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GILROY DISPATCH

JANUARY 18, 2019

OPINION GUEST VIEW ZACHARY HILTON

2018: A great year for bike safety

We need state AG to support our hospitals

anta Clara County Executive Jeff Smith has a difficult time understanding just what has occurred in the past two weeks. His vision of leading a dramatic expansion and improvement of a public healthcare system is suddenly on the verge of hitting a brick wall as it enters the home stretch. California’s politically ambitious Attorney General Xavier Becerra is going to court to stop Smith from closing the deal to buy O’Connor and St. Louise hospitals. Smith is convinced this will force the two hospitals to close. This outcome, says Smith, could occur even if Becerra’s arguments fail to convince a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge to reconsider a December decision in favor of the pending deal. A Becerra victory or even a decision to appeal another rejection to a federal appeals court could result in a fatal delay in negotiations already hard-pressed by the mounting losses and impatient creditors of the hospitals’ owner, Verity Health System. Smith should know what he is talking about. He is a medical doctor and a lawyer, and manages a $6 billion county government. Becerra also should know what he is talking about. He is a lawyer and the state’s top law enforcement officer, after all. We’ll go with Dr. Smith on this one. Who stands to benefit from Smith’s desired outcome? South County citizens in need of a wide range of hospital-based health care services: low-income and the elderly, immigrants and the uninsured, accident victims and expectant mothers—for whom traveling dozens of miles north on 101 would be an urgent-care disaster. And the more than 2,000 nurses and other hospital workers, plus several hundred physicians who would be able to stay employed. Who stands to gain from Becerra’s desired outcome? That’s a more difficult question to answer. Certainly not the hospitals’ current patients, nor their employees or vendors or host communities. That leaves the attorney general himself.

Barry Holtzclaw Managing Editor editor@gilroydispatch.com

Becerra, appointed in 2016 after 12 years in Congress, ran unsuccessfully for Los Angeles mayor in 2001, explored a Senate run before his appointment, and was even mentioned as a possible vice presidential candidate in 2016. He is not yet past his political prime. As attorney general he has made national headlines standing up for California in the face of real and tweeted threats from the White House. He has declined requests for interviews on his intervention in this hospital bankruptcy case, deferring to a flack in his office to say the attorney general is concerned about the commitment of Santa Clara County, which already runs a giant public hospital with related clinics and services, to provide quality health to all citizens. In his relatively brief legal arguments, Becerra fell back on call for strict adherence to all “53 conditions” that his predecessor, Sen. Kamala Harris, laid down to ensure that a private nonprofit run by a hedge fund with no track record of healthcare service would not cannibalize or flip the six California hospital it purchased in 2015. What he has not said or write is that some of those 53 conditions would require any presumably private purchaser of the Verity Health hospitals to honor the employerfunded pensions and all provisions of the contracts with labor unions representing various hospital groups, plus the contracts with physicians’ groups. Smith has correctly pointed out that the county—an arm of state government—is barred by state employment law and the state Constitution from honoring these labor obligations. Surely the savvy Becerra knows this. But he can make powerful political points with organized labor by pressing their case right up to the last minute. That way he can say he did his best, in a cynical high-stakes gamble for political capital with more than 2,000 jobs and the health of thousands on the line. There is time salvage this deal, time for our attorney general to open his mind and his heart to Santa Clara County, and support the county’s hospital purchase plan.

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Safe Routes to School had another successful year in Gilroy. The Gilroy Bicycle Pedestrian Commission along with Santa Clara County Public Health took a leadership position in getting all the stakeholders in the city to come together to form a Safe Routes to School Task Force. The county secured funding to lead us through the formation of our action plan, which will guide and sustain the program for the long term. We presented our 2018 work plan to City Council, and the safe routes plan is our top priority. One reason why is the economic benefits that spill over into the city when we stay local and play local. When you engage the youth to walk and ride to school, they become more comfortable with their streets, neighbors and surroundings. Suddenly walking and riding to downtown, Gilroy Gardens, Sports Park, Nob Hill, The Patio and the newest Hecker Pass Ag-Tourist project along the Bike/Ped path seem a lot quicker and easier than driving in your car. Shifty Cycles has free bike valet for Downtown Live, Tamal Festival, and Bonanza Day Parade. Look for more bike/ped-oriented open streets events. The Gilroy Bicycle Pedestrian Commission plans to introduce a resolution to City Council to recognize Walk & Roll each Wednesday. Rucker Elementary will have its first Walk & Roll Wednesday in October. We reached out to each high school last year to participate in the Silicon Valley Clean Energy Bike to the Future event at Gilroy Gardens, and several students who have been leaders in their middle school Safe Routes programs are moving onto high school. Our Gilroy commission’s April Monthly Award recipient Karina Rodriguez plans to start a Safe Routes Committee at Gilroy High School. The Specialized Foundation Riding For Focus program began this year at Ascencion Solorsano Middle School. We helped P.E. teacher Anthony Fucella apply for the grant, and we wrote a letter of support for this great program. I’m excited to announce that getting a bike park located in Gilroy made it further than ever, when City Council unanimously approved direction to staff to draft a memorandum of understanding between the City of Gilroy and Garlic City BMX so that Garlic City BMX can proceed with site evaluation, project development and fundraising activities for the construction of a proposed dirt pump track at Christmas Hill Park. Having places like this that are open to public year round in our parks support our efforts for biking to school and playing local. You will be able to access the pump track from the current bike/ ped trails. Safe Routes summary reports for residential developments are in the packets for the Planning Commission and City Council now. This is information for them to see what the strengths and weaknesses are for current infrastructure. We encourage you to nominate for our monthly award a Gilroy resident who strives to make the city a better place for biking and pedestrian activities. Come to one of our meetings on the fourth Tuesday of each month 6pm in the City Council Chambers, or email any of us. For information, visit www.cityofgilroy.org/280/ Bicycle-Pedestrian-Commission. We are constantly advocating for Complete Streets, Safe Routes to School, and bicycle/pedestrian-friendly infrastructure. The youth in our community will shape the future, but it's up to us to show them the way. Like Mark Fenton has famously said, “Let’s create a community full of ‘free-range children!’” If you are looking for ways to get involved then look to the schools that need parent volunteers and join a City of Gilroy commission.

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