Thursday, February 16, 2006
New Sutter Hospital Facilities Questioned
Part 2 of 3: This is a continuation of ValleyVue's special report on the fractured state of planning in California's Capital.
In midtown Sacramento, a neighborhood awaits a possible renaissance. A laid-back residential community in between the bustling areas of downtown, Broadway, and Alhambra, the area is the birthplace of Sacramento, with Sutter's Fort State Historic Park. Near the fort stands Sutter Hospital. The hospital recently announced plans to expand in midtown in a big way. The plan includes new medical wings, residences, retail, a spot for the new B Street theater, a new Children's Theater of California, and a new facility to be used jointly by Trinity Cathedral and Sutter.
The Sacramento City Council voted unanimously to approve the project, and it is not hard to see why. The project was endorsed by SACOG (Sacramento Area Council of Governments), the Sacramento Metropolitan Air District, and Regional Transit. This project is rightly seen by civic leaders and environmental groups alike as being perfect for Sacramento. Sutter is located basically in the very center of the Sacramento metropolitan area, and it is blocks away from light rail. It is being built in an already urban area, and it will include amenities not just for the neighborhood but also for the theaters for the entire region. It is hard to see anything unlikeable.
Enter the SEIU United Healthcare Workers/West. The Union filed a lawsuit against the project because of what they claim to be overlooked environmental issues. The SEIU claims traffic concerns have not been studied. Critics claim the lawsuit is simply a way for the Union to hurt the hospital, which has not been unionized. As much as ValleyVue supports and believes in the labor movement, this step by SEIU is ill-advised. To use CEQA as a tool to bring about development changes which will likely shift environmental problems to other areas is abhorrent and only makes SEIU look unreasonable. Sure, all of the questions CEQA initiates were not answered in the original planning process. However, legaleze should not supersede common sense.
Of course Sutter's expansion will bring more traffic to midtown. Of course that means more pollution. Then again, try to predict the future: the inability of Sutter to build retain, new medical facilities, and new theaters in the central city does not mean the needs for those facilities goes away. They will end up going to the edge of the city--Elk Grove, Natomas, Roseville. Workers will not have the ability to commute to a central location or to ride the train to work. Hospital visitors and midtown residents will drive instead of walk to retail and restaurant facilities. Sacramento's entertainment facilities will become further decentralized, going to the suburbs. Other than to hurt Sutter, SEIU gets no closer to its noble goal of organizing workers there.
Chances are the project will get constructed. Chances also are that concessions will be made and the vision Sutter originally had will not be as grand. In a location that makes perfect sense, an illogical appeasement to CEQA will be made. That will be a sad day for midtown.
_____________________
Sources: www.suttermedicalcenter.com, Sacramento Bee, writer Dan Borlik
In midtown Sacramento, a neighborhood awaits a possible renaissance. A laid-back residential community in between the bustling areas of downtown, Broadway, and Alhambra, the area is the birthplace of Sacramento, with Sutter's Fort State Historic Park. Near the fort stands Sutter Hospital. The hospital recently announced plans to expand in midtown in a big way. The plan includes new medical wings, residences, retail, a spot for the new B Street theater, a new Children's Theater of California, and a new facility to be used jointly by Trinity Cathedral and Sutter.
The Sacramento City Council voted unanimously to approve the project, and it is not hard to see why. The project was endorsed by SACOG (Sacramento Area Council of Governments), the Sacramento Metropolitan Air District, and Regional Transit. This project is rightly seen by civic leaders and environmental groups alike as being perfect for Sacramento. Sutter is located basically in the very center of the Sacramento metropolitan area, and it is blocks away from light rail. It is being built in an already urban area, and it will include amenities not just for the neighborhood but also for the theaters for the entire region. It is hard to see anything unlikeable.
Enter the SEIU United Healthcare Workers/West. The Union filed a lawsuit against the project because of what they claim to be overlooked environmental issues. The SEIU claims traffic concerns have not been studied. Critics claim the lawsuit is simply a way for the Union to hurt the hospital, which has not been unionized. As much as ValleyVue supports and believes in the labor movement, this step by SEIU is ill-advised. To use CEQA as a tool to bring about development changes which will likely shift environmental problems to other areas is abhorrent and only makes SEIU look unreasonable. Sure, all of the questions CEQA initiates were not answered in the original planning process. However, legaleze should not supersede common sense.
Of course Sutter's expansion will bring more traffic to midtown. Of course that means more pollution. Then again, try to predict the future: the inability of Sutter to build retain, new medical facilities, and new theaters in the central city does not mean the needs for those facilities goes away. They will end up going to the edge of the city--Elk Grove, Natomas, Roseville. Workers will not have the ability to commute to a central location or to ride the train to work. Hospital visitors and midtown residents will drive instead of walk to retail and restaurant facilities. Sacramento's entertainment facilities will become further decentralized, going to the suburbs. Other than to hurt Sutter, SEIU gets no closer to its noble goal of organizing workers there.
Chances are the project will get constructed. Chances also are that concessions will be made and the vision Sutter originally had will not be as grand. In a location that makes perfect sense, an illogical appeasement to CEQA will be made. That will be a sad day for midtown.
_____________________
Sources: www.suttermedicalcenter.com, Sacramento Bee, writer Dan Borlik
