Health Options Digest
July 24, 2005
Coalition for Health Options In Central Eugene-Springfield (CHOICES)
In This Issue
From the Editor
Week In Review
It's a little weird: No news about PeaceHealth, as if one player has found their seat in the game of "Musical Hospitals" but the other keeps dancing around with the music.
Indeed, the EWEB site McKenzie-Willamette has had its eye on just tripled in price (if rate-payers aren't to pay for relocation), almost certainly killing the deal.
Meanwhile, speculation -- and feuds -- swirl around the Lane County Fairgrounds.
As we have asked many times in this space, why can't reasonable and concerned people just sit down and decide what makes the most sense: for McKenzie-Willamette, for health providers and patients, for the community, and for affected property owners?
An Enterprise Zone in Eugene will either go forward under the state's very lax rules, will be rejected by the Eugene City Council for being too lax, or will move forward as a result of an agreement between Eugene and Lane County. At issue is whether or not there will be a cap on how much of a property tax break a company can be given per new job created. We have no idea if or how Eugene and Lane County will resolve this issue.
A major retailer and a liquor store are coming to the Gateway area.
The Oregon Senate and House of Representatives have both passed bills to clarify or "fix" Measure 37. But the two versions of the bill are so far apart that there is little hope of anything being adopted this session. Thus it will fall to the courts to try to figure out what voters intended Measure 37 to mean.
In a kind of reversal of Oregon's "visit but don't stay" attitude towards people from other states, a spokesperson for Oregonians In Actions recently gave a pep talk to people in Napa Valley with the aim of exporting Measure 37 to the heart of California's wine country.
A few weeks ago, RG columnist Bob Welch asked why our community doesn't seem to have the can-do attitude to make dreams happen, the way folks in Texas do.
The Florence City Council accepted John Musumeci's pledge to contribute $250,000 for the purchase of sand dunes.
Oregon Senate President Peter Courtney has formed a panel, which includes Dave Frohnmayer, to look for ways to make the state legislature work better.
And speaking of thinking big and fixing government, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is taking aim at a redistricting system that favors incumbents.
Rob Zako, Editor
343-5201
rzako@efn.org
Opportunities
County has volunteer openings
| The Register-Guard | July 17, 2005 |
The Lane County Board of Commissioners is looking for volunteers for a number of committees.
The county seeks applications from citizens interested in serving on the human services commission budget planning committee. The committee provides advice on services that alleviate the conditions of poverty and promote and improve the health, well being, self-sufficiency, and safety of low-income, disadvantaged and disabled Lane County residents.
The deadline to apply is Sept. 9. Applications are available in the Board of Commissioners' office located on the Plaza Level of the Public Service Building, 125 E. Eighth Ave., Eugene. Call 682-3797.
The county also is seeking applications for the planning commission, which makes recommendations regarding comprehensive plan issues and amendments.
The deadline to apply is Aug. 12. Applications at the same address above; call 682-3734.
The county also needs volunteers for the roads advisory committee, which reviews road improvement requirements and develops a five-year capital improvements program.
The deadline to apply is Aug. 12; call 682-6911.
LTD Vacancies
We hear that three positions on the Lane Transit District board of directors will expire at the end of this year: Position 4 for north Eugene east of River Road and the City of Coburg (currently served by Susan Ban); Position 5 for central and west Eugene, including the University area and downtown, and the Whiteaker, Jefferson, and West Side neighborhoods (currently served by Gerry Gaydos); and Position 6 for west Eugene near Highway 99 and River Road and Junction City (currently served by Dave Kleger).
As the bill to make LTD directors elected died in a Senate committee, these positions will be filled by Governor Kulongoski and confirmed by the Senate. The process of appointments by the governor is akin to black magic. Few understanding how the game is played, or even that there is a game. Nonetheless, those from the areas listed above with an interest in serving on the LTD board might begin making discreet inquiries.
