UMC Board crawfishes yet again - delays Sept. meeting

Seriously. This comes after cancelling the August meeting set for today.

Things are getting curioser and curioser:

Finalized Details on Mid-City Mitigation Grant Program

Here, via the Louisiana Division of Historic Preservation.

The full roll-out of the program is set for the August 8, 2011 Mid-City Neighborhood Organization meeting:

August 8, 2011
6:30 PM
Grace Episcopal Church
3700 Canal Street

The program is designed to award rehabilitation grants to owners of historic properties in the Mid-City National Register Historic District.

As I noted in my earlier post providing the first public details of the grant, the program was set up as part of the Programmatic Agreement that governs the LSU/VA project.

"Hospital Board Cancels Meeting"

That's the headline from a piece in today's Times-Picayune.

I have yet to see the story appear anywhere online.

Here's the gist of it:

"The University Medical Center governing board has canceled its Thursday meeting as a pair of consulting firms collaborate on modifying a business plan for the new teaching hospital slated for Mid-City.  The board's next scheduled meeting is Sept. 1, though it's no guarantee that the Verite Healthcare Consulting and Kaufman Hall & Associates will have finished their work by then."

The rest of the article gives an undeniable impression that it looks like the stage is being set for even more delays on having a business plan in place for the proposed UMC hospital.

Meanwhile, inexplicably, the state's contractors continue with site preparation in the LSU Footprint.

Images from the Kennedy Talk

Over 100 people showed up last evening at Grace Episcopal to hear State Treasurer John Kennedy speak on the fiscal realities of the UMC situation. And they, importantly, also got to speak as well.

A steady flow of people spoke after Kennedy's brief remarks. It was a truly diverse outpouring of emotion, facts, suggestions, questions, and a desire to do things right.  Topics ranged from healthcare to expropriation to fraud to personal connections with Charity Hospital to questions about alternatives.

The biggest consensus: nobody is opposed to the hospital, it's about opposition to the process, the site, and the lack of community input and discussion on a major community issue.

Kennedy repeatedly emphasized the fact that thus far, discussion has been limited to a single plan, the current UMC plan.  And that plan is not sustainable.

While a few proponents of the current plan showed up, the crowd was overwhelmingly in support of rebuilding in Charity Hospital and critical of the state's decision to destroy a neighborhood without a business plan and financing in place.

Kudos to Ms. Sandra Stokes for organizing such a successful event.

UMC Board Meeting - July 13, 1:00 p.m.

Public Works Committee met today on UMC street revocation

It was an interesting presentation.  Here's the video - Item III - speakers toward the end of that period.  Be sure to catch Council Member Stacy Head's excellent commentary on the irony that the same people in Baton Rouge who pushed the anti-Kelo amendment also supported the Lower Mid-City plan that involved mass expropriation.  See her dead-on questioning regarding the UMC's failure to design vertically in an urban environment.

Viewers learned a number of items at the meeting.  As far as site preparation expenditures thus far, the numbers, roughly, total:

$11.2 million for professional services (including $3.7 million for legal alone - with 120 properties still in dispute)
$42 million for acquisition of properties
$1.2 million for relocation packages for people
Total:   $55.3 million

Just think of how absurd that last figure is.  The state has a gigantic, structurally sound building on hand...that it owns.  Charity Hospital.  It's a building that could meet the programmatic needs of a new, state of the art hospital if retrofitted.

Instead, the state spent $55.3 million on destroying a neighborhood.  And those costs will continue to mount as the legal challenges proceed.

Other items:

125 parcels cleared
107 in demolition process

26 houses were identified as "Builders of Hope" houses for potential moving, but apparently things are not moving forward on a house moving effort at this time.

The state says that all parcel acquisition should be complete by May 31.  By July 1, the site would be "demolished."

State of Louisiana, Jacobs Engineering tried to evade programmatic agreement, avoid public input on Charity Hospital adaptive reuse

On October 18, 2010, the State of Louisiana, using Jacobs Engineering as a facilitator, held a public meeting at City Hall regarding the adaptive reuse of Charity Hospital.  Numerous people and parties attended, and emotions ran high against the state's failure to retrofit Charity - or even discuss that option.  The facilitator was visibly shaken by the raucous experience.

