Hats off to the Gazette for its commitment to fairness and balance.
Full disclosure. I’m the campaign manager/treasurer for Dr. Margaret-Anne Coppernoll, candidate for Monterey Peninsula College (MPC) Area 2 trustee. On November 3rd, of this year, 2009, MPC Board trustees will, for the first time, be elected by geographical area. So, on November 3rd, Marina voters will have their first opportunity to elect one of their own to the MPC Board.
The Gazette’s publisher, former-Mayor Gary Wilmot, endorses Dr. Coppernoll’s opponent, and honored him with a front-page Gazette press release — photo and all — last month. Dr. Coppernoll then sent in her own press release — photo and all — and asked Wilmot for equal treatment, namely that her info be printed in the August 17th edition.
And, so it was! (Darn it, Gary! I lost my $100 bet, telling Dr. Coppernoll you wouldn’t print it.) The Gazette printed all of it: on Dr. Coppernoll’s decades of military experience (retiring as colonel) in personnel, operations, and budgets, her community experience (Monterey County Mental Health Commission, City of Marina Economic Development Commission, and more), to her academic credentials (Ph.D., three masters’ degrees, associate professor at West Point and Georgetown University).
Again, I thank the Gazette for its even-handedness.
David W. Brown
Federal Cost Shift
Medicare as a single payor is scheduled to go broke soon 4 to 7 years depending on who is counting. Social Security is in the same boat. These two federal government programs are the largest two items in the federal budget according to Sam Farr's town hall meeting speech in Santa Cruz, Ca. two weeks ago. Third and 4th items were interest on national debt and defense spending. Congressman Farr told the audience to ask our health insurer why our premiums are so high. I did. They said among other things, it is because of the "Federal Cost Shift." This is the process where the Single Payors like Medicare and Medicade reimburse hospitals and doctor 40% to 70% of the providers billed charges. This forces those providers to shift that lost revenue to the private sector. This is not new. I first heard of the federal cost shift over 25 years ago.
They need to get their house in order before creating a new entity such as single payor or "public option." Remember, these are the same people who gave the senior citizens the "donut hole". A product of the oil embargo in the early 1970's is the Federal Energy Dept. It is a sink hole for tax payor dollars and has not found a sustainable alterate energy source.
Insurance companies should also get more efficient. If I was President Obama, I would cap corporate officer salary and bonuses and eliminate stock options. (I guess I am a bit socialistic.) Or I would require all for profit health insurance carriers to make that line of business a non profit subsidary. I would give the ax to all employees who are between the patient and the doctor when it comes to authorizing medical treatment. I would offer those employees a chance to be retrained to work with the doctors in delivering the most appropriate care and restructuring the cost of procedures to be relative to patient out come. This would be the most complex idea to implement. It would unlock tons of money that has diffilculty flowing from the payor to the provider under the guise of utilization review. These savings could be used to insure the uninsurable.
Finally, I would endorse diet and exercise, along with nutritional education starting in the K1 years and up. Early education worked in cutting the tobacco usage rates in the past 40 years. This is a long term solution that will take two generations to deliver results. The results would be a reversal of the diabetes epidemic, reduction in colorectal and other cancers, improvement is self esteem, lowering of blood pressure and cholesterol and reductions in heart disease, heart attacks, and strokes. All money saved could be used to prevent other health related issues.
Pharmaceudical ads must be working for the Rx companies and the doctors who book more office visits. Pharaceutical advertising would have to stop. People should see their doctor based on their health issues and for proper preventative care. These ads drive people to the doctor. They should not be calling the doctor based on an impulse driven ad.
John R. Geoghegan
Marina, Ca. 93933
Hypocrisy, Past Practice, and Policy Matter
The title of this letter is both a statement and a question which has been left open since February despite a request for formal review on April 7, 2009. While some citizens can seemingly demand and receive immediate responses key questions like policy violations and possible Brown Act violations are avoided like a plague two members. Makes you wonder why?
On three separate occasions these same two members have used past practice to justify positions they support and blatantly ignored it when it did not suit their need. No wonder other members of the Council and citizens are confused about the ambiguity and hypocrisy of such actions and statements. It does not matter what term or phrase you use to describe it because it is exactly what it appears to be. When these facts are brought forward, certain citizens immediately jump up as though on queue to defend them describing such inconsistency and disingenuous statements as personal attacks. One Commissioner has even had the audacity to say you should not name names but then immediately started naming names of those he found guilty of simply stating the facts. The real irony and yet another aspect of how hypocrisy can run deep, is this individual (along with one other) would never have been appointed to a City Commission if policy and past practice had been followed in the first place.