For more information, visit http://www.ltd.org/about/boardmembers.html
McKenzie-Willamette/Triad
Fast and Painless Update
By Rosie Pryor
McKenzie-Willamette Medical Center | July 21, 2005 |
Last night, the EWEB Board received its first look at a consultant's analysis of what it might cost to move its facilities off the downtown Eugene site. This morning, many are asking us what this revelation means for the future of our hospital project.
Our perspective today is that nothing has changed for McKenzie-Willamette. We remain committed to the site as a location for a new McKenzie-Willamette. We've been anticipating this information milestone, and understand EWEB commissioners and staff are planning additional meetings to sort through the information they received this week.
We await the outcome of those meetings and look forward to continiuing our work with EWEB.
Questions? Please feel free to give me a call.
If you prefer not to receive Fast and Painless Updates from McKenzie-Willamette, please reply to this email or give me a call and we'll remove your name from our address list.
Moving bill clouds EWEB deal
By Joe Harwood
The Register-Guard | July 21, 2005 |
Early estimates of how much it will cost to move all or part of the Eugene Water & Electric Board campus has raised questions about whether the utility can afford to relocate in order to make room for a proposed five-story hospital.
The preliminary figures, released Wednesday night at an EWEB work session, ranged from a low of $60 million for a partial move to a high of up to $90.9 million for a full move.
The numbers, which could change as an ongoing design study further isolates specific costs, caught some utility officials by surprise. "I'm shocked," Commissioner Patrick Lanning said. (more...)
Sticker shock startles EWEB, hospital: Costs to move may be three times M-W's offer
By Amber Fossen
The Springfield News | July 22, 2005 |
Preliminary estimates to relocate Eugene Water & Electric Board facilities recently came in -- and they're quite a bit higher than the price EWEB has been talking about selling its property for.
Costs to move are estimated in the range from $60 to $90 million -- significantly higher than offers the utility board has received for its riverfront property.
Triad, majority owner of McKenzie-Willamette Medical Center, offered $24.8 million for the site, hoping to place a new medical center along the Willamette River.
Arlie & Co., a Eugene-based property investment firm, countered with a $29 million purchase offer that utility officials found unacceptable.
How the estimated price tag would affect ongoing negotiations with the hospital remains to be seen. (more...)
Editorial -- Millions for moving: EWEB relocation estimate stuns commissioners
| The Register-Guard | July 24, 2005 |
"Sticker shock" pretty much sums up reactions to early estimates of how much it could cost to move some or all of the Eugene Water & Electric Board's downtown operations to a 46-acre parcel in west Eugene. (more...)
County feud brews over fairgrounds
By Matt Cooper
The Register-Guard | July 23, 2005 |
County politicians are stepping up their display of fireworks over the future of the Lane County fair- grounds.
A Lane County commissioner on Friday took aim at a recent meeting in which two other commissioners and officials from McKenzie-Willamette Medical Center discussed moving the hospital to the Lane County fairgrounds.
Commissioner Bill Dwyer said it was inappropriate for Commissioners Anna Morrison and Faye Stewart to meet privately with hospital officials at a time when Springfield-based McKenzie-Willamette is seeking a new home in Eugene. (more...)
Letter -- Fairgrounds sale is a bad idea
By Fred Ward, Eugene
The Register-Guard | July 22, 2005 |
If you look closely, you might see the vultures beginning to circle at the Lane County Fairgrounds. No, folks, not the feathered type with the fuzzy white collars. But the big-money, two-legged, corporate type just waiting to pounce on a piece of Lane County's historic real estate.
They speak of relocating a place our citizens have used for decades to be replaced by a hospital that would be built in the middle of the city with no quick access from any major interstate highway. Or there's been mention of possibly some low-income housing. Do you think a developer is going to purchase the property for just low-income housing?
Regarding the closed meeting our county commissioners Anna Morrison, Faye Stewart and Bobby Green attended -- what is it they don't want the public to know about?
Makes one wonder. My feeling would be they are trying to railroad the sale of the fairgrounds.