Recently, several consulting parties have learned that they were not given actual notice of two public meetings held on March 16 and March 30 regarding the adaptive reuse of Charity Hospital.  Not a single member of the public attended either meeting - and, indeed, it's unclear whether the third meeting was only held because notice wasn't actual run in a timely fashion in the paper...or because not a single person attended the second meeting.  The BioDistrict and LSU had people on hand, but they apparently were not considered public attendees by the organizers, which is strange.  

Talking to several consulting parties, it seems nobody was even emailed by the state or Jacobs regarding these meetings.  The state did tuck at least one notice in the back sections of the Times-Picayune, however.  Here's the only one I can find.

This was very clearly an attempt to evade giving consulting parties and the public notice of the public meetings.  The state will argue that the fine print newspaper notices were sufficient to meet its obligations of notice, and that it has now fulfilled its public meetings requirements.  And perhaps that would or would not fly in a court of law.

But it's downright shady.  It's shady as all hell.  Mr. Bilyeu with Jacobs Engineering definitely has the emails of the consulting parties that are to be provided with notice per a September 2010 mass email he sent out regarding an adaptive reuse workshop (not a public meeting).  From my experience in several Section 106 processes, the federal agency or responsible entity typically emails the consulting parties regarding meetings.  Consulting parties have indicated that they have either a position or an interest that goes even beyond that of the public more generally when it comes to  participating in the process.

Keep in mind, too, that these March public meetings are coming AFTER a January Jacobs-headed meeting to issue an RFP for Charity - a meeting that consulting parties were not told about.

Here's the requirement in the Programmatic Agreement that governs the Charity adaptive reuse process:

FP&C will endeavor to promote adaptive reuse for those nine
historically significant buildings that neither it nor other state
agencies use. During this process, FP&C will give notice to the
SHPO and to those groups and individuals who participated in this
Section 106 process as Consulting Parties. Additionally, public
meetings and/or forums will be held at no less than 2 points in the
process of evaluating the reuse or transfer of these properties from
State control, to solicit input and comments from the interested
parties.

My overarching question: what are they so afraid of...?  Public meetings or forums on adaptive reuse don't even involve binding input.  To diverge from past notice practices to avoid attendance and to have zero attendance subsequently result shows an intentional desire by Facilities Planning and Control to keep the public from having a say as mandated in the programmatic agreement.

Now that the BioDistrict has been shopping around its own proposals for reuse of the building, it's all starting to make a bit more sense.  Mr. Jim McNamara, head of the BioDistrict, was at both March meetings.

City Planning Commission Hearing Today - Oppose Revocation of the Streets

City Council Chambers
1:30 PM

Reasons to oppose revocation of ALL the streets in the UMC Footprint as the state proposes:

- They don't have the money
- They don't need all of the streets right now even if they did have the money (much of the site is only for vague potential future expansion)
- There are still ongoing legal issues with the Blood Center and the Orleans Parish School Board
- It is unclear whether historic homes and McDonogh No. 11 School will be saved
- A U.S. Senator is now openly opposing additional federal support for the project, saying it's too risky
- The UMC business plan has yet to be completed
- The state has planned a "groundbreaking" on April 18 - without evening knowing if it will get street revocation approved by the CPC and the City Council
- If the state is now looking at scaling back the project, then why not retrofit Charity Hospital, as has been suggested as a viable alternative all along?

Tell the City Planning Commission to vote no on the state's request to revoke the streets in the UMC Footprint.

UMC Board Meeting on Thursday

Note that it is possible to give public comment.  Also note that the meeting is not in its normal location.

UMC Board Meetings

Here are the 2011 dates for the remaining University Medical Center Management Coroporation Board meetings. 

The UMC Board is set to oversee the hospital that is proposed for what is known colloquially as the LSU Footprint.  It is also seeking the additional funding necessary for the project.

Public comment is permitted, but a speaker must sign in 30 minutes prior to the meetings.

