to san francisco's future. a great city needs the finest in health care and i ask for their approval. thank you. president olague: thank you. >> good evening, president olague and commissioners. my name is lance bayer and i'm a san francisco resident and i am speaking on behalf of the concordia argonaut board of directors. the concordia argonaut club is located on van ness and post directly across from the proposed hospital site and directly across from the proposed medical office building. the concordia argonaut board of directors strongly supports the proposal by cpmc to build the van ness facility. the cpmc project provides a unique opportunity for improvements in a neighborhood that is badly in need of revitalization. we are particularly impressed with the proposal for retail shops on the street level and a

significant improvement over the existing cathedral hill streetscape which involves the entrances to the former parking lot of the hotel. the plan provides for continuity of street scape that will allow for movement of pedestrian traffic and residents down van ness and throughout the neighborhood in a way that will be enhanced and most importantly cpmc has made serious efforts to listen to the concerns of concordia argonaut and the surrounding neighbors as far as our concerns. we are looking forward to having cpmc as our neighbor and i at this -- thank you very much. president olague: thank you. >> thank you, president olague and members of the planning commission, for the opportunity to speak here tonight. my name is jason and i'm the

director be manning and development for the department be veterans affairs, the v.a. palo alto health system. we encompass 10 sites of care including three inpatient facilities and seven outpatient facilities. one of our highest priorities is to provide a safe and modern environment to care for america's veterans. we plan to invest over $1.5 billion to replace buildings to ensure that in the se -- event of a seismic event safe facilities are available. hospitals must meet seismic standards. recent studies indicate there say 62% of a magnitude 6.7 or higher earthquake occurring in the bay area over the next 30 years. we must remain vigilant.

i have independently concluded that this plan to replace seismically deficient aging facilities is a reasonable and perhaps one -- once in a lifetime opportunity. this proposal in my professional opinion is a strategic road forward for cpmc. it will ensure surrounding communities have access to safe, state of the art facilities for the next 50 years. i would urge the commission to approve the proposal. president olague: the next round of cards. john can drazzio, lorenzo lestano, grassita democrat or anno and -- dem or anno and manuel eng.

>> thank you, president olague and members of the planning commission. my name is john and i am i am eye -- a health care architect and support rebuilding cpmc. my entire career has been committed to designing healing heath care environments for communities across the country including dozen of major hospitals and medical centers like catholic health care west, stanford medical center, ucsf and most recently and currently under construction, kaiser permanente oakland medical center. it is with great interest as -- and good intentions that i speak to you this evening. here's what i have learned about cpmc project and it really impresses me. i'll give three examples. number one, place.

there's been a great effort in my opinion with great success in integrating buildings and neighborhoods. health care services are both inwardy focused -- inwardly focused and outwardly focused. some can and need to embrace and enhance the community and some need to be up heard and unseen. i see a complex balance between function, design, and experience which again i believe is being addressed very nicely in this design. number two, world class. san francisco is a world class city and it deserves world class medical institutions. i know a little bit about the issue of world classes. i was appointed to the defense healed board advisory committee charged with enshiring that the new walter reed hospital is a world class clinical and physical facility. one of the physical drivers of world class is health care institution's ability to accept

and even embrace change. the art and science of medicine is constantly evolving and buildings maustdafment in my investigation of cpmc i'm convinced that systems are in place especially at the st. luke's campus, to adapt to change. lastly i would say -- [bell] president olague: thank you. we have the comments. we have just half a page least -- left here. so thank you. and we did call the names out so please if you heard your name if you can start coming to the mike. >> i beg your pardon. apparently i missed my name when it was called. president olague: ok. that's fine. >> i'm dr. stanley sey frmplet --fried. i'm a psychiatrist practicing in the bay area for 43 years. i am here on behalf of the physicians organizing committee of which i am a member. the primary issue for me as a

psychiatrist is that whenever the sutter hospital corporation does anything with a hospital, psychiatry vanishes. that has happened repetitively in my experience and so that one of the real issues for me is that what is happening in community psychiatry or psychiatry that is in the community i should say is that as the number of inpatient beds is collapsed, what happens is that when the police officer picks up someone who is seriously mentally ill, the only option they have is to put that individual in jail because that's the only secure place where you can hold someone against his or her will. what is happening in local jails is that what is happening

in the state prisons is very similar and the state department of corrects has recently recognized that and they are embarking upon building a brand-new penitentiary near stockton in which there will be 461 psychiatric beds. now, this seems very peculiar to me because we have moved from the point of depopulating state hospitals and now we are going to start putting those patients in state prisons instead of hospitals. so i find that remarkable and unfortunately it is my belief -- [bell] sutter is involved in that. thank you very much. president olague: just in the order i called your name you can start coming up to the mike. >> good afternoon, commissioners. my name is lorenzo and i'm a