Development Report: Hospital adds center for imaging to upgrades
By Joe Harwood
The Register-Guard | July 19, 2005 |
SPRINGFIELD -- McKenzie-Willamette Medical Center started work Monday on a $2.6 million diagnostic imaging facility, part of a $14.4 million capital improvement campaign launched this spring by the 50-year-old hospital.
In addition to a new magnetic resonance imaging system, the medical center is also upgrading its computerized tomography scanner and planning to build an operating theater to provide open heart surgery. (more...)
Health Care
Letter -- U.S. needs universal health care
By Richard Barnhart, M.D., Eugene
The Register-Guard | July 20, 2005 |
I appreciated Dr. Todd Huffman's Commentary piece (Register-Guard, July 10) titled "Halting the collapse of health care."
It is a national disgrace that the United States spends far more per capita for health care than any other nation in the world, yet even at this high price still does not provide health coverage to 45 million Americans, most of whom are productive, working citizens who happen to hold jobs that do not provide health coverage benefits. As far as I know, we are the only First World nation on Earth that does not have a health care system that provides close to universal coverage to its citizens.
We need to make it a national priority to achieve universal health care coverage in the United States, then begin the process of figuring out how to make it happen. The voucher system that Dr. Huffman described in his column is certainly worthy of close scrutiny and consideration. Whatever we do, continuing the current dysfunctional and unfair system we have should not be an option.
Employers pay a steep subsidy for programs
By Robin J. Moody
The Business Journal of Portland | July 18, 2005 |
Oregon employers and workers that carry employer-sponsored health plans subsidized the Medicare and Medicaid systems to the tune of 14.4 percent, or $634 million, in 2004.
Although health care experts have long suspected that substantial costs for the two federal programs have been shouldered by private insurance, the scope of that cost shift is only now apparent (more...)
Governors focus on health care
By Robert Tanner
The Associated Press | July 18, 2005 |
DES MOINES, Iowa -- Governors came together Sunday on sweeping Medicaid changes that could help President Bush's budget goals, even as more than a dozen of the chief executives are weighing a legal fight over new Medicare policy that will cost states hundreds of millions of dollars.
The focus at the governors' summer meeting on the two huge, government-paid health care programs -- Medicare for the elderly, Medicaid for the poor -- underscored their widespread view that health care is their most urgent issue, for constituents and for states' financial future. (more...)
Nearby Developments
Council to tackle enterprise impasse
By Edward Russo
The Register-Guard | July 18, 2005 |
One of Chris Pryor's colleagues on the Eugene City Council calls him an eternal optimist.
But even Pryor admits that his rosy outlook is being tested by the divide between Eugene and Lane County governments. City councilors and county commissioners are tussling over the best way to dispense property tax breaks to businesses in a designated area of west Eugene called an enterprise zone. Councilors are planning to wrestle with the issue again at a meeting tonight. (more...)
Mayor's vote may doom zone
By Edward Russo
The Register-Guard | July 19, 2005 |
Sitting in the hot seat on Monday, Eugene Mayor Kitty Piercy cast the deciding vote that may lead the city to try to end a business tax break program that half of the City Council does not want.
Piercy broke a 4-4 tie in support of a motion by south-central Councilor Bonny Bettman that asks the Lane County Board of Commissioners to approve the city's preferred rules for an enterprise zone in west Eugene by July 22. If commissioners refuse, then Eugene officials would seek to end the city's participation in the zone. (more...)
Editorial -- City left empty-handed: State rules will guide enterprise zone
| The Register-Guard | July 20, 2005 |
By insisting on tight rules for a new enterprise zone, the Eugene City Council appears to have allowed the state's more permissive rules to take effect. A tough position in negotiations with the Lane County Board of Commissioners gained the council nothing -- not even restrictions to which the county board would have agreed. It's a peculiar kind of victory when the winner loses all. (more...)
Council votes to extend deadline over tax breaks
| The Register-Guard | July 21, 2005 |
The Eugene City Council on Wednesday decided that it wants more time to try to resolve its dispute with the Lane County Board of Commissioners over business tax breaks in west Eugene. (more...)