Multiple Meetings Tonight

1.  The monthly VA neighborhood meeting, as fleshed out in a note from Derrick Morrison of the Committee to Reopen Charity:

The monthly VA project meeting takes place Tuesday, Mar 15, 6pm, at the Pentecostal Church, corner of Canal and N. Dorgenois.

At the Mar 10 meeting of Cleveland Ave area residents--the first with Wes Bayas, the community liaison from the Mayor's office--it was decided to bring the concerns of the neighborhood to this VA project meeting. City officials are beginning to respond to some of those concerns--routing trucks for the VA/LSU project away from the Cleveland Ave area. Questions about dust, dirt, and housing repairs were also raised at the Mar 10 meeting. Brenda Breaux from the City Attorney's office fielded some of those questions.
So, residents and supporters of the Cleveland Ave area are urged to attend the Mar 15 meeting, this Tuesday, 6pm, Pentecostal Church, corner of N. Dorgenois and Canal.

2.  State Senator Karen Carter Peterson - Townhall Meetings

Senator Peterson, the chief legislative proponent of BioDistrict New Orleans, is holding a series of townhall meetings this week.  I attended the first one last evening, and I think it's important to make the Senator aware of the various concerns with the BioDistrict to try to improve/limit the overall end product.  Specifically, it is worth pushing for a legislative re-draw of the boundaries (to make the district smaller) and for elected, local, neighborhood represntation on the board that oversees an area occupied by thousands of residents.  These are two of the top concerns that many people have been pushing for at BioDistrict planning meetings since about September 2010.

Tuesday, March 15 - Central City - Dryades YMCA - 1746 Jackson Ave. - 5:30 p.m.

Wednesday, March 16 - Broadmoor - Andrew Wilson School - 3617 Gen. Pershing - 6 p.m.

Thursday, March 17 - Carrollton - St. Matthews - 1337 S. Carrollton - 6 p.m.

Update on the VA Hospital Footprint

Last evening, the four houses that will be moved within the VA were in various stage of preparation for moving, like the two houses depicted above.

Besides those four houses and the three structures that will stay in some form - Dixie Brewery, the pumphouse, and the Pan-Am Building, there are three homes that will either be demolished or moved in the very near future: Robert Rogers' former residence, Deborah Brown-Cassine's home, and the little purple shotgun that Joan lived in.

Here are some additional items from last evening's VA Neighborhood Meeting (not exhaustive by any means):

- When the site is fully cleared, an 8-foot fence will go up around the site and dirt berms will be built around the perimeter
- The site will be "surcharged" - approximately six feet of dirt will be placed on top of the entire site to "de-water" it
- The projected final move date for the S.W. Green Mansion is March 2, 2011
- Once the Footprint is entirely clear, the state/LSU will transfer parcels gradually in batches to the VA; title to the land will never vest with the City of New Orleans even though the City is a sort of middleman between VA and LSU in the site prep. process
- The boring currently underway on the VA Footprint will include 14 borings around the site to test the soil's load-bearing capacity
- With respect to Dixie Brewery, no expropriation has occurred and neither VA nor the City have access to the building at this time to ascertain whether it is structurally sound.  A team is in place and will assess the building "as soon as [it] can."  The VA's intent, conditioned as it is, is to retain the red brick tower portion of the building in keeping with the April 2010 renderings.
- Cleveland Avenue streetwork underway in the 2500 and 2600 blocks just outside the VA Footprint since November is scheduled tentatively to wrap up in March
- It was unclear whether there's been full compliance with the PA's recordation requirement for the Pan-Am buildling; interior recordation has apparently not been done due to abatement issues, but some exterior recordation has been completed.  Something to follow up on.
- VA officials said that VA had "partially funded" the move of the S.W. Green mansion; I was under the impression that VA had fully funded the move until last night.
- The VA's contractor, Clark/McCarthy, is devising a vibration monitoring plan for the construction phase of the project.  It was unclear whether and when this would become public knowledge or if there's a way to comment - but the State Historic Preservation Office will review the plan at some point.

Residents and property owners in the neighborhood immediately above the VA Footprint were onhand.  They expressed concerns about vibration (and damaging effects on their historic homes), drainage, dust, possible lead contamination, street access to homes, street traffic increases, how construction crews would access the VA site, piledriving, trash, and more.