resident of the tenderloin and a member of the tenderloin filipino community association. we believe in our organization that this huge project will create many negative impacts in our community. we can say that cpmc has not done much for our community in provide health care access for residents. that's what the record will show. tenderloin residents are one of the lowest serves -- served in their hospital system. secondly, cpmc will not commit supporting affordable housing despite the fact that this huge project will be a cause foff -- for displacement of people. secondly, this project will potentially cause gridlock on van ness while turning our neighborhood streets into highways. these are some of the issues we want cpmc to address but sad to say, they are disengaging in the talks with the community. we want a clear resolution of these issues and our

commissioners can help ensure that will address all issues being raised by the community. president olague: thank you. >> good afternoon. my name is melissa vandra. i'm a member of south of course market action network. i'm also a resident of tenderloin. cpmc sutter hospital served mostly have expensive insurance and i heard that they're going to build a luxury hospital here in vanness. so -- van ness. so it is very unfair like -- for us, like the low income family and for those seniors who live around in the neighborhood.

we need a fair and we want -- we want them to serve all the people in the community. thank you. president olague: thank you. if you can speak into the mike, ma'am. >> good evening. cpmc will be in our community and the people in our neighborhood should have priority when they need to apply for jobs in that hospital. thank you very much. president olague: thank you. >> my name is amelia. my concern is about that acpmc that will be built in our neighborhood. it will affect our environment, it will cause traffic and i think especially to the children that go to the school

in the neighborhood. thank you. president olague: thank you. >> good evening. i'm mr. manuel eng. i'm a resident of south of market and i think that cpmc should give job and job train -- training to our community first. thank you. president olague: thank you. i would ask people to stand away from the door. thank you. tyler krelek? i'm sorry if i mispronounce your last and i'm. -- namend and vince, i can't make out your last name. i can't make it out. valerie gruber. eugene gains pland and michael

treece. you can just come up as, you know -- so if i called your name you can start coming up to the mike. >> good evening, members of the planning commission. my name is vince ab alone. i'm a licensed architect working here in san francisco. i specialize in health care planning and design. i'm 5eu78 -- i'm a member of the american institute of architects and a certified architect with the american kling of -- college of architects. i support rebuilding cpmc for the following two reasons. one, i support patient care. as you know, health care practice has changed since the cpmc facilities were built 40 years ago. best practice now calls for more space to could -- accommodate family and friends and for more privacy and

separation and seismic stability. better facilities that improve staff working conditions result in improved patient care. secondly as a resident, the improved street scape shown tonight in renderings are welcomed and will improve and enhance pedestrian experiences, public safety, urban vitality around all the three campuses. as a health care planer, tertiary health care planning is complex and i believe the scale is appropriate to meet the needs of the health care needs now and in the future. i feel the building sizes and designs are in line with the surrounding neighborhood densities and architecture so i support the economic development that these facilities will bring and i encourage moving forward on patient care and community development. thank you. president olague: thank you.

ladies and gentlemen -- >> ladies and gentlemen of the planning commission, my name is dr. valerie gruber and i'm a psychologist at san francisco general hospital and i'm here representing the membership of physicians organizing committee particularly those who work in mental health. i've worked in the field for over 15 years and have seen the impact of 57 million in budget cuts to department of public health here in san francisco and solely in the general fund in the past three years. those cuts included over 500 city positions plus additional positions from community based organizations. this on top of this, dph is facing another $13 million in cuts starting this july and it is not looking good. they're getting into very high priority services. they're going to cost more than the service lost. i know that the city can improve my ability to give quality care to patients by

directing sutter and other entities to honor their agreements one is the health commission resolution to -- 210 on the cpmc institutional master plan to provide medically necessary services to low income and indigent patients. as mentioned by a former speaker, there is a need for that. the constituent must not allow the facilities to route such patients to overcrowded county programs to pursue profits at the public's expense. in viewing the rdp please remember that sutter plays -- pays no taxes on any of the properties that could support public health and they eliminate need services further burdening the public system. for example in, 2005 sutter flouted a health commission resolution and state attorney general order by closing a 32-bed inpatient psychiatric unit at st. luke's and the city and county did not hold sutter to their public health care

obligations. they didn't do anything about that such as revoking its tax breaks. [bell] president olague: thank you. >> i would like to give theys -- president olague: you can submit these. thank you. if the next speaker can start toum -- coming to the mike -- >> about investigation needed into their practices. president olague: thanks. >> thank you. >> good evening. my name is eugene against lan -- genzlan, retired physician who served the community for over 35 years and i've referred many patients to st. luke's back when it had a full complement of services to refer patients to. i'm here to fake sbsh speak on behalf of the physicians organizing committee to voice our connective op soigs to any plan approval of the plan given the wholly inequitable

