Crisis of the Century of the Week
Now that OHSU has a health club and aerial tram, it's suddenly discovered that it's out of money. In today's paper, the president of the institution (who makes what? $600,000 a year?) seems to be saying that it has only enough funding to run for another 20 months.
No OHSU after June 30, 2009?
Looks like a bailout is in order. Will they go for it in the upcoming "special" session of the Legislature, or wait until the next "regular" session? And how much will they try to bully the City of Portland's taxpayers into paying?
Hold onto your wallets, folks, because the bill for this one is going to be a doozy. We can't let OHSU fail. It must become a world-class biotech and nanotech center, creating thousands and thousands of new jobs and serving all the poor Oregonians who presently suffer without health care.
Like the tram, it's the linchpin of the state's economy! Without pumping more money into OHSU, we are all quite clearly doomed.
Posted at 5:25 PM | Permalink
Comments (19)
Interesting to see OHSU now (in a veiled manner) talk about burn rate for their business. Last time I paid any attention to that rate was in the dotcom bubble of new startups. Who ARE these mis-managers anyhow?
Posted by pdxjim | October 30, 2007 5:29 PM
Who ARE these mis-managers anyhow?
The friends, neighbors and confidantes of the West Hills gang.
Posted by godfry | October 30, 2007 5:43 PM
What a week, and it's only Tuesday... can we begin to see a theme in Portland?
1. OHSU is running out of money.
2. Condo's aren't selling well in South Macadam.
3. Condo's aren't selling well in Pearl District.
4. Aerial Tram can't afford to let patients ride for free.
5. City says it doesn't have enough money to fix streets.
6. Guisto knew about the rape of a girl by Neil Goldschmidt.
7. Citizens are excluded from private meetings to rename Interstate Avenue. This, after Potter walks out of meeting, acting like a baby.
So what does Sam Adams do...
Let's find out where we can put more trolleys.
Posted by Carol | October 30, 2007 6:17 PM
Passage of Measure 50 should help heal OH&SU's pain.
Nothing like a Tram Ride to bring in the unhealthy kids.
That providing the 'smoke smugglers' don't steal the pot of gold.
Posted by Abe | October 30, 2007 6:22 PM
If you study (and even then, PDC and OHSU has obscured the numbers) the eight amendments to the SoWhat Agreements, taxpayers have already given many bailouts to OHSU and more are on the drawing boards:
$5 Million given to the OHSU for their Health Club for biotech jobs-not one job generated.
$3 Million for air rights for housing over OHSU's future 1400 space parking garage. The money was given to OHSU almost 2 years ago and now it is announced that OHSU hasn't the money to start the garage until 2010, if then. Pay for air rights before there's any opportunity to use such?
$18.1 Million for future biotech jobs, incentives for biotech, nano companies to come to SoWhat, condo purchase incentives to OHSU employees to buy in SoWhat, space enhancement funds for biotech companies to upgrade spaces for bio research, etc.
$5 Million in reduced/eliminated construction fees, permit fees for the Tram that is used by over 85% by OHSU.
Millions (PDC has no accounting of amount) given to OHSU for agreement with PDC/City Council that each dollar raised by lobbying with Feds/State, OHSU receives half.
Plus, theres more, but now let's examine the latest lobbying by OHSU's for more money that is now coming to light.
OHSU's representatives Mark Williams and Brian Newman (outgoing METRO councilier)are suggesting that the $60 Million budgeted I-5 exit ramp into SoWhat onto SW Macadam may not be needed even though it has been a major component of trying to alleviate the massive traffic problems developing in SoWhat. They have suggested to PDOT and the URAC that these fed/state funds should be reallocated for other uses in SoWhat. What this means is that they want these millions to pay for new streets for their OHSU campus on the donated Schnitzer property. PDOT is now involved in a "sensitivity model" study according to Art Pierce of PDOT, to evaluate OHSU's postulate. Interesting.