Slant -- Enterprise Zone
| Eugene Weekly | July 21, 2005 |
The squabble between Eugene and Lane County over enterprise zone standards could lead to the death of the new enterprise zone, which is not such a bad thing, or a reversion to lax state rules, which is a bad thing. This is all about Hynix, but is Hynix really going to leave Eugene if it doesn't get monster tax breaks in the future? Seems highly unlikely. Meanwhile, this whole mess could have been avoided if our city manager and staff had hashed out local standards with county officials before applying to the state for the enterprise zone. Who has the most to lose politically if the EZ dies? Our mayor and councilors who favor reasonable restraints on corporate candy are likely to be unfairly tarred as anti-jobs and anti-workers in the next elections -- particularly since the local mainstream media continue to give these complex issues superficial attention.
Retail Notebook: Gateway Mall adding major retailer
By Joe Mosley
The Register-Guard | July 21, 2005 |
SPRINGFIELD -- That mess in the Gateway Mall parking lot is actually a good thing.
Asphalt has been torn up and a pad is being poured for construction of a Kohl's Department Store just east of the mall's Hometown Buffet outlet. The project is the largest addition to Gateway Mall in several years and is expected to bring other new retailers in its wake. (more...)
Liquor store coming to Gateway
By Amber Fossen
The Springfield News | July 20, 2005 |
It's expected to generate $1.65 million worth of sales in its first year alone, and it will be the third store in Springfield.
The Oregon Liquor Control Commission is planning to open a new liquor store in Springfield's Gateway area by this October. Anticipating growth, OLCC is trying for the second time to get a store established. (more...)
Gateway area may get new liquor store
By Serena Markstrom
The Register-Guard | July 23, 2005 |
The Oregon Liquor Control Commission Friday closed its window of opportunity for potential agents to apply for the right to open a store in the Gateway area, between Belt Line Road and Harlow Road. (more...)
Eugene City Beat: Former downtown Sears building has date with city's wrecking ball
By Edward Russo
The Register-Guard | July 24, 2005 |
Old Sears building at West 10th Avenue and Charnelton Street, get ready to meet the wrecking ball.
City officials have given the green light to demolish the former department store across the street from the public library. Work should begin in a month or so, they said. (more...)
Editorial -- A short-term fix: County adds 37 jail beds but needs many more
| The Register-Guard | July 21, 2005 |
It's a tribute to both the resourcefulness and desperation of Lane County officials that they have found a way to add 37 sorely needed jail beds without any extra staffing costs.
But the extreme contortions necessary to increase jail capacity -- putting high-risk and medium-risk inmates in dormitories instead of keeping them in more secure single cells and pushing the use of jail space uncomfortably close to the limit -- increase the very real risks of violent incidents and lawsuits challenging jail conditions. (more...)
Transportation
Glenwood may get a new bike path, off Franklin
By Amber Fossen
The Springfield News | July 20, 2005 |
A multi-use bike path in Glenwood is possible if the Glenwood Water District comes on board.
Springfield City Councilors are interested in partnering up to create a bike path, but they don't want to incur ongoing electric costs for lighting. This is where councilors want the water district to come in.
The city and water district is in contract negotiations for fire protection services. No agreement has been reached and Mayor Sid Leiken said it's important to reach a settlement first.
Councilor Tammy Fitch said the multi-use bike path could help reach a contract agreement and form a partnership with the district. (more...)
Council moves to quiet trains
By Edward Russo
The Register-Guard | July 21, 2005 |
Help for sleep-starved Eugene residents awakened by the horns from seven nightly trains won't come anytime soon.
The City Council on Wednesday directed the city traffic engineer to draw up plans that could silence train horns at two downtown railroad crossings, but not until next year at the earliest.
The intent is to give city officials a better idea of what it may cost to silence train horns throughout downtown in a so-called quiet zone.
To do that, safety improvements would have to be made at 10 crossings, stretching from Hilyard Street on the east to Van Buren Street on the west. (more...)