allocation be resources moving forward. this is one of only two hospitals serving the entire working class area south of market. to put sutter's plan in perspective it's important to look at what sutter provided before theythe second hospital d a few years after and the stated mission was revolutionary. st. luke's is to be a charitable hospital for the reception of all colors, nationality, and creeds. it used to have 55,000 people a year on an inpatient basis. the treated over 14,000 a year and provided through the thousand dollars. the services were documented in

this list from the year 2000 provided as part of the settlement for the anti-trust a lawsuit for undermining st. luke's with illegal business practices. compare this to the original agreements. only in a red that we could keep our mission statement, keep our charity care hospital open, [chime] president olague: your welcome to finish your comment, also. >> i support rebuilding. i have a sustainable as i and later in 7 it is, and the system will architect for the rebuild. with the encouragement of the seventh is the department of the

environment, the design teams of shared and pushed each other to create a hospital designs that are sustainable. in my professional opinion, how the system will design is at the leading edge of sustainable health care design including energy and wider saving goals and strategies. they will tremendously at home to the entire city of san francisco. i support rebuilding. president olague: [reading names]

people can start coming out to the microphone when we call your name. line up over there and start coming up to the microphone. that would be great. [reading names] can you please start coming up to the mic? >> i'm a registered nurse at st. luke's hospital. including being a patient myself, i am concerned about access issues. my concerns about access would be addressed with the far

superior alternative, taking away some of the problems associated with traffic congestion and overall traffic flow. as the current plans to stand, emergency vehicles that included ambulances, fire department, emergency vehicle will be hindered in due to the increased traffic congestion generated by the 550 bed hospital built a one of the busiest intersections in the city. there are well over 26,000 patients a year. many come with little time to spare. any patient having suffered a stroke, heart attack or any patient brought in sometimes only has moments of despair. many use public transportation or come on foot.

the child had at procedures. following the construction of a location and routine that gridlock, and can only be likened to a nightmare. in my professional opinion, this is not acceptable. >> i have to read my own handwriting. >> i have worked at st. luke's for 38 years. i have a simple person. i'm going back to the blue ribbon process and i am wondering, what happens to the center of excellence that was supposed to be part of that project? we are clearing house. we have the patience, the poor, the incomes of the economic

distress. people that cannot go on. i am still wondering, where is the center of excellence for the blue ribbon panel. i am also concerned with the monopoly. where does that leave places? we'll still remain a clearing house. we have no real resources. nothing really to offer except really, it is a terrible thing. i am still wondering about the plans for the nursing facility. i know it is not in this current plan, but there are people that live there. they are alive, they have feelings. i'm wondering what the goal is for them. i will ask the architect, is their plan for a cafeteria as well as a dining hall?

i know it has gone back and forth. i heard about fine dining up and down, and i am wondering, are we going to have a cafeteria or a kitchen? >> if you can ask that after the hearing, we'll ask during the discussion. >> good evening, commissioners. i am the general manager. it was a residential and commercial condominium building. we have 245 residential units. our residential population is approximately 300 people including the number of children and elderly people. many tenants are in the medical

profession. by surgeons, plastic surgeons, veterans and others the use extremely sensitive equipment. it is literally surrounded by the cathedral hill project. to the south of our building is the main hospital. to the north is the medical building. across diagonally [unintelligible] naturally, our resident and tenants have a number of concerns about what it will be like to be surrounded by this extraordinarily unusual construction project for the next five years as well as a long-term impact of the buildings will create for our community. please be aware that my commercial tenants cannot pick up and relocate their offices elsewhere during construction.

they have signed leases and the patients and clients have grown accustomed to the location. we ask that the construction process does not put into and out of business. these discussions are moving very slowly. we have voiced reasonable and rational concerns that the product will have. i am here today with over 200 signed the letters from residents and attendance. >> thank you, members of the planning commission. i am speaking in support of the rebuilding plan. i am primarily in the capacity of a neighbor. i bypassed the current facility routinely and my family's social

and recreational lives are primarily in the corridor. i will direct my comments primarily to that proposal. i like to address the architecture and urban design qualities of the proposal. it is not typically easy to integrate a large institution. in the case of the st. louis's portion, i believe that through the generous attitude towards the open space and support of program organization, the design team has crafted a campus that will work in this corner. in the residential scale, it makes sense for a potentially the verse streetscape. it allows for the life of the sidewalk to course right into the institution.

this is in the tradition of the gardens of san and it is. as a seven siskin that is proud of the street life and public realm, our ability to support the public life, i believe this proposal passes that test. >> the evening, members of the planning commission. i am here today to support the design proposal. as you might know, they have been involved in several stages of this process and actively advocating to reinforce facilities for a seismic event. it was made a fairly clear by their presentation, they have had an extremely hot location sensitive approach t