KPLU Local News
(2009-08-19)
Listen Now:
null
More than a hundred supporters gathered in front of Seattle City Hall on Wed., Aug. 19, 2009, to voice support for Seattle Children's Hospital expansion.
Gary Davis photo.
More than 100 protesters gathered in the hot sun on the plaza in front of City Hall to voice their frustration over a hearing examiner's decision last week. The ruling stated Children's expansion plans were too aggressive and would bring too much traffic to the community. In reaction, hospital officials said they may have to leave the city if they aren't able to move forward an expansion plan they say is necessary.
At the rally, Carin Towne said concerns about additional traffic are weak when weighed against what's at stake should Children's leave. "And as a resident of Laurelhurst I can tell you I have never waited on Sandpoint (Way), or waited on 45th to get in and out of my neighborhood (by car). What I waited on was a bed for my sick child. That is what I waited on," she added, referring to her son who needed treatment for cancer from Children's in 2007. Towne's son later died of his illness. With a few tears and fresh memories of a difficult experience, she praised the medical care her son received at the hospital, which is a primary care center for children for the Northwest. But, she said, cramped conditions are a lasting bad memory.
Children's expansion plans seek to double its capacity, and to allow it to build as high as 140 feet. The proposal has been through lengthy public process. It's been opposed by members of the Laurelhurst Community Club, who contend the hospital's insistence on pursuing a growth plan they call 'out of scale' and out of line with the city's own planning regulations for the neighborhood is part of the problem.
LCC president Jeannie Hale says they do not want Children's to leave, and praised them as historically "good neighbors." Hale says the group would be more open to a smaller-scale expansion, of, perhaps, about half the 1.5 million square feet now proposed. Meanwhile, she says the hearing examing got the ruling on the proposal "right." The next move is up to the Seattle City Council, which can affirm or overturn the hearing examiner's decision, something not expected to be considered until fall.
© Copyright 2012, KPLU
