Redistricting Leads to Hospital Fight : Remapping: Supervisors with new interests in the San Gabriel Valley are arguing over where a proposed 350-bed center should go.

A nasty feud over where in the San Gabriel Valley to build a county hospital appears to be the first fallout from the redistricting that divided the valley between three members of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.

The county has planned for several years to build a 350-bed hospital, primarily to serve poor patients in the valley and lighten the burden on the dilapidated and crowded Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center in East Los Angeles.

Last week, it became clear that the redrawing of the county’s political map--designed to create a predominantly Latino supervisorial district--is influencing the debate over where to build the hospital.

Supervisors Mike Antonovich and Pete Schabarum are fighting to have the hospital in their districts, while the third supervisor representing the area, Deane Dana, has asked why a site closer to his district has not been chosen.

The picture is further complicated by the impending March 8 retirement of Schabarum. Taking that into consideration, the supervisors voted last week to delay a decision on the hospital location until at least March 19.

Under the pervious political map, Schabarum’s 1st District encompassed almost the entire San Gabriel Valley.

Schabarum has consistently argued that the county should acquire an Irwindale property that has been designated by the county Department of Health Services as the best location for a hospital to serve the area’s poor. Irwindale is in Schabarum’s district.

But Antonovich, who picked up the east end of the valley during last year’s redistricting, argued last Tuesday that a search for a hospital site should center in Pomona, at the east end of the county and inside his new district.

And Supervisor Dana--who picked up Diamond Bar and a sliver of Hacienda Heights and Rowland Heights on the new county map--asked county health services officials why they had not focused on a location in the City of Industry. That site is closer to Dana’s district and scored highest when health services officials rated 17 possible hospital locations.

“I think this may well be an early manifestation of the types of turf battles you see for significant capital projects, as a result of the shift in district lines,” said one county official who asked not to be identified.

“These guys love being out there and having things dedicated in their districts,” the official added. “They love ribbon cuttings. They get a flush of pride.”

The supervisors denied such parochial interests following the intense debate on the hospital, which featured Schabarum labeling Antonovich as “ignorant” and Antonovich accusing Schabarum of trying to force the Irwindale site “down the throats” of unreceptive city officials and property owners. Each charged the other with trying to place the hospital within his own political fiefdom.

The outcome of the hospital debate is far from certain. Both candidates for Schabarum’s seat, state Sen. Art Torres (D-Los Angeles) and Los Angeles City Councilwoman Gloria Molina, said through representatives last week that they would oppose Antonovich’s bid to move the hospital as far east as Pomona.

Supervisor Ed Edelman has questioned the need to choose a site at all, since the county has not yet set aside money to build the facility. And Supervisor Kenneth Hahn has not waded into the debate.

The so-called East Valley Medical Center is part of a plan by the Department of Health Services for updating public hospital facilities. The department wants to remodel the dilapidated County-USC Medical Center in East Los Angeles and reduce its capacity from 1,398 to 950 beds by shifting 350 beds to the new San Gabriel Valley hospital.

Health Services Director Robert Gates said the study last year of 17 properties showed that a 36-acre parcel east of the San Gabriel River Freeway and north of Romona Boulevard in Irwindale is best suited for the hospital.

The City of Industry location at Rowland Street and Hatcher Avenue ranked higher on an overall rating system, but was rejected because it was slightly less accessible to the indigent patients to be served, Gates said. The Irwindale property is near freeways and bus lines and closer to the target population, which is centered in El Monte, he said.

But the Irwindale Redevelopment Agency voted last month to reject a county overture for the property. Irwindale officials said that an industrial park had already been planned on more than half the property and that they cannot afford to lose the $1 million in property taxes the project will generate.

If the land were purchased by the county, like all public land, it would become exempt from property taxes. County officials tried to assuage Irwindale’s concern over lost taxes by leasing the property--keeping it in private ownership and on the tax rolls.

But the city didn’t like that idea either, because taxes would not begin to flow until the hospital was completed in about seven years, said City Engineer Carlos Alvarado.

Antonovich said the county should accede to the city’s wishes and give up on the property, but Schabarum called Irwindale’s vote against the hospital plan “nothing more than a negotiating gambit.”

Indeed, city officials said last week that they would be willing to consider future proposals from the county.

If negotiations fail, Schabarum said, the county could still acquire the land through condemnation.

Antonovich, in suggesting Pomona as a likely location, said it would draw patients away from the congestion of downtown Los Angeles, thereby limiting traffic and smog. He suggested that Cal Poly Pomona or the Frank D. Lanterman State Hospital and Developmental Center might have excess land that they could make available at a reasonable rate.

Pomona City Administrator Julio Fuentes said he has begun a search for a likely hospital site. “We are certainly interested in this type of project,” Fuentes said. “We appreciate Mr. Antonovich’s efforts. It certainly shows he is aware of our existence.”

But county health officials backed Schabarum’s contention that the primary population to be served by the hospital is closer to Irwindale. A smaller pocket of poor patients live near Pomona, but the bulk are farther west, Gates said.

Edelman said the entire hospital discussion may be academic, since the county has not yet designated where it will get the nearly $400 million to build what has initially been dubbed the East Valley Medical Center.

A bond measure could be placed on the ballot next year to pay for county hospital improvements, said county Chief Administrative Officer Richard Dixon. But approval of the measure is seen as unlikely because two-thirds of the voters would have to agree to raising their property taxes to repay the bonds.

Edelman and Hahn voted Tuesday for the county to lobby for a change in state law, so that hospital bonds could be passed by a simple majority vote. But the conservative board majority--Schabarum, Antonovich and Dana--defeated the recommendation, saying that it would improperly loosen the property tax restrictions of Proposition 13.