Here are some examples of how past practice has been invoked; the Mayor's Accords, the budget reserve, and a permit to care for trees on Hwy 1. Conversely in one of their first official acts in office these same two folks ignored past practice in honoring the scoring for Commission appointees, violated at least two City Policies in the process, and possibly compromised a third Council member by making decisions in advance of completing the interviews. As a result, even if presumably unintentional (?), they possibly violated the Brown Act by having members of one ad hoc committee discussing this with a third Council member on a separate committee in order to manipulate the appointments. Does our process now allow or condone such serial meetings?
So where is the review and investigation that has been requested three times? I would think that the citizens and entire Council would want to know the answers. Where is the open, honest, and transparent government? Or perhaps, based on their observed conduct, we have seen what the truth really is and was always intended to be? If certain members of the council wish to invoke past practice and policy perhaps a little consistency is in order for a change.
On a final note, some of the folks and organizations who now demand being respectful are the same people who for years were the most disrespectful at Council meetings. In fact, the only time meetings have been disrupted has been by these same suddenly born again sanctimonious folks. Trying to now claim the moral high ground and pretending to be something they never were may be the height of hypocrisy.
Dan Amadeo
Editor, Marina Gazette:
In his August 17th Letter to the Editor, J. Michael Masterson criticizes Mayor Bruce Delgado and Councilmember Frank O’Connell for suggesting City staff look at possible changes to the now-developerless Cypress Knolls project, which calls for (1) senior-citizen renters being segregated from homeowners and common facilities, and (2) wall-to-wall homes over the entire 0.8-mile length, with no businesses apart from care facilities. At the July 30th Planning Commission meeting, City staff, in response to my question, agreed Cypress Knolls, taken alone, would further lower Marina’s low jobs-housing ratio -- which is 0.63-to-1, compared to 1.26-to-one (twice that) for other Peninsula cities.
Masterson notes that since City staffing has been reduced, Staff is overworked. But what of staff members brought in a few years back, specifically to deal with all the development which is now on hold due to bad economic conditions?
Mayor Delgado and Councilmember O’Connell simply welcome reasonable suggestions for change. In addition, they've insisted on balancing the city’s budget without new taxes, like the utility tax sometimes mentioned by their detractors. It's ironic that those who criticize Delgado and O’Connel the most, those who mostly identify themselves as political conservatives, attack these Council members for being fiscal conservatives.
David W. Brown
Great Job All!!
All major events require behind the scene activities to insure that the event is successful. The Bronco World Series which was recently held in the City of Monterey is no different.
I would like to acknowledge the City of Marina for their behind the scene efforts during the Bronco Word Series. The Marina Recreation and Cultural Services Department provided direct support to the Marina Host Lodging Committee which supported eight teams that came from Tamiami FL, Semi Valley CA, Brooklyn NY, Caguas Puerto Rico, Mexico City MX, Morgan Hill CA, Joliet IL and Taipei Taiwan.
Marina has been the host City for over 12 yrs. The teams stay in Marina and play in Monterey at Jacks Park. Just this past year the City has implemented a motto which is “World Class Service from a World Class City to a World Class Event”.
Each visiting team was assigned a personal team host. There duties included but were not limited to the following:
• Meet and greet the team upon arrival at hotel and present the team manager with the Welcome Packet from the City of Marina.
• Be the contact for the team manager to arrange transportation to and from all practices and recreation centers.
• Arrange time for team access to the community recreation facilities located in Marina.
• Be available if managers have questions regarding what Marina has to offer.
• Escort teams to the City of Marina Reception. A reception was hosted for the teams at the Marina Community Center.
• The Host also provided the team manager a ½ hour tour of the city and the facilities.
The team host attended all their team games. The city provided transportation to and from all practices. If the teams did not have own transportation Marina provided it to get food.
Marina also received donated aquarium tickets for all the visiting teams. This is just a little of what the City and the Host Committee did behind the scenes. We also want to say thank you to all the businesses that donated either monetary or items.
As a resident of Marina, I am proud to know we have such dedicated folks serving our community in so many ways. Great Job! To All!
Harald Kelley , Marina Resident
