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Utica Hospital Wrongs & Rights
WHAT’S WRONG WITH THE PROPOSED DOWNTOWN HOSPITAL CONCEPT?
1. There is no evidence that any hospital located in an urban downtown area has resulted in urban revitalization. The vast number of “new” hospitals are located well outside of the Downtown area. In cases where revitalization has occurred, it was due to governmental spending of millions of dollars to “justify” the downtown construction, when a fraction of that amount would have revitalized the area much more effectively.
2. Urban hospitals can create potentially unsafe areas around them, especially at night. The high concentration of cars, especially in parking garages, are easy targets for theft and other crimes. As proof, the famed healthcare facility, the Cleveland Clinic has its own police force of 250 officers.
3. The City of Utica Master Plan was created at a cost of $400,000 with extensive citizen input that precludes any large-scale development. It called for small scale and historic redevelopment and reuse. There was also the “Gateway Plan” (at a cost of $200,000), which resulted in the rezoning of the Columbia - Lafayette Neighborhood into the “Gateway Historic Canal District”. These planning and development tools are being completely ignored.
4. The Police Maintenance Facility (built in 2005, and not yet paid for) will be demolished. The Utica Police Station (built in 1928 and eligible for the National Register) and the City Court Building (built in 1997) will be eventually demolished and relocated as an indirect result. Utica taxpayers would likely be responsible for relocating and rebuilding them, and even more land would be taken-off of the city tax rolls. It would be far cheaper to renovate and add-on to the existing (historic) Police Station.
5. The estimated $43,000,000 (and likely more expensive) parking garage will cost County taxpayers and residents 60% and City taxpayers and residents 100% for 30 years. Then, taxpayers will then need to pay for the extensive renovations and repairs.
6. While the city and county taxpayers are paying for the parking garage, it would be given to a private hospital or another 3rd party that would seek to make a profit...
7. Hospital visitors, employees, patients and AUD patrons will be charged high rates to park there. On-street parking near the hospital would either be eliminated or become paid parking.
8. 40+ businesses that pay approximately $300,000.00 in city, county & school taxes would be lost to build a private tax-exempt hospital. If the hospital was to be built over five years, then $1,500,000 would be lost before even one new taxable medical building could be constructed. Existing taxpayers will be expected to make up the difference.
9. There are no plans in place for the reuse or re-purpose St. Elizabeth’s or St Luke’s Hospitals, which could sit vacant for many years. Among the reasons for building a brand new hospital is consolidation of duplicative operations. MVHS is now saying that it may keep some operations open at the existing locations. MVHS has also publically stated that any revenue gained by the sale of existing hospital property would NOT be used to reimburse property owners or city and/or county tax payers for money they have spent or money that they still owe for the hospital project.
10. Old buildings are huge opportunities and have been the key ingredient in Downtown Utica’s new revival. With 26 acres of downtown bulldozed to make way for this private hospital, valuable, historical and reusable buildings would be lost.
11. Rents, as well as taxes, in Utica and Oneida County will go up due to the hospital as the landlord’s tax bills go up.
12. Hospitals are very self-contained. Much of the hospital staff works 10 and 12 hour shifts; they drive to work, park and then go home. They do not create foot traffic. Hospitals have ATM’s, cafes, subsidized cafeterias and gift shops. Just look at those areas around the existing three hospitals – they are not commercial meccas.
13. Numerous private businesses in the targeted area have mortgages and have worked hard to maintain their buildings, some for many generations. As downtown is on a great organic upswing, a renaissance with wonderful energy, these companies are threatened with losing their buildings, being forced to pay for VERY EXPENSIVE environmental remediation of their buildings (lead-based paint and asbestos, among other hazards) only to have those buildings demolished, being forced to find new locations that may or may not suit their needs or may be able to afford, and then pay for moving/relocation. It has been stated that possibly the City would step in to offset the cost to the building owners with the cost of remediation, but that will require additional tax payer dollars.
14. The downtown hospital will demolish 26 acres of primarily occupied, tax-paying, job-providing businesses with limited room for future expansion. Any expansion would require additional property acquisition and demolition. It has been rumored through reliable sources that the extensive proposed parking lots are slated for the development of fast-food establishments completely out of keeping with Downtown, Varick Street, Bagg’s Square, etc.
15. People are returning to urban living in apartments, row houses, lofts and condos; it is a worldwide trend. The old historical buildings with their architectural charm are now sought-after. The proposed Downtown site would actually harm this trend toward an organically-driven Downtown revitalization that Utica has been experiencing, and would actually lessen walkability and create far more congestion.
