LAGUNA HONDA: Another Bond Measure in the Pipeline
A civic advisory committee yesterday proposed that San Francisco revisit the issue of funding construction of the ailing Laguna Honda Hospital with a bond measure, "just nine months after political infighting kept a similar plan off the city ballot." The San Francisco Chronicle reports that the $437 million bond measure "calls for much of the existing hospital to be razed and replaced by new medical facilities for 1,200 elderly and chronically ill patients." The fight to gain support for the measure is expected to be an uphill battle. "We're looking at a very heavy six months of politicking and campaigning to get our message out to the voters," said Lee Ann Monfredini, president of the city's Health Commission, which intends to take formal action on the proposal early next month. The renewed call for a bond measure "comes as a disappointment to those who had hoped to avoid another nasty free-for-all over the bill for hospital construction." In addition, some had hoped that the city's share of the tobacco settlement could fund the facility, but the committee's report found the tobacco funds "will not fully cover the costs of replacing Laguna Honda." Chief city architect Tony Irons said plans call for the new hospital to be completed by mid-2006 (Wildermuth, 4/21).
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