Senate panel votes to boost funds for Amtrak, vets
By Andrew Taylor
The Associated Press | July 22, 2005 |
WASHINGTON -- In the latest evidence that Congress is chafing at President Bush's limits on spending, a Senate panel Thursday rejected cuts to Amtrak and voted to significantly increase spending for highways, airport construction and community development grants. (more...)
Measure 37, Oregon's Land Use Planning System
Amendment dims hopes for bill on 37
Right to sell land with right of development faces strong opposition
By Don Jepsen for the Mail Tribune
The (Medford) Mail Tribune | July 19, 2005 |
SALEM -- The sponsor of a bill implementing some provisions of Ballot Measure 37 said Monday that a proposed House amendment allowing waivers of land-use laws to be transferred would kill the measure in the Senate. (more...)
Bill to revise Measure 37 passes House committee
By Laura Oppenheimer
The Oregonian | July 21, 2005 |
SALEM -- A House committee approved a Measure 37 rewrite tailored to property rights activists on Wednesday, extinguishing hope of a compromise.
Senate Bill 1037 would give Oregonians in Action, the group that wrote Oregon's new property rights law, most of what it wants. Successful claimants could pass on new development rights when they sell their land, and businesses would have greater ability to challenge planning rules.
However, the bill, which passed the State and Federal Affairs Committee 3-2, has virtually no chance of approval in the Senate. (more...)
County handles a mess of Measure 37 claims
By Damian Mann
The (Medford) Mail Tribune | July 21, 2005 |
Jackson County commissioners acted on 17 Measure 37 claims Wednesday, the largest single batch they've dealt with to date.
Commissioners denied five of the claims in the John's Peak area, which was also the largest number rejected so far.
Jackson County has received 139 claims so far, and commissioners have made decisions on 52, approving a majority. About 10 claims received partial approval, while eight have been denied. (more...)
Pressured to grow
Measure 37 claims place Ashland in a tight spot
By Damian Mann
The (Medford) Mail Tribune | July 24, 2005 |
For 31 years, Willis Lee has watched the suburbs of Ashland edge closer and closer to his 23 acres perched on the eastern hills.
Now, thanks to Measure 37, the 71-year-old resident may benefit from the development boom that's hit Jackson County, getting approval from the county last week to split his property into five-acre lots.
Considering the growth in the valley and Ashland, Lee doesn't see his plan as controversial. (more...)
Serres family files Measure 37 claim
| By John Gervais | July 14, 2005 |
Having worked for nearly two years with the local planning process, the Serres family's frustration has led them to file a Measure 37 waiver from land-use restrictions on their land east of and directly adjacent to the City of Woodburn. (more...)
Senate clears bill that would lift land-use restrictions
By James Sinks
WesCom News Service | July 22, 2005 |
SALEM -- Businesses would no longer face government restrictions on the size or types of development allowed on rural industrial land under a proposal that gained final legislative approval Wednesday.
The proposal, billed as an economic catalyst for rural towns outside the Willamette Valley, makes permanent a temporary economic development law passed by the 2003 assembly.
The bill, which received final approval from the Senate on Wednesday, now moves to the desk of Gov. Ted Kulongoski.
House Bill 2458 was sought by the real estate industry and favored in places like Umatilla County, where industrial land follows the U.S. Highway 395 corridor outside Hermiston.
But the idea was criticized by land-use watchdogs, who said the state should be taking a cautious approach to expanding development rights in the wake of Measure 37. That ballot initiative allows the state to expand what landowners can do with their land, but says government cannot reduce any allowable uses unless it also pays compensation. (more...)
Land Stewards get pep talk from an outside land use leader
Proponent of Measure 37 in Oregon comes to Napa to offer political insight
By Gabe Friedman
Napa Valley Register | July 23, 2005 |
Standing up with an untouched plate of eggs, toast and potatoes in front of him, Ross Day delivered an impassioned speech in Napa Thursday on everything from the inequities in modern land use laws to the dangers of the environmental movement.
