Jump to:
2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021


Hospitals as Economic Engines?


The former MVHS CEO suggested a new downtown hospital would be like the days when Utica had two GE plants. We'll suggest that is entirely not true. And even if it had some truth, shifting the hospitals locations around 1-1/2 or 2 miles, as they're suggesting, what would be gained?

More on this topic at, Economic Impact Assessment (EIA), a study that appears never to have been completed for their hospital concept!


April 9, 2019 - HANYS report: MVHS generated $863M in economic activity in 2018...

How does a new hospital, under 2 miles away, create an economic boom?


November 16, 2018 - MVHS DEIS, offers no analysis of negative economic impact...


April 20, 2018 - One Hospital = Economic Development Fail...



June 7, 2017 - The growth of Faxton, Utica's oldest hospital campus and one said to not be closing, wasn't and isn't an economic engine to the immediate neighborhood. For one, at the corner of the Parkway and Genesee Street, a hotel at 1700 Genesee Street (Travel Lodge) closed and it was just 1,200 feet away! Additional, a second hospital, St. Elizabeth's, and a College of Nursing was just 3/4 of a mile away!

Also, less that 800 feet away, this lot has sat empty for many years (Faxton can be seen in the background)...

Furthermore, an historic home at the prominent intersection of Genesee Street and Memorial Parkway (just 1,500 away from Faxton) was demolished, read Demolition of historic building raises concern. Eslewhere one reads...

"... it just stood there year after year looking for a new owner. I understand that the doctor even tried to give it away and no one wanted it." [Ref]


April 9, 2016 - A letter from a cafe owner in South Utica...

Supporters of the plan to build a hospital in downtown Utica suggest that it will lead to a great increase in foot traffic downtown and provide a major boost for small local businesses. Opponents of the plan cite research that shows that commuters to jobs in the inner city tend to drive in, park for the day and drive out keeping their business activity where they live. Research shows that the people who support downtown shops are the ones who live there or nearby in the city. As a small business owner in Utica, my experience supports the latter point of view.

My coffeehouse has been strategically located between Faxton and St. Elizabeth hospitals in Uptown for 14 years. When I opened I expected I would see a lot of hospital worker business. I have seen almost none. Hospital commuters may go through the fast-food drive-through windows but they don't walk or drive to local shops. Most probably grab their coffee at a drive through on the way to work. I expect that the downtown experience will be the same with new McDonald's and a new Dunkin' Donuts near the hospital doing very well and the small local business a few blocks away seeing no change.

I am tired of our city making development decisions based on the funding available. Isn't it time to begin to build what we need not that for which we can get a handout. Downtown needs to become walkable. People walk around in cities that have connected blocks of small shops at street level, preferably in older, funky buildings, like those in Franklin and Bagg’s Squares. We need to keep our older building intact and to develop in and around them. Put the hospital where it belongs at the current St. Luke’s campus.

Orin Domenico, Owner, Cafe Domenico


December 9, 2010 - A tweet, but the link is dead...

https://www.wktv.com/news/local/Report-Finds-Hospitals-Are-Economic-Anchors-of-the-Mohawk-Valley-111534569.html

A report no doubt by same Trade Association surely stated the "payroll of Utica's hospitals" and the "additional jobs that they create"... however, moving a hospital 1-1/2 miles changes nothing on the city, county or region level! Plus the proposed hospital would destroy the city's taxbase further, while offering no new healthcare services.


You can help, please join us on Facebook #NoHospitalDowntown. Also consider adding your voice to Hundreds of People Saying, "No Hospital Downtown". Get to know BUD, that's the future of the Columbia Lafayette Neighborhood!



No Studies, No Reports, thus we remain #NoHospitalDowntown