Dear ER:
Update on BCHD’s consultant Gallup’s press release that claims that there are massive reduced medical costs in the three Beach Cities. When the Gallup email came out, it was very thin on basic facts, such as research citations and methodologies. Gallup used a variety of fluffy phrases like “credible and published secondary sources,” and that the findings were “likely, in part, the result of efforts of ”BCHD.” We promptly sent data requests to BCHD asking for the details that Gallup and BCHD withheld from the taxpayers who paid the $400,000 Gallup price tag. BCHD responded that it didn’t require Gallup to provide study details to the District. Apparently, BCHD only received the advertising materials from Gallup. If that happened in the real world, heads would have rolled, up to and including the Director or CEO who signed the contract. Tom Bakaly, BCHD’s CEO, has long maligned the private sector’s rigorous methods and attention to detail. Yes, taxpayers would like to know that every penny BCHD spends is cost-effective and yields more benefits than costs for the health of the residents of the District. That’s a taxpayer mentality. Without the ability get the published research sources or statistical methods that we paid $400,000 for in taxpayer funding, we are going to recreate and publish a fully documented study using the expert skills of community members of our taxpayer groups in the Beach Cities and Torrance. More to follow before early voting starts on October 7. Both StopBCHD and TRAO (Torrance Redondo Against Overdevelopment) are still diligently working to protect the surrounding neighborhoods and District taxpayers from BCHD’s proposed, nearly 800,000 square foot tripling of the current campus buildings.
Mark Nelson
Redondo Beach
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