Salem Hospital Eyes School for the Blind
Oregon’s legislature will decide the school’s fate when it meets in February
Only Willamette University returned our calls.A university spokesman said the school "may potentially be interested if the property goes up for sale," but declined to comment further.
The school, which is located near the hospital and university, closed last summer. Consultants have been hired by the Department of Administrative Services to evaluate whether the school should be sold outright or its dilapidated buildings torn down first, according to Lonn Hoklin, the governor’s public relations spokesperson. “The goal is to maximize the return,” he said.
The consultant’s report, which will include an appraisal, should be completed when the legislature convenes in February so that a decision can be made, he added.
House Education Chairwoman Sara Gelser (D-Corvallis), an advocate for disabled students, led the effort to close the 135-year-old school.
If Salem Hospital becomes its new owner, some people in the community question how the hospital could come up with the financing.
Last November its CEO, Norman Gruber, sent his staff a memo announcing cutbacks of $9 million in 2010, which unleashed a hailstorm. Salem residents called the hospital a country club because of its expensive artwork and furnishings, new construction and bad planning decisions.
After losing $2 million in September and facing losses last summer as well, Gruber told his staff he might have to close or sell the hospital’s home health agency because of declining revenues.
“Going forward, however,” he wrote, “we are operating with a negative margin unless we make a course correction.”
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Salem Hospital has lusted after this property since I worked there in 19 83. If they do swollow up this attractive campus, they should at least salvage the aroma-centered plantings put in especially for the blind. It would be an additional tragedy to lose those plants as well as the property to a predatory business.