You are correct I haven’t personally visited “tent city”. That said the city has afforded those living there an opportunity to not have to live under an overpass, a oleander bush, sleeping in door ways, etc etc. Firstly it is up to the people living there to do their part in keeping it safer and cleaner. Whoever is hired for onsite supervision in making sure the occupants follow rules and making sure that there are assigned grounds people onsite to address community concerns/issues. You can’t expect the place to be without problems and concerns, considering the dysfunction of many of these homeless people in the first place. All and all, I am glad that it’s there for those who need a port in the storm. It is important to remember that there but for the Grace of God go any of us.

Barbara Cane , obviously you have not visited “tent city,” that or your definition of safe, clean and humane differs from mine entirely. Tulare City Council may deserve praise for who knows what but the disaster of the tents that they spent millions on isn’t one of them.

His exam office was used as a pulpit to project a different story and created the entire “vendetta” mantra that still prevails today.

The issues as a board member and his actions go way back, not just a decade, but almost two decades.

The moment the community passed an $85 million dollar bond in 2005, greed and power set in. I began to see the malfeasance in late 2006. It ultimately led to me filing a DA complaint in 2007. At the time I was told that there were 3 prosecutable issues. I was also told a powerful community member, that also signed this most recent letter in Kumar’s defense, persuaded the DA not to pursue it further.

The irony of all of that is that if my complaint would have actually been handled then the 2009 whistleblower lawsuit would have had limited legs. That cost the hospital over $2 million in settlement and who knows what on legal defense.

One past CFO said it seemed that “money went out in bags.” One previous board member in meeting minutes in 2012 said “when the hospital goes bankrupt, I don’t want it to appear that I didn’t say anything”

Dr. Kumar would bad mouth other board members that tried to stand against him. There were at least 5 that I am aware of. His followers believed it all, because they loved him so.

He turned against a CEO that tried to stand against him, I witnessed it, as did a handful of others. He killed what was be the East campus next to Evolutions. Surgical center and doctors offices.

Then list goes on, all old history. His actions created and facilitated HCCA. He was able to remain in the driver seat with HCCA as he had been doing for many years.

When I left the board in 2008 I said the tower would never be completed because I was aware of what was happening. Good people left the board, not to run again because of him. Having a board member like this that went unchecked for so long is why “incidents like this will make people hesitate to serve on these boards.”

$500k and his lame attempt at a public apology is nominal considering the situation he created with our community’s healthcare.

It happens because stupid people vote for bond measures. Quit voting for taxation in this form and this goes away. Good investment Tulare!

It’s usually the same people who step up to take on these public service positions. I commend them for doing so. However without name recognition it is for the most part the insiders who garner the most public votes. There have been a few newer names/faces over the years but for the most part it’s the continuous keeping of the status quo when it comes to experience and knowledge that definitely makes for a shoe-in for these public seats. Understandable. The downside is that it makes for public apathy. Just wanted to add that our current City Council has been surprisingly refreshing in their approach to Tulare’s homeless population. It’s not the usual load them all up and ship them all out approach that so many places have done. This city’s council’s approach instead was to in part was just not to put up the tent city on O St. for a safe, clean, humane place offered to homeless folks but moving forward to building actual buildings that provides for a far more safer, cleaner and warmer/cooler seasonal environment. This offer of a “hand-up” to the homeless is not only the humane and decent thing to do but is the kind of help and hope given that someone facing homelessness can actually believe they could build a new beginning on. I hope any public grants the city is relying on doesn’t fall through with whatever lays ahead over the horizon in these uncertain times that everyone is facing.

Now the former Congresswoman & chair of the county Republican Party wants us to believe Kumar was just misunderstood? That’s not leadership—it’s damage control. Conway is choosing loyalty to wealth and power over justice for working families who suffered the consequences.

We’ve seen this kind of politics before—where the powerful protect each other and the rest of us are left to clean up the mess.

Tulare deserves better.