Letter to the Tattler: City Council Should Reconsider Approval of the Sutter Hospital Proposal at Hollis Street Site
The Tattler offers citizens with news worthy stories about Emeryville to submit letters for publication for the 'Letters to the Tattler' feature.
Judith Timmel, a 34 year Emeryville resident and co-founder of the former resident activist group Residents United for a Livable Emeryville (RULE), opines about the proposed billion dollar Sutter Health 325 bed hospital proposed for a 12 acre site on Hollis Street (at 53rd). Sutter recently purchased the former bio-tech site by use of a City Council initiated change to Emeryville’s charter. The hospital and its administration complex will host the tallest building in Emeryville if Sutter completes its build out. The “temporary infusion of cash into our city coffers” that Ms Timmel refers to is the $11 million one time real estate transfer tax the City imposed upon the sale.
To the City Council members-
I attended the meeting Sutter recently held regarding their proposed project. I have to say I was shocked and dismayed to find that the city council members had given a preliminary approval to this totally unacceptable development in our neighborhood. What I appreciate about my neighborhood is livability and small-scale development which fosters community and a sense of safety. This project is totally outside of any precepts in the General Plan and the hopes I have for our community that I thought that you all shared.
The looming presence of a huge tower would destroy our sunlight, our sense of neighborhood and aesthetics that we now enjoy. The ambulances, shuttles and helicopters, not to mention the 4 years of construction noise, would destroy our peace and quiet, seriously disrupt our streets and destroy our bike boulevard. Students going to and from school on 53rd St would be endangered and residents become even more inconvenienced by the increased traffic. The streets surrounding the proposed project are not meant for this level of traffic and would become over-burdened.
It seems you have been swayed by the temporary infusion of cash into our city coffers. I submit that this gain is short-lived and short-sighted. What will be gained by the city after the project’s completion? Sutter’s non-profit status renders them exempt from many taxes.
I support Sutter’s taking over and re-purposing the existing buildings for medical uses. I would support a small-scale building on the vacant property. What I will not support is a huge hulking monstrosity wedged into an inappropriate space in an incongruous neighborhood.
Alternative location for this hospital? Why not Site B? Could a trade be made? As long as the height is reduced, and it could be with a larger footprint, it seems a more accessible and less disruptive location.
I urge you to reconsider, and I will be spending considerable time and energy to inform the residents of Emeryville of this impending disruption in their lives.
Respectfully submitted,
Judith T, resident
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| Sutter hospital site at Hollis and 53rd Street looking northwest. |