To the Dance Studio

Now that Outer Banks Bar has been demolished, the Committee to Reopen Charity Hospital will be meeting in a new location in the LSU Footprint this evening:

6pm-7:30pm

1926 Canal Street

Canal Street Guest House Dance Studio

The Canal Street Guest House is being expropriated and displaced - and the comparison properties used in the assessment of the property, from what I understand, consisted of lodging facilities that are not located on the streetcar line, a crucial aspect of the business' current location.  Thus, the compensation offered by the state for the taking, at least initially, did not reflect the value of the property.

Very Interesting - A New Step in the Charity Adaptive Reuse Process

Did you see this?

Did you know about the January 12, 2011 meeting?  Did you attend?

CHARITY HOSPITAL ADAPTIVE REUSE

MEETING NOTIFICATION :

Jacobs Engineering has been contracted by the State of Louisiana to develop an RFP for the Adaptive Reuse of the former Charity Hospital Building. Jacobs and the State are seeking input from industry professionals at a meeting to be held on January 12th, 2011 at the Regional Planning Commission, 10 Veterans Memorial Boulevard, New Orleans, LA 70124 at 9:00 a.m.

* The goal of the meeting to raise awareness of the project in the development / design / land use / construction community, while soliciting input for improvements.

* The format will be a brief presentation of the process to date, progress on the RFP; and process moving forward.

* At the conclusion of the presentation, Jacobs Engineering will answer questions from the attendees and take input on the RFP.

Ultimately, Jacobs will be looking to solicit proposals from developers who will pull together teams to compete to present the State with the best proposal. Services represented could likely include development, leasing, project management, architecture, civil and structural engineering, M.E.P. engineering, communications, banking/finance, sustainability, etc.

Additionally, if you are a consulting party in the Section 106 process regarding the disposition of Charity Hospital, did you get notice of this particular meeting, an endeavor to promote adaptive reuse?

Here's the programmatic agreement (PA) speaking to the notice requirements for the adaptive reuse process for Charity Hospital:

"FP&C will endeavor to promote adaptive reuse for those nine

historically significant buildings that neither it nor other state

agencies use. During this process, FP&C will give notice to the

SHPO and to those groups and individuals who participated in this

Section 106 process as Consulting Parties. Additionally, public

meetings and/or forums will be held at no less..."

Report from the UMC Board Meeting

Yesterday, I arrived at the UMC Corporation Board meeting one half hour early so I could make a public comment at the meeting (Board rules require public commenters to register that far in advance).

The UMC Board will oversee the University Medical Center, which is proposed for what is known to many as the LSU Footprint.  Yesterday, I encouraged members of the Board to halt demolitions in the LSU Footprint until a house moving plan can be finalized.

The remainder of the meeting focused on two things: the hiring of a financial advisor and the presentation of the final plan for the hospital complex design.

Kudos to Bill Barrow from the Times-Picayune, who provides an in-depth assessment of the hiring of the financial advisor.  Under a rather innocuous headline, one nevertheless sees a journalist's mind at work.  By the time one finishes reading the piece, it is known that the Board's legal counsel is now suddenly claiming it is a private entity not subject to certain transparency requirements.  One also learns of the strange acrobatics that the Board is attempting to use to pay the financial advisor via the State - even though it's not allowed to receive funds directly from the State under its governing document.

Here's my take on the other prong of the meeting - the presentation of the "very grand vision" for the UMC design (which the architect presenter said was final, when questioned, per the instruction of Mr. Jerry Jones).

The architect from NBBJ started off by noting that he had never been to New Orleans prior to working on the project - which elicited a few wide-eyed looks from a handful of people near me.  He referred to the need to be "a good neighbor" to the "transitional neighborhood" in the LSU Footprint.  As he showed slides of the quintessential New Orleans things like historic building facades that supposedly inspired the UMC building design, someone near me uttered: "That's what you're tearing down."