16. The proposed downtown hospital would handle 80,000 ER visit each year and house 300-400 sick patients. It would have a 1,200- car surface parking lot and a large 1,500-car parking garage. This is not a setting that attracts downtown dweller. Downtown Utica will make further advances when more people live downtown who will be seeking stores, restaurants, dry-cleaners, other services and entertainment that could be readily located in the Columbia-Lafayette Corridor.
17. An Inner City Hospital District would create a separating wall between downtown’s thriving neighborhoods (Varick Street/The Brewery District, Bagg;s Square, The Arts District) in addition to demolishing one that has tremendous potential
18. The noise and congestion of urban centers are neither “hospitable” nor “healing environments” for hospital patients. “New” hospital environments with more natural light, views of nature and direct access to the outdoors has been found to be critical. Downtown Utica does not offer what 64-acres at St. Luke’s offers, a green hilltop just 1.7 miles away.
19. The proposed downtown site is just 2,000 feet from the busy CSX freight railroad tracks which transport hazardous chemicals, gases, and oil tanks. Should there be a derailment, the hospital would become the triage center to handle injuries, but in this case could possibly be within the evacuation zone.
20. City-owned streets would be closed and city-owned buildings and properties would be “given” to the hospital. Demolition of all these properties will be the burden of the City taxpayers. These properties have not been marketed for many years and the entire neighborhood has been deliberately allowed to disintegrate to make the downtown hospital an easier “sell”.
21. This is exactly like scores of failed urban renewal projects, which ruined cities in the 1960’s and 1970’s. In Utica, the Oneida County Office and State Office buildings were “supposed” to revitalize downtown businesses; as you can see, no such thing occurred.
22. The people of Utica, Oneida County and the entire hospital service area were NEVER a part of the location selection process. It is totally unfair for people to NOT have a voice in its placement since such a great deal of public money is being used.
23. New York residents face among the highest tax burden in the nation. Oneida County ranks among the states’ highest in sales tax. They will permanently be taking 30 +/- more properties off of the tax rolls (in addition to the three existing tax exempt hospital sites) and the existing tax payers will be left to pick up the slack.
24. The proposed hospital is way out of scale with the surrounding neighborhood.
25. The proposed downtown Hospital was supposed to cost Utica taxpayers nothing, but nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, the additional cost to the City taxpayers to build the hospital in the Downtown location may well be staggering.
WHAT’S RIGHT ABOUT THE ST. LUKE’S CAMPUS!
• MVHS already owns the 64 tax-exempt acres, which would require no building acquisition or demolition.
• The proposed new hospital footprint design is most “portable” at this point and would easily fit into the St. Luke’s Campus.
• There is a relatively new co-generation plant that supplies heat and electricity to the existing hospital, nursing home and Utica College Campus. Utica College and (Faxton) St. Luke’s Heathcare have operated a 3.4 megawatt microgrid system since 2009. The system relies on four small CHP generators to supply the bulk of the energy needs for the campus and hospital and 50% of the nursing home’s energy needs.
• Opportunities exist to partner with Utica College on medically-related curricula.
• Relative ease of construction on site - -green fields, versus an historic, urban, built environment. Wetlands ONLY amount to 6.18 (out of 64 total) acres, therefore, not an issue. Relatively little disruption of existing operation during construction by building in the adjacent parking lots.
• Quiet, bucolic, parklike setting that promotes healing and recovery.
• Does NOT displace existing businesses; maintains the existing tax base Downtown with potential to expand (existing long-time businesses and new) with City/ County assistance.
• Does NOT impact tax-base (already tax-exempt).
• Does NOT require a $43 million tax-payer funded parking garage.
• Does NOT require extensive, expensive environmental remediation (lead-based paint, asbestos, underground toxins) that would be the responsibility of the EXISTING PROPERTY OWNERS to remediate at their own expense. (This includes property owned by the City of Utica – i.e., the taxpayers).
• Substantial total savings overall upwards of AT LEAST $100 million.
• Allows Columbia-Lafayette to become (an even greater) retail area that serves the immediate vicinity (grocery store, pharmacy, etc per the OD editorial. No need for expensive environmental remediation.
• Building at the St. Luke’s Campus complements the recent City of Utica Downtown Historic District rather than works against it.
• Businesses and services such as non-profits can stay where they are, where they are needed. This includes, but is not limited to, the Compassion Coalition/ Bargain Grocer, Point Church and the Salvation Army.
• There is an existing helipad that will not disrupt traffic as would one Downtown.
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