MID CITY PREZ SPEAKS TO ST JOHN'S DEVELOPMENT

For twenty years Santa Monica’s Mid City Neighborhood has been subjected to the chaos of construction from St John’s Hospital and now they are proposing twenty­five more. Affordable housing is deed restricted for fifty­five years. So for starters how about they provide us with a free shuttle from the 17th Street station every ten minutes for the next fifty­five years. Providence has enough weight that they ought to be able to muscle UCLA and SMC into joining them in this venture.

Our entire community is suffering from the lack of mental health facilities. Currently patients have to travel as far away as LA County Hospital in East LA or Harbor UCLA in Torrance for a 72 hour observation hold. This places undue stress on family members who want to be able to easily access and get care for their loved ones going 
through difficult times. It is time for St John’s to step up to the plate and provide this vital benefit to the community at large that it serves.

You may have heard it said that one cannot limit who gets to live in affordable housing or where they work. This is true if any public money is spent on it. However, if the hospital spends its own money it can determine who lives there. I propose that after the temporary parking structure on 20th is no longer needed that they build 1­, 2­, and 3­bedroom affordable housing at 60% median income or less in that location for their custodial staff.

I’ve heard that when Providence took over they were appalled at the fact that the Sisters of Charity did not bother to put in the underground parking we were promised after they had already dug the huge hole in the ground that would be needed. I am pleased to hear that they are working to correct that situation. My members request that they provide large amounts of free parking for the handicapped so they will stop taking all the preferential parking in the neighborhood. They should also be forced to advertise this fact through all channels including signage at garage entrances and freeway exits.

I have reports from as far away as 18th Street of seemingly healthy people with handicapped placards parking on the street and walking four blocks to the hospital. In fact, most of my members that commented recommended that all of the parking be free.

And ultimately, let’s ask that they finish this in fifteen years or less. We have the technology and they have the money.