Hear are some interesting points about the UMC design that I picked up on:

- There will be a raised connector across Tulane Avenue to LSU
- A very large portion of the total LSU site will remain underutilized for an unspecified period of time into the future.  There was heavy emphasis on a need for future expansion.
- There is "no timeline" for when the full expansion will materialize
- The VAMC (VA Footprint hospital) will be different - "any expansion for them will be vertical" (so the taller of the two hospital complexes will be the one farther from the CBD)
- Supposedly all of the buildings laid out for the VA Hospital will "manifest in the first phase" when built, but I'm not certain that that's true - I will check.
- The historic McDonough No. 11 School from 1879 seems to fall within an expansion zone only - not in a first-phase building zone (so it should be saved in the meantime) ADDED: I'm still trying to get a copy of the powerpoint; even if the school is not exclusively in an expansion zone, it's very close to the edge and the hospital building should have been reconfigured to include the building.  ADDED: Now that I have a copy of the powerpoint, it appears that the school building site will in fact be covered in the first phase.  But the map, on closer inspection, reveals how little was done to mitigate damage to Deutsches Haus and McDonough No. 11 - the areas left as parking lots for possible future expansion are the areas with few historic properties closest to S. Claiborne.
- A "Retail Corridor" is shown on Tulane Avenue, with retail spaces on the first level of at least one of the two parking garages that will front that thoroughfare (300 foot face, 30 feet deep).  One of the possible tenants mentioned was a uniform shop - which is somewhat ironic given that there's already a uniform shop facing Tulane Avenue in that location at present (Ellgee's)
- The complex will feature a "Cleveland Promenade" along what is now Cleveland Avenue - it will be a public concourse, but the images in the slideshow made it appear as if it was inside the building
- The building will feature images "pulled out" from old Charity - I think that's figuratively speaking.
- When questioned by a Board member on whether the architecture firm cross-checked the design with the business plan.  The architect presenter equivocated until Mr. Jerry Jones said: "So the answer is yes."
- Orleans House, the mansion at 1800 Canal Street, appears to exist on the map intact
- The Grand Palace Hotel building at Canal and S. Claiborne/I-10 will be demolished: "We're bringing it down," according to Jones.  It might eventually be the site of a medical office building "...at some point."  No word on whether the state will retain the existing multi-level parking structure attached to the building
- Pershing Place (also known as Billy Goat Park), which features a statue dedicated to World War I veterans, does not appear to be retained in its current form, nor did the statue seem to appear in renderings showing the idyllic corner of S. Galvez and Tulane.  It's in what's labeled as a plaza, so it should be retained.
- Overall, the site map for the design still seems incredibly wasteful, and appears sited on an unnecessarily large footprint.

The architect emphasized that there is no revising the plan - "this is it."  He also urged the Board to get moving to avoid "competition for labor with VA," noted, somewhat ironically, that the "joint" hospital across S. Galvez would raise costs for proceeding as it procured construction labor.  So much for synergy.

In other news, Mr. Rod West resigned from the Board.  The next meeting of the UMC Board will be on January 19, 2011.

Event at Outer Banks Bar Tomorrow (Dec. 1)

The Committee to Reopen Charity Hospital is holding an event at Outer Banks Bar tomorrow. Here are some additional details from Mr. Brad Ott, a member of the group:

The Committee to Reopen Charity Hospital will hold its regular Wednesday meeting, 6:30pm to 8pm at a new location -- The Outer Banks Bar, Palmyra and South Tonti Streets. As road access is extremely limited due to the destruction of the neighborhood, attenders are advised to enter via Palmyra from the South Dorgenois intersection. Our agenda includes updates from remaining area residents and business proprietors still facing expropriation/demolition, reports and information on the status of the S.W. Green Mansion, Dixie Brewery, the impact of the Orleans Parish Real Estate records' computer crash, the just-released Advisory Group on Forced Evictions Mission Report to New Orleans, United States (an advisory group to The United Nations-Habitat) and other items as brought forth to be considered by attending participants. Dress warmly, as the first part of the meeting could be held outside. For more information, contact Brad Ott at (504) 269-4951 or bradott@bellsouth.net.

Mr. Derrick Morrison of the Comittee provided the flyer seen at the top of the post.

Possible Funding for LSU Footprint House Moves

Here's a way for you to help.

