Next CAC Meeting: Tuesday, May 6th, 6pm

This Tuesday's Citizens Advisory Committee meeting will address transportation issues and include public comment time. The DON says that meeting topics will include:

● Improved bicycle and pedestrian connections
● Shuttle and transit enhancements
● Off-site parking and other parking management tools

WHEN: Tuesday, May 6, 2008, 6:00 – 8:30 p.m
WHERE: Wright Auditorium at Children’s Hospital

Report from the April 15th CAC Meeting

This week's CAC meeting produced a clearer and ever-more intimidating picture of Alternative 7. The massive scale of this proposal (1.5 million square feet and multiple 160 foot towers) is best shown in pictures from the Hospital's PowerPoint presentation (excerpts below). Also helpful:

• The Northeast District Council's early review of Alternative 7
• The CAC Design Subcommittee's list of "Issues for CHRMC to Consider"

Alternative 7 shifts much of the impact of the towers from the higher ground to lowland Laurelhurst and south Bryant:

In the next two images, note the 1100-car parking garage and entrance on 40th, a narrow street where cars have trouble going in both directions simultaneously today:
Note the unprecedented 160 foot cap proposed for the entire Laurelon property, plus the narrow, 40 foot buffers facing residences on the north and south:Bottom Line: Alternative 7 retains the scale of other alternatives and many of their impacts, even though these impacts are shifted substantially (this time towards neighbors in the lowlands). The addition of 1.5 million square feet (equivalent to the Columbia Tower) in the form of 160 foot towers will have unmitigatable impacts, particularly transportation bottlenecks and noise (among other things). Towers of this size, running 24/7, are not quiet neighbors.

We're still asking -- is it really wise to concentrate all new pediatric beds for our region at a single, congested site? Why not add pediatric beds for non-specialized care in areas where youth populations are growing? What about adding a pediatric wing to an existing hospital, close to kids' homes?

An Issue of Credibility

At Tuesday's CAC meeting, the Hospital publicly distributed a letter it sent to the members of the CAC. This letter claimed:

"As you know, Children's has purchased several homes directly on the east and south perimeters of the hospital campus. Children's Board of Trustees approved these purchases in order obtain some homes to lease to Children's faculty and staff who want to be near the hospital and avoid commuting..."

This claim is not credible. Not long ago, the Hospital advertised almost all of its purchased homes on Craigslist. You can see our previous post for a full table of advertised prices. The Dave Poletti ads were reposted repeatedly to keep them top-of-the list on Craigslist. The ads said nothing about the rentals being intended for "faculty and staff." At the end of the day, it appeared that the rental agency was successful in its public ads -- one of the listings quickly changed from "Available" to "Application Pending."

The Hospital's credibility suffers when it presents an inaccurate picture of its land-use intentions.

The CAC needs to receive accurate information on how the Hospital's purchases are managed. A major transition from owner- to renter-occupied homes along 45th Street has occurred. This transition must be publicly recognized and evaluated by the CAC. 12 out of the 17 homes (71%) along 45th St between 40th & 44th Avenues are now rentals, largely due to purchases by the Hospital and agents of Talaris.

[Note: Craigslist ads always expire after 30 days, so we saved two of them. Here's a zip folder with these ads. Just download the folder, unzip the files to a folder on your hard drive, and click on each of the .html rental files.]