NO on Alameda County Measures A+B: Children's Hospital Construction Measures

Here's another case of crazy election shenanigans: putting something on the ballot, realizing they're going to lose, and putting a second - compromise - measure on the ballot. I say NO on both.

First Children's Hospital (which is, by the way, a private hospital, not a public one) paid signature gatherers to put Measure B on the ballot. But they didn't even bother to talk with the county supervisors first. And this is key, because the flaws in Measure B would've meant that the county had to spend extra money to collect the tax, and there was no guarantee the money would be spent within Alameda County! It was doomed, but it was also already on the ballot. So definitely vote NO on B.

Once the hospital realized they were going to lose, they hastily worked with the county supervisors to craft a compromise. Measure A is a 35-year parcel tax, expected to raise ~$300 million to build a new Children's Hospital, which needs a seismic upgrade by 2013. But the county's public health system has many needs of its own, including the seismic upgrade to Highland Hospital.

They just didn't think this out very well. The county supervisors haven't even endorsed the measure. There's no real danger that Children's will close, as the hospital claims. It brings in LOTS of money. It will find the money. They just need a better thought-out public process to figure out how, or whether, to commit public money to rebuild this private hospital.

Further reading:
- Confusing ballot measures on hospital, San Francisco Chronicle, 1/18/08 [link]
- Children's Hospital makes end run seeking parcel tax, Matier and Ross, San Francisco Chronicle, 12/23/07 [link]
- San Francisco Bay Guardian says No on A and B [link]