Monday, July 11, 2011

Ruh roh...once again

"BATON ROUGE -- Construction was completed last July on the new, highly touted clinical research building at LSU's Pennington Biomedical Research Center.


One year later, only the first two floors of the four-story building are occupied, and there are no set plans to open the rest of the $25 million facility.


Donna Ryan, Pennington associate executive director for clinical research, tells The Advocate the center's struggles are largely invisible to the general public."

I don't know what it's going to take before the public wakes up and realizes that pouring state funds into biomedical facilities, especially right now, isn't going to create some sort of magic mill that just cranks out wealth, jobs, progress, and sugary treats.

The problems with Pennington should stand as a huge red warning flag for both the proposed UMC, which is also unsustainable as currently envisioned, as well as many aspects of BioDistrict New Orleans.  We should be skeptical of any proposed panacea.

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