| St Luke's Campus vs | Downtown Utica |
| → Site already owned by MVHS with plenty of expansion room and is
almost shovel since it is served by newer public infrastructure. → Conveniently located near the center of Greater Utica's population, shares a campus with a Rehab facility and Nursing Home, and is close to newly established private medical facilities on French and Burrstone Roads and in the Utica Business Park (the region's existing "medical district"). → No property or sales tax losses. → No private sector job losses → No change in land use. → No street grid disruption. → No added burdens on the taxpayers. → Preserves the opportunity for traditional, incremental economic development Downtown which is consistent with the Utica Master Plan and is already remaking Downtown Utica. |
→ Cost of Property Acquisitions, Environmental Remediation
and infrastructure revisions. → Cost of a parking garage and new police garage (and maybe more) → No room for future expansion without impacting others. → Loss of Property Taxes 90+ parcels → Loss of the Sales Taxes, Private Sector Jobs, and “Sweat Equity” from 40 businesses → Inconvenient location, especially for nursing home patients, and is far away from existing private medical offices and facilities. → Incompatable land use with the surrounding neighborhoods. → Street closures will make Downtown Utica less friendly for businesses remaining behind. → Speculation that it will spur Downtown development by persons with a track record of failure. |
When you do a side-by-side comparison of the two sites, the choice of putting the new hospital facility Downtown makes no sense and deserves the opposition it has received.
When you read the legislation which created the grant that is driving the new hospital, the St. Luke's Campus seems tailor-made to the law's description of the project's location and its objectives. Choosing the St. Luke's Campus will save money, be easier to implement, and be a better fit for health care.
Mohawk Valley EDGE made a serious miscalculation when it steered the MVHS board to the Downtown Utica site with NO opportunity for public input. Objections would have been obvious years ago. EDGE appears to have been thinking of its own interests (or the interests of certain local politicians) rather than regional health care needs.
MVHS needs to focus on its mission to provide the best possible health care for the region and should not be distracted by the myriad issues attached to a Downtown Utica site. MV EDGE, Oneida County, and the City of Utica need to stop trying to force the new facility into Downtown Utica and instead focus on how they can help MVHS best meet the grant's criteria at the St. Luke's Campus.
Choosing to put the new hospital Downtown is dividing the community. Putting it at the St. Luke's Campus is something everyone can get behind.
Let's come together to support the New Hospital on the St. Luke's Campus.
