RSS
Twitter
Facebook
YouTubeThis Week News wrote
Children’s Hospital presents 2012 ideas
Thursday, August 16, 2007
SUE HAGAN
Could Parsons Avenue become a boulevard? How should the future west campus, across Parsons, be connected with the main hospital? Should green space around the new hospital include walking trails or a playground or a community garden?
Children’s Hospital officials are looking for community input on those and other questions, as the hospital undergoes a major expansion.
Two meetings have been held to let community members respond to ideas of how the campus could look by 2012 and perhaps come up with a few of their own. A third meeting, the final in the series, will be Tuesday, Aug. 21, from 6-8 p.m. at the Columbus Public Health Department, 240 Parsons Ave.
 |
 |
| View more Spirit of Columbus photos here. |
 |
Comments
- Nicholas Herum: Are the plants pictured just flowers for decoration or are they growing som
- AlohaJo: I haven't been yet, but I will go once the crowds die down. Is the Ruebe
- FoodFort: And - if happen to be in Grove City this weekend - and wants food trucks, i
- columbusmike: Wish this could happen with downtown....
- I_am_Father_McKenzie: http://content.mindmixer.com/Live/Projects/planuptown/files/69682/Public_Me
Top Stories
- Bexley Mayor Excited about New Two-Story Giant Eagle on Main Street20
- New 504-Unit Apartment Project Coming to Westerville Near Polaris18
- The Flapper Room and The Blackberry Patch Opening Downtown in 201417
- The List: 10 More New Apartment Developments Around Columbus16
- The Sycamore Relaunching as New German Village Restaurant13
- Plans Advancing for City Campus, New Building on Front Street11
- Travel: Washington DC via Amtrak10
- Restaurant Review: Portia's Cafe10
- School Issues: Surveys10
- The Market Proposed as New Italian Village Corner Shop9
Children’s Hospital presents 2012 ideas
By: Walker
Related Posts:
That’s a lot of ideas. I feel no need to read the article; I’ll wait for them to cull it down to a couple hundred.
Har har.
Seriously though, does that KFC at Parsons & Livingston really need such a big parking garage? I’ve never had much trouble parking there, but perhaps they have an insane lunch-hour-rush that I’m unaware of?
i’m pretty sure they’re building it for CCFA on livingston.
What kind of restaurant is CCFA?
I’m just kidding, but they should just do what every other business on Parsons does: have all their employees and patrons park in the slow lane.
Someday I’m going to attach a wedge to the front of my car, and then that jerk who parks his pickup truck in front of the porn store all day will be in for a surprise! Ho ho ho!
So what does this mean for real estate in the area? Will this also fuel Merion Village growth? Kroger is gone, right. I was in this area last week and noticed that and construction. Exciting as we grow…
Yep, that Kroger closed when the new one in the Brewery District opened. Children’s has purchased the land where the Kroger is located, but several businesses there (Wendy’s) still have leases running for a few more years, so it’s not going to see construction on that side for a few more years most likely.
I don’t know how much this will fuel development down to Merion Village, but I’m guessing it will boost things a little for the closer Schumacher Place neigborhood.
If only the auto dealer on the other corner of Parson & Livingston would sell and move out, that could be a pretty high-profile corner to start developing Parsons as a major corridor all the way to the far end of the south side.
Hospital holds 3rd forum for comment
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
By Dean Narciso
In February, after Children’s Hospital revised its plans to expand its main campus, South Side neighbors said hospital officials weren’t listening to them.
“As the information has percolated through the neighborhood, it’s gotten acrimonious,” said Columbus City Councilwoman Maryellen O’Shaughnessy, of grumblings related to the hospital’s five-year, $740 million expansion.
Last night, hospital officials used the last of three public forums to seek advice and hear concerns. The meeting was held at the Columbus Public Health offices on Parsons Avenue.
READ MORE
On the whole, I thought that was a pretty harsh headline for that article. Reading it all the way to the end, it looked like Children’s addressed most of the criticisms and even anticipated most of them in advance. (Also, personally, given the choice between losing the Ronald McDonald House or hindering the hospital’s expansion, I have to admit I’d be tempted to give ties to the hospital … it’s one of Columbus’ crown jewels and does a tremendous amount of good for people both in Columbus and well, well beyond.)
But look at some of the criticisms of the article …
(1) “[R]esidents want guarantees that their streets won’t become parking lots after the hospital grows.” Addressed later in the article: “Parking problems should ease with the addition of hundreds of new spaces, including a garage under construction just off the southeast corner of Parsons and Livingston avenues, hospital administrators said.”
(2) “Others are concerned that nearby homes owned by Children’s aren’t being rehabilitated adequately or quickly enough.” Well, bluntly, if Children’s owns them and thinks an extra 200 beds would do more good than those extra houses, it’s Children’s’ prerogative to make that call. I’m not sure why the community feels it should have so much power to play backseat driver with Children’s’ funds here.