Mark Willams and other OHSU agents have also planted the seeds in the media that OHSU will need MILLIONS more of tax dollars to provide infrastructure for their SoWhat campus dreams.
And OHSU to realize even more millions for their Schnitizer campus have explored the notion of selling air rights, code allowed massive density for their property to other developers.
I am sure there will be more success and attempts to squeeze more $$MILLIONS from the taxpayers of Portland and Oregon than those listed above. There needs to be proper accounting, media attention, and public discourse of how our tax dollars are being used by OHSU.
Posted by Jerry | October 30, 2007 6:31 PM
Breaking News: We now need another Big Pipe Sewer Project just to flush the money for SoWhat down the drain.
Posted by Bill McDonald | October 30, 2007 6:47 PM
Maybe all the biotech jobs were actually going to be nano-jobs, invisible to the naked eye. You have to wear special goggles to see them all. I wonder if they hand out goggles when the donors get their tours.
I deliver up to OHSU every weekend, and despite finding $50+ million for the tram, the road up there is in awfully scary shape - it seems to be sliding down the hill, visibly. I'll admit that is one argument in favor of the tram (reducing traffic on a geologically treacherous road), but I would think they might consider the safety issue... oh, wait, the injured would be clients. Hmmm...conflict of interest?
It is pretty appropriate that they named the new building after Kohler (why that building is going to create "additional profits," but other new buildings would not is beyond me). I wonder what we'll name after G.W.B. after he finishes "tramming" the USA.
Did anybody else notice the statement in the article that research and education loses money? Thank goodness for all the "downstream benefits."
All of this aside, I'm still not convinced that this whole boondogle isn't an overall benefit to Portland, given the other options for generating jobs in the city. I'm not saying it's been managed well or that it should have been greased, only that I'm not certain its net impact is negative.
Posted by Huck | October 30, 2007 6:51 PM
Friends, it's time to get real. It's time to stop the financial bleeding of Oregon government. OHSU is going to run out of money?? Fine, let em. We'll survive.
Posted by Frank | October 30, 2007 7:32 PM
One can say that Vera/Sam has done a fine job making the whole thing sustainable as the debt will be around for the "children"'s grand children to pay for. Let's see now, how can we get "greening" in this comment. Oh, the debt will be taking GREENbacks from the children's children's wallets forever. And to think this joker is going to be our next mayor!
Posted by pdxjim | October 30, 2007 7:42 PM
"Who ARE these mis-managers anyhow?
The friends, neighbors and confidantes of the West Hills gang."
----------
One Board Member is (used to be? ...still is?) Scott Gibson, of Intel, Sequent, and multiple other companies. He knows business and (from the OIT side) quasi-governmental entities. And he should know burn rate, accountability, and turn-around situations. If he is still there, he should step it up and kick some...
Just offering up the same old governmental response of "Hey, somebody put some more money in the old checkbook, we seem to be running low" ain't going to do the trick. OMSI school of mgmt is not very impressive to me. Especially coming from a private sector guy.
Posted by Harry | October 30, 2007 7:50 PM
(OIT above should be OGI)
Having looked at the Board, I see only two business executives (Scott and Kirby, both ex-Intel). And the Leadership team is even weaker, with more PhDs than even Rajneesh Puram had in their heyday.
Reduce your expectations, and get out your check book.
Posted by Harry | October 30, 2007 7:57 PM
I'm feeling a little déjà vu. Three year ago, I wrote to the City of Portland Auditor and testified before council regarding the LID assessments for the Portland Aerial Tram.
My letter said:
"In 2001, Oregon companies received less than 0.1% the of total nationwide bioscience venture capital. ... Cities that already have multiple research universities, large drug manufacturers, and access to large amounts of local venture capital are all seeking biotechnology firms (Portland Development Commission, Economic Development Strategy 2002 for the City of Portland). Indeed, even established institutions, such as OHSU, are facing vigorous competition for federal funding from institutions in other long-established bioscience centers (see "OHSU Sees Drop In Award Rankings," Oregonian, July 4, 2004). The gap between Portland’s components for critical mass is so large that it defies economic logic and common sense to assert that the Aerial Tram is the key to overcoming the City’s relative weaknesses in catalyzing development of this sector."
