Show me the need

9/8/21

Dear ER:

The South Bay Hospital District condemned the Prospect Avenue property with the explicit finding that an emergency hospital for the use of the three beach cities that formed the district was a public need and necessity, Following the failure of South Bay Hospital in 1984, that land should have been surplus, absent the cited cause for condemnation. The Beach Cities Health District now proposes to put a commercial, market priced RCFE (Residential Care Facility for the Elderly) on the site, competing with current, actively under construction and future private ventures. The RCFE has no finding of public need and necessity. The same is true for the entirely duplicative PACE facility (Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly) that duplicates services offered to all zip codes by another California registered facility, thereby wasting public resources.

Mark Nelson

Redondo Beach

Where Does BCHD's Money Go?

8/26/21

BCHD is planning to build a privately owned residential facility for the elderly on public land in Redondo Beach. In the process, the construction will significantly disrupt the lives of residents for many years. When it is built, apartments will cost $12,000 per month in rent, a price higher than many residents in Redondo can afford. The purpose of this development, according to BCHD, is to bring additional revenue into the district in order to continue providing services for the community. An important question for RB residents is this: Could there be an alternate solution for obtaining needed revenue?

During the 2019-2020 budget year BCHD received $14.3 million dollars in revenue and spent $2.2 on the community: $1.1 million on grants/contracts plus $1.1 million to subsidize their case management and fitness centers. Let’s compare BCHD’s spending with Sequoia Health Care District, a similar district to BCHD. Their revenue in 2019-2020 was $17 million yet Sequoia spent $10 million on their community: $5.7 million on grants plus an additional $4.4 million on special programs such as their “School Health Program.” Sequoia Health Care District gives 58% of its revenue to the community while BCHD only gives 15% of its revenue to the community. Sequoia Health Care District’s secret to good stewardship of public funds is to keep their administrative expenses low. Clearly this is the right solution for BCHD’s need for revenue rather than financializing public land for revenue gain and massive construction disruption.

Sheila Lamb

Deadline for EIR comments

6-10-21 Daily Breeze

If you haven’t opposed BCHDs megaproject, today is the last day. Here’s a direct analogy so folks can understand the scam. What if the City of Hermosa (agency) leased the Greenbelt (public owned land) to Kaufman & Broad (private developer) and let Kaufman charge full market-rents for building a long string of upscale apartments for 95% non-residents of Hermosa Beach. Kaufman would kick back 20% of the NET revenue to the City and keep 95%+ of the gross revenue. That’s the deal that BCHD is proposing with our public lands. Why should public land be used to build $12,500 per month assisted living for non-residents of the 3 beach cities? It just doesn’t make any sense on the last and only 10-acre parcel in the 3 beach cities that’s publicly owned and not already a park.

Email EIR@bchd.org before 5 p.m. today and tell them their aesthetics, air emissions, noise, recreation and traffic impacts are significant and that their DEIR was defective, must be fixed, and then must be recirculated to the public.

–Mark Nelson, Redondo Beach