(3) “Still others worry that Livingston Park will be swallowed by the expansion. Kathleen Radcliff said she thinks hospital officials want to acquire the park.”
Answer:
“‘Why would we want it’” hospital architect Mikel Coulter asked her, pointing out that the hospital’s westward expansion will be sufficient for projected growth.
Children’s officials say hospital plans are tentative and fluid. That’s why they’re soliciting the public’s advice …
And 6 acres of green space are to be added around the new main entrance along Parsons Avenue.”
======
Honestly, I don’t see what Children’s has done to deserve to be in the public crosshairs here. It’s true that I don’t live in the neighborhood and seldom walk down that way (the farthest I’ve gone in that direction on foot is Katzinger’s and Lindey’s, honestly). That said, from a non-local (not-quite-as-local-as-someone-who-lives-on-Parsons, anyway) perspective, Children’s has to be one of the city’s best corporate citizens, right up there with Nationwide, Huntington, and Battelle.
Fearing change definitely isn’t unique to the suburbs.
And how the heck would a hospital use old cottages? Talk about trying to fit a square peg into a round hole!
I also loved this subtle dig by the Dispatch on the unsatisfiable residents…
Motz said he doubts hospital staff who told him that the current Ronald McDonald House couldn’t have been expanded by using the cottages and homes instead of razing them to create extra green space.
“I don’t believe her,” Motz said, repeatedly interrupting a hospital employee trying to respond.
SELL THE CHEVY DEALER!
WHO ARE YOU TALKING TO!
Good lord they are about to demolish a 3 year old five MILLION dollar building over there!!! :shock: :shock: :shock:
Why be so wasteful! Just give the money to me I won’t waste it I promise!!! :shock: :shock: :shock:
I love being poor when so many people have money to just flush in the toilet.
that new parking garage at parsons and livingston is an eyesore. it is completely out of place, towering over and wrapping around a kfc. not to mention at night it is like a giant beacon blocking out the night. who designed this and was there ever any public input that the garage was a bad fit in its current design?
kfc supposedly wouldn’t sell…
children’s is doing alot of great things, i’m excited that such an organization would stay in the downtown area of columbus. grow columbus grow :)
oh and for the post-er before, if u r talking about the ronald mcdonald building, before construction was even completed there were waiting lists for the house so unfortunately its capacity didn’t meet the need before it even opened. this is unfortunate but all we can do is look ahead and plan better. in my opinion, the economy is not doing well (contrary to pres bush) so all of the jobs that are coming from this development are welcome in my eyes: secretaries, accountants, OSU students, researchers, housekeeping, shuttle drivers, doctors, construction workers, and everything in between… :D
i hope that the positive remification of the bigger picture outweigh the negative. and i agree, kfc needed to sell for a better looking garage! hehe
[quote="Walker"]
Thursday, August 16, 2007
SUE HAGAN
could u post this bigger somwhere? when i go to the link i can’t see the picture for some reason…
Sorry, I don’t have a larger version.
It does look odd, but I think will look more in place when the other four corners are built up. This area should be denser and more urban than it currently is and it would look just fine.
I posted that half jokingly. As a preservationist I was sad about the houses at Ann and Livingston, however I was close to the job as well as some of the hospital construction managers. With that input, I understood the need. Hey, this is all for the kids, they are more important than some old houses and a McDonald house any day.
Still though, 2 year old- five million dollars in the landfill puts a lump in my throat. I’m glad they are staying in the area nonetheless.
The problem here is that it hospitals get a pass when it comes to the way they are allowed to sprawl. They are knocking down the neighborhood while there are parking lots that should be built on instead. Like anything else, hospitals should be built/expanded with the urban environment in mind, but once again the city turns a blind eye to sprawl in the city.
Columbusite, if they cannot grow they will leave. Do you prefer a giant abandoned hospital over there? I agree they tore down some nice houses, I was allowed to tour the houses the morning they were taken down- beautiful. BUT, there isn’t much more over there worth anything. Take a walk down any of those streets and check out the abandoned houses. I don’t suggest taking a camera, you might get mugged for it. The hospital is the one bright spot over there – hopefully they’ll continue to grow.
Ack! Don’t ask, he probably would prefer a giant abandoned site that formerly was the workplace of thousands of well-paid employees with great health insurance.
Children’s finally acknowledged that they were expanding in the wrong direction, and now they’re building westward. I understand they’re developing a first-time homebuyer program for their workers to be able to buy hospital-owned residential in the neighborhood, helping to raise the threshold of owner occupied homes.
Children’s has made some missteps over the years and I agree the RMH debacle was a needless and tragic waste. But I believe they are doing better and are as tired of fighting as the neighborhoods groups must be.