Day is a veteran of land use wars in Oregon who came to Mrs. McDonald's restaurant in north Napa for a political strategy session and pep talk with the Napa Valley Land Stewards Alliance.
Day's group, Oregonians in Action, authored the controversial land use law known as Measure 37, which was passed by Oregon voters in 2004. The law compels the government to compensate landowners for property value lost because of environmental regulations.
The Land Stewards are gearing up to campaign for their own initiative in Napa County, the Fair Payment for Public Benefit Act, which in some respects is similar to Measure 37. Day characterized the act as a logical step after Measure 37 "to keep the ball rolling." (more...)
Other News
Bob Welch -- Come on, Eugene -- let's belt one out
By Bob Welch, Columnist
The Register-Guard | July 7, 2005 |
On the back porch of a Fort Worth ranch, on the least-sticky Texas summer night I've known, the little girl didn't hesitate when her father asked if she would sing me a song she had written.
She just stood up and sang. Bold. Confident. As if this were something every 11-year-old Texas child were expected to do: sing to a family friend, in this case one she has dubbed "Oregon Man."
I've been to Texas a handful of times and am always glad, upon returning, to see the velvet green of home. I'm a poor fit for the Lone Star state, too enamored by tidal pools, mid-70s and shade. Too enchanted by wild blackberries and our one-baggage-carousel airport. (Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport has twice the square miles of Springfield.)
And yet I confess something that intrigues me about Texas: its can-do spirit. Its knack for not only dreaming big, but acting on those dreams. For taking risks. For standing up and singing. (more...)
Letter -- Welch is right on about Eugene
By Henry E. Masterson, Eugene
The Register-Guard | July 12, 2005 |
Listen up, Eugene!
Bob Welch's July 7 column is flawlessly right on!
Letter -- Vocal minority controls Eugene
By Rudy D. Fecteau, Eugene
The Register-Guard | July 12, 2005 |
Bob Welch's July 7 column inspired me to respond that there are many people in Eugene who share his vision of a city on the move. Rob Hankins' "World's Greatest City of the Arts and Outdoors" is one good example. Unfortunately, Eugene is in the grip of a few vocal activists who would like to see it become one huge farmer's market, low-cost housing and public transportation environment and community.
Many speak regularly in the public forum portion of Monday night City Council meetings. Some rant incoherently while others reveal their anger and revulsion at anything that resembles growth.
A few months ago Councilor Betty Taylor tried to put through a moratorium on retailers of 50,000 square feet or more with the idea of preventing Wal-Mart-type operations. But when Whole Foods expressed an interest in moving to Eugene, some members of the City Council couldn't do enough short of taking away the keys of neighboring properties to get enough parking spaces for the new store. I am convinced it's because of the organic, down-to-earth nature of their business. If you watch City Council meetings now, you'll see a parade of local health food businesses and their supporters complain about the possibilities of being driven out of business. Someone suggested a co-op would be a good alternative.
I hope the kernel of enthusiasm that Welch alludes to and the inspired vision of Hankins with his "World's Greatest City of the Arts and Outdoors" is about to pop open with citizen support.
Florence Council accepts dune offer from developer
By Winston Ross
The Register-Guard | July 19, 2005 |
FLORENCE -- The City Council gingerly accepted a $250,000 pledge from a Eugene developer Monday night, to be spent preserving an 80-acre piece of Lane County land that contains one of the area's most beloved dunes. (more...)
Panel fixes to look under Legislature's hood
By Brad Cain
The Associated Press | July 24, 2005 |
SALEM -- Carl Wilson is a radio talk-show host. He used to be a state legislator, but he got fed up with the constant bickering among his colleagues and their lack of progress on significant issues. (more...)
Editorial -- California's next export: Schwarzenegger takes aim at redistricting
| The Register-Guard | July 19, 2005 |
The United States has a two-party political system, but it's mostly made up of one-party congressional and legislative districts. Incumbents at both the federal and state level are all but guaranteed re-election, largely because of the way their districts are drawn. A rebellion against the virtual life tenure of office-holders is brewing in California, incubator of many political movements. (more...)