Posted by Eric Fruits | October 30, 2007 8:16 PM
OHSU is portland's largest employer?
Posted by Steve | October 30, 2007 8:33 PM
Liberal BIG GOVERNMENT will always have excuses to raise taxes - always.
Posted by JustaDog | October 30, 2007 8:46 PM
Liberal BIG GOVERNMENT will always have excuses to raise taxes - always.
prove it.
Posted by ecohuman.com | October 30, 2007 9:21 PM
Quite the diverse group. Do any of them own a printing machine? I meant a money machine.
http://www.ohsu.edu/about/board.shtml
Posted by pdxjim | October 30, 2007 9:45 PM
Eric Fruits:
Although you were dead on the money in that testimony, the real corruption at OHSU is just that they intentionally bamboozled us about biotech to justify their SoWhat dreams.
No, that is just run-of-the-mill empire-building lies. No jail time for that, because you can't prove it was a scam.
The real corruption lies in all the stuff Jerry details above. Payoffs, money laundering, money for future airspace ....
THAT is the stuff that people might go to jail for.
But this is Portland. They don't go to jail, they just molest little girls.
Posted by Rob Kremer | October 30, 2007 9:51 PM
This is all so depressing!
Where is the outrage, the protests, the just plain "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take this any more!" attitude on the part of the citizens of the city, the state, the nation!!!???
I cannot believe I am the only one screaming at my tv and computer screens.
Am I?
Posted by portland native | October 30, 2007 10:40 PM
Here's something to chew on.
Yes it's money Laundering.
You know the 100 parking spaces (The Strand) that the PDC paid for with $6.8 million to Homer Williams?
Well that's $68K each.
A buyer of a Penthouse unit in the Strand had to buy a third parking space .
He paid $20K.
Not $68K but $20K.
The inflated $6.8 million was one of many payments to developers and OHSU. Some for compensating them for the higher Tram costs and their cooperation in making it appear like the public share remained small. Other payments bought other cooperation such as silence while the PDC and city hall sing praises form SoWa.
Discounted land and cash payments have bought everyone involved. OHSU has been channeld some 19 million in payments through money laundering schemes.
$3.5 million from PDOT went to SoWa streets just after $3.5 million in SoWa streets TIF money was paid to OHSU.
These are swindlers and money launderers.
The list is too long to add here.
But they're all getting paid big time.
There never was any biotech jobs coming,
that was a swindle.
The first OHSU building in SoWa is nothing but an multimillion payoff for the OHSU elite with lavish offices, health club and no propety taxes, business taxes or TriMet taxes.
The prior finished building on the hill sucked up $100 million of the $200 million voter approved "Oregon Opportunity" bond funds. The whole $200 is gone. That was a swindle. OHSU knew before the Tram and the luxury building at SoWa was built that they were 10s of millions short on equipping and staffing that new building on the hill.
OHSU used up the $100s of milions in Oregon Opportunity funds.
OHSU acquried the Oregon Graduate Institute and are now, as expected, liquidating it to pay their bills.
People with names made millions at every step. Managing the Oregon Opportunity Funds, taking manegement fees for OHSU projects, wheeling and dealing the OGI purchase and re-selling.
SoWa property owner/ developers had no use for the Tram. What they wanted was the sweeping zone changes to allow tightly packed high rises and hundreds of millions in free infrastructure.
All they had to do was go along with the Tram Scam.
Now Brian Newman is on board OHSU to spearhead the next swindle and money laundering schemes.
20 years from now we'll be reading stories asking who knew about it.
Posted by Prophet | October 30, 2007 11:01 PM