In the middle of the above image, you'll note a public meeting notice.  It's set for tomorrow night:

Monday, November 29, 2010

5:30 - 7:00 p.m.

City Council Chambers, City Hall

The City is looking for public input on how to use $1.9 million of CDBG money for housing, economic development, and infrastructure, with a focus on eliminating blight and slum, urgent need, and benefit to low and moderate income people.

*Please attend this meeting and call upon those present to use a portion of the funds to move historic homes off the UMC (LSU) Footprint.  The rehabilitated moved homes from the VA Footprint, now found in various neighborhoods thanks to Builders of Hope, demonstrate the positive impacts of a house moving effort - one that falls squarely within the goals of the funding grant.  House moving is certainly better than demolition.

Unlike in the VA Footprint, there is still no concrete house moving plan in place for the UMC Footprint.  Over 50 historic structures are at risk of demolition, and seven structures have already been demolished.  Please attend tomorrow evening's meeting to help make the house moving effort a reality.

UMC Board...Cancels Meeting...Again

I'm going to say flat out that it's somewhat suspicious to see that the University Medical Center Management Corporation Board has cancelled its meeting a second time in the course of a month or so.  The UMC Board oversees the UMC hospital projected for the "LSU Footprint" below S. Galvez street.  It canceled its October 14, 2010 meeting as well.

With a major project in the works - houses being dismantled (see picture below from earlier today in the LSU Footprint), lots being cleared, and properties being acquired - and major questions about funding outstanding, I think we need to note these cancellations with heightened skepticism.  We haven't even been given any explanation for the cancellation.

The Board, while somewhat uncertain about its nature overall, has been saying things and acting like a public body subject to public meetings laws.  That lines up with the public importance of the situation that the board is overseeing.  In the absence of meetings, though, how are decisions being made?  And what decisions are being made?

In other words, what's going on?

The last meeting of the UMC Board was on October 28, 2010, from my records.

The Sound and the Fury

Ms. Judith rails against LSU and in support of reopening Charity.

Last evening, Jacobs Engineering held a session at City Hall on adaptive reuse of the existing Charity Hospital building, as well as a number of outbuildings nearby.  A crowd of just about 30 people showed up for the event.


While three areas of potential reuse were on the table, the night's focus turned to something else, the elephant in the room: a desire by the majority of those present to reuse Charity Hospital...as Charity Hospital.  And it was very clearly a passionate desire on the part of some residents, let me tell you.  The vigor of a few pro-Charity speakers crossed the line into unhelpful territory.  At times, the session turned into an awkward confrontation between representatives of LSU, who were on hand, and the concerned residents.

The presentations by a number of speakers, such as Ms. Cecile Tebo and Mr. Robert Demarais Sullivan, however, were especially eloquent. 

Mr. Mike Rouchelle's remarks won the prize in the concise category.  His analogy hit the nail on the head.  Noting LSU's strength in football, he compared rebuilding a medical care facility in Charity to starting from the 50 yard-line instead of from a team's own 20 yard-line, which is what is happening in the Lower Mid-City with the push to build in the LSU Footprint.

Reminder: Charity Reuse Meeting Tomorrow Night at City Hall

Here are the details:

Monday October 18, 2010 6:00pm to 8:30pm: Public Meeting


Reuse and/or Disposition of Historic Buildings in the Medical Center of Louisiana at New Orleans (Charity Hospital). The Louisiana State Office of Facility Planning and Control “seeks public input and comment in regards to adaptive reuse of the 9 historically significant buildings that made up the former MCLNO that were damaged during Hurricane Katrina …”


Location: New Orleans City Council Chambers, City Hall, 1300 Perdido Street.

One potential reuse that anyone in attendance tomorrow night should be sure to suggest: reuse as the University Medical Center (basically keeping Charity in Charity), thereby eliminating the need to continue demolishing homes in the LSU Footprint.  It would also eliminate a gaping vacant space in the CBD in the interim.

It is possible to renovate the existing Charity Hospital building into a 21st Century facility with the funds that the UMC Board currently has on hand, according to a study by RMJM Hillier, one of the top architectural firms in the world.  The Board does not have the funding in place at this time to build a new facility in Lower Mid-City.