CHAPTER 2: The District seeks to build and operate a hospital for the benefit of the community.
The District is created to operate a hospital.
Prior to 1957, the nearby residents decided they needed a hospital. To accomplish that purpose, two votes were taken by the people. The first public vote established a special district to own the hospital. Second, to pay for the hospital, a bond was voted on by the public to tax residents of the Beach Cities.
Mysteriously, however, both the ballot measure establishing BCHD’s predecessor and the bond measure documents are alleged to be “missing”. BCHD should have a copy of them. But, they won’t provide them. BCHD’s claim that they don't have them is equivalent to the U.S. government saying the Constitution, and every single copy of it, and everyone’s memory of what it says, has been erased. How can BCHD operate without knowing what it is allowed to do; and, more importantly what it is NOT allowed to do? They need those governing documents to tell them and the public what they can, and cannot do.
Back to what happened. BCHD was born, a hospital was needed, and all that was missing was the land.
Who owned the land on which the hospital was built?
Since the early 1900s, and until 1957, the land upon which BCHD now sits (excluding the very small parcel they bought from some oil companies in 1990, where an oil and gas well still sits) was owned by a California corporation called the “Redondo Improvement Company” (here we’ll call it “RIC”). RIC was owned by Mr. Huntington, of railroad baron fame.
The land owned by RIC was ideal for the hospital BCHD wanted. But, RIC wasn’t interested in selling. So, how did BCHD acquire the land?
In fact, BCHD took the land it sits on by force. Because RIC did not want to sell, BCHD sued RIC. Using the “hammer” of eminent domain, BCHD could force a transfer of land where none was voluntarily wanted.
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Please “tune in" tomorrow for Chapter 3: “BCHD spends months avoiding requests from the members of the public who want to learn more about the land acquisition and land use issues.”
