoma is already crazy and threatens to become intolerable.
5. The homes being built on that side of town seem perfect for the new doctors who would move to this area to become a part of the new medical facilities.
I also think that the current hospital, with some earthquake retrofitting, could become a senior center for the Baby Boomers.
Giulia Latini

Grause’s past
unrelated to Cirrus

Editor: Dr. Grause’s past legal issues, which are not uncommon in business, do not discredit the concept of a private company with a long track record (Cirrus Health) building a medical facility with an emergency room at little or no expense to the taxpayers of Sonoma Valley. The issues are completely unrelated. The fact that someone beside the taxpayers (Cirrus Health) is willing to contractually provide funding for construction of the hospital and emergency room that we desperately want to save must not be ignored. The concerns raised about Dr. Grause’s past fail to find any flaws with the general operational model proposed or its funding mostly by Cirrus whose lengthy track record is on the web at www.svhcc.blogspot.com. The approach that if you can’t find enough wrong with Cirrus then attack Dr. Grause is designed to distract from the boondoggle and huge financial burden that the Broadway plan represents to our children.
Dennis Hipps

Libertarian: No ‘free’ hospital

Editor: Many of us see a private hospital as the answer to our healthcare needs. Normally, as a libertarian, I’d heartily agree: private enterprise—based on the market and the profit motive—does outperform public enterprise.
But wait: Sonoma Valley has a couple of non-market conditions that kill any prospect of profit. First, we insist on an emergency room, which government regulations force to operate at a loss. Though essential, that will require a substantial subsidy. Second, we insist on care for all regardless of ability to pay. Though conscionable, that will require another substantial subsidy.
We can tax ourselves to provide these subsidies. Then we can pay the tax proceeds to a public hospital that meets our two conditions. But it’s not legal to do so with a private hospital.
Why not make any deal with a private hospital contingent on their providing the necessary subsidies? Get real. How could we enforce it? Besides, any private group foolish enough to take such a deal would soon go bankrupt, leaving us with nothing.
Sorry, Sonoma. There ain’t still no free lunch.
Alden Brosseau

Broadway site is best

Editor: Enough is enough! When I presented the Broadway properties as an option to Leveroni’s land, I was hoping that a quick solution to the hospital fiasco would occur. It has not. The newspaper media in this town is paramount to People magazine. Where is the in-depth journalism? Let me give you some facts: First, do yourself a favor and type “Henry Grausz” into your Google search. You will find unflattering details of who this guy really is and why we should be worried. He changed his last name from Grausz to Grause for a reason.
Secondly, my belief is that Cirrus will never build any full-service hospital here in Sonoma. Why? The fact is that Cirrus is depending on local physicians to foot the bill for at least half of the $100-120 million to build it. That means that some 25 to 30 doctors have to carry a debt load of $2-3 million each. If I were a doctor I would think seriously about this commitment to a real estate development company that has yet to ever build a full-scale hospital – let alone run one.
If Sonoma buys into the “free” hospital absurdity and amends the urban growth boundary to Eighth Street East, the reality is that Grausz and architect Michael Ross will be sitting in their casitas, drinking martinis and awaiting a herbal wrap while Cirrus is going to finally say that it did not get the needed physician financial support so they cannot build the hospital. By then it will be too late. Sonoma will have been suckered.
Finally, the coalition. My hat’s off to you for your fine work, but the time is now to choose your option, not March. By waiting, you are sending the wrong message. We need the parcel tax no matter what, and the community needs a clear path. Any philanthropic help will not come forward in this confusing arena. Let’s just choose the Broadway site and make it happen. It is by far the best option.
Bruce Stephens
(Editor’s note: Stephens’ letter recently appeared in the Sonoma-Index Tribune.)

Bad show,
Mr. Stephens

Editor: In a heartfelt display of community spirit, Bruce Stephens wrote a letter to the editor saying that we should just “get on with it” and put the new hospital on the Broadway site. He said he’d had enough of all this options talk business and just wanted to get the new hospital started now.
What he failed to disclose in this mockery of good citizenship was the fact that he personally will receive a real estate commission in excess of $600,000 of taxpayers’ money if the hospital moves to the Broadway site. His increased personal wealth as a result of this one transaction makes his letter even more disingenuous with his comment about the Cirrus people “sitting in their casitas drinking margaritas.” I don’t know if he’s checked lately, but I think Mr. Stephens’ windfall commission of over a half million taxpayer dollars will buy a lot of tequila and limes.
In contrast to Mr. Stephens’ transparent concern for the town’s medical well-being, we have a great many good-hearted citizens spending countless hours in options meetings, steering-committee meetings, community-outreach sessions and hospital board meetings and have now just begun walking precincts for the passage of parcel tax Measure B in the hopes we’ll have a hospital of any kind by year end. So far, not a one of these has been paid one cent for their time and effort. Bad show, Mr. Stephens.
Stephen Kyle