LAGUNA HONDA: Chronicle Editorial Criticizes Lag Time
City officials' inaction on repairs for Laguna Honda Hospital has unfairly quashed other worthy civic projects, a San Francisco Chronicle editorial argues. The position of the public long-term care home for the aged at "the top of San Francisco's 'fix-it' list ... has grown from a public health question into a paralyzing political obstacle. ... The city's future depends on renewing all of its institutions. It can't be forced to answer one important need while all others continue to wait." The Chronicle cites the withdrawal of bond measures for the de Young Museum and the Academy of Sciences as two victims of the paralysis, whose funding "can be instantly labeled as unjustified next to the image of the needy elderly." The Chronicle calls for "San Francisco's leaders ... to step in now" to outline renovation plans for Laguna Honda. "Mayor Brown needs to produce a serious number. The final figure may be high, but there are ways to pay the bill," including selling property, distributing patients to other hospitals and borrowing money via other means, the paper concludes (7/8).
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