Early survey findings show support for hospital bond

Bill Boerum, the newest board member of the Sonoma Valley Health Care District, said on Friday that while the final Dresner, Wickers survey report has not been finished, he had just seen some encouraging figures that show community support for a general obligation bond over a range of assessment amounts. “Anyone who does see the results would be encouraged,” he said.
He explained that a general obligation bond is the likely vehicle for building a new hospital and that the tax, based on the assessed valuation of the property, would require two-thirds community support in order to pass. “So in the event the board decides to do that,” he said, “some people in the community would form a campaign committee and find this information useful.”
The survey is a way of taking the temperature of the community, to gauge the level of support. The results, according to Boerum, are consistent with other polls that have been taken in the past. So far, he said, “people should feel confident.”
Confident is not the word that neighbors are using to describe their feelings about already compromised property values, the prospect of years of construction and the eventual traffic congestion inherent in a hospital zone, not to mention the loss of their quiet views. “We just don’t want it there,” said Gail Rinaldi, who lives on Hayes Street directly across from the proposed site.