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Letter to City Council: Cottage Hospital Review
updated: Apr 30, 2012, 8:08 PM

By Dana Schorr

Dear Madam Mayor and members of the Council,

I attended the meeting for the Cottage Hospital update. I was disappointed that the Council did not ask for audience response to the Cottage presentation.

I am taking this opportunity to respond. There are several areas where I believe that Cottage is taking liberty with the truth.

1. First, they presented a long video of a quite helicopter landing, and as Council woman Murillo questioned, left out the sound. The noise is the issue! Cottage should play a similar video with sound played at actual decibels or arrange an actual helicopter flyover where the Council could see and hear for yourselves. - I will host.

2. Cottage stated that the helicopters come in at 1,000 feet. Maybe they are over the freeway but as soon as they turn to the hospital they start descending fast, at the middle of the 1st block of Pueblo they are down to 500 feet or less.

3. Cottage stated that some people have been confusing other flights with Cottage bound helicopters. This is possible for those further away from the Hospital and the flight path. If you live under the flight path - there is no confusion.

4. Cottage stated that they are good neighbors - going above and beyond. This is not true. Four of the speakers all had the same negative experience as I did and most others in the neighborhood. Cottage response was "It's a done deal, nothing you can do" Does this sound like a "good neighbor" policy?

5. Cottage mis-treatment of Mr. Girling and the couple next to the Day Care Center is a perfect example of their lack of a "good neighbor" policy.

6. Cottage, since the beginning, has steadfastly refused to meet with anyone in the neighborhood until several of you from the City Council showed up at the 2nd mass meeting. They are still not willing to meet with the residents who are impacted day to day by their activities.

7. Council member White stated to CEO Werft, and I paraphrase (hopefully correctly) "I was on the planning committee ... such a massive project - some items may not have been reviewed correctly ... what looks good on paper may not work as expected in real life ... you have the permits, but if it is not working ... go to your neighbors, work together for a win win solution" - This will not happen without continued Council pressure.

8. The sharp reduction in usage does not make logical sense, seems that there must be some manipulation. We need something in writing so that we are assured that this lower usage will continue and is not temporary to assuage the Council.

9. Cottage states that helipad use is now approximately what they predicted. I have asked Cottage and the company contracted by the city for the EIR for the original data and the methodology used to come to this conclusion and have been refused the data.

10. I have asked cottage and the company that was contracted by the city for the EIR for the complete data and methodology on their analysis of helicopter noise and have been refused the data.

Thank you very much for taking the time to read this document.

Sincerely,

Dana Schorr

Comments in order of when they were received | (reverse order)

COMMENT 276076	2012-04-30 08:32 PM
These are valid points. In the end, Cottage Hospital is saving lives. If yourself or family members were in need of immediate care you would appreciate their fast response. I live one block from the hospital and can see the helipad from my place. The noise is short lived and not that bad.
COMMENT 276079	2012-04-30 08:43 PM
I agree 076. I live nearby, and I certainly hope that if I, or any member of my family is in a accident somewhere and needs to be airlifted, I hope it's straight to Cottage! We are blessed to have a hospital of Cottage's quality in our city! (Just ask surrounding cities and counties.)
COMMENT 276091P	2012-05-01 12:54 AM
Maybe I should've gone to recent meeting and spoken in favor of Cottage. I was the OP the night there were multiple flights that lasted until 1 a.m. I felt it was news and posted it as such. I did not intend to lambast the hospital for months. They screwed up; it was a new program and now it's much better. Now? I like to watch them land; I can almost see the helipad from my back window. I sure can see the copters' lights at night. I admire the pilots' skill and think good thoughts for the patients. I lived here, next to freeway and 3 blocks from Cottage, through the mid-80's widening of the freeway, the creation of the lane on Mission leading to the northbound onramp, the rebuilding of the Mission underpass, the drainage project on the Oak Park Ln curve (Cottage Oaks apt. complex), the replacement of Castillo water mains and probably more. I have zero problem with the helipad and copter. I believe we are lucky to have the hospital. Though I don't want ANY treatment, as I'm uninsured. HA!
COMMENT 276092P	2012-05-01 01:40 AM
Some info on what its like to live so close to an underpass and the freeway and the hospital: The ambulances use it. I've figured out that they use sirens, even at 2, 3 or 4 a.m. through the ramp lights as they exit 101 southbound and then jump back on the Mission ramp toward Pueblo to get to the ER. (The same route I take home in order to not to get in an accident by trying to make a left turn from Mission at rush hour.) I'm sure the siren usage is policy & procedure; it's low key on & off, not blaring the entire time. Seems the EMTs are as quiet as they can be. After winter, when I *have* to sleep with the bedroom window open in order to be comfortable, I have to re-learn how to sleep through traffic noise. I probably never should have shut the window last year; I usually do leave it open year round, but I liked it quieter. I'll take a helicopter over the regular trains, sirens, non-residents hanging out in parking lots talking loud and the rumble of trucks on the freeway that rattle my walls and windows any day -- or night. I pay a reasonable rent. These issues are worth living with. I'm not just complaining - not much. I wanted to point out the things so many of us live with. For me, a few helicopter flights have no effect on my quality of life or sleep, even though I hear each one. I feel the problems have been mitigated; flights are fewer and rarely occur late at night.
COMMENT 276094	2012-05-01 06:17 AM
Thanks to all the reasonable people that live in the Cottage neighborhood. It's refreshing to see that you support life saving efforts over a bit of noise. I think I would feel the same way if I lived there. Noise is in most neighborhoods, you adapt to it, you use earplugs, or you move and hope your next neighborhood is quiet.
COMMENT 276096	2012-05-01 06:22 AM
I'm a neighbor to Cottage's condo development project at the former St. Franicis site. I've seen that Cottage does what Cottage wants and the City bends over backwards to make sure they get what they want regardless of the residents of this city. Cottage was smart to dub their project "workforce housing". There is not a single rental available there for nurses, janitors, and other lower paid Cottage employees. Most of the units are being sold at "market rate" to non-Cottage related folks. Cottage is the monopoly so we should just get used to and expect them to do whatever they want here in town.
COMMENT 276106P	2012-05-01 07:16 AM
Excellent Op-Ed; thank you for it. This heliopad should be at the non-residential area - Goleta Cottage, which should have had the "state-of-the-art" emergency facility. Why can't it be moved there? Cottage is the huge gorilla in the city room, holding hostage officials and neighbors and anyone who dares even a whimper of protest. Sure, a hospital is necessary, but that doesn't mean — or shouldn't — that they get everything they want at the neighborhoods' expense. The St. Francis situation was a tragedy: having a monopoly of anything is not a good idea and I am not really surprised that the "workforce" housing turns out to be marketrate. Hopefully, there will be an investigative journalism piece on it somewhere.
COMMENT 276130P	2012-05-01 08:28 AM
Some of us are more negatively impacted by noise than others. We lived a few blocks from the Holiday Inn in Goleta for decades. The freeway median was changed to a curved concrete barrier 20 years ago. The result was that the freeway noise bounced right into our back yard and was MUCH louder. The increase in noise was enough that we had to move. I have great empathy for those living near Cottage, who have lived there for years, who now are dealing with greatly increased noise. "If you don't like it, move" is insensitive and insulting. We'd love to be as oblivious to cacophony as others; we aren't. Their property values are down; their lives have changed; they had zero say about it... and now you think it's OK to treat them even more rudely? Shame on you for your insensitivity.
COMMENT 276143	2012-05-01 08:57 AM
NIMBY's
COMMENT 276150	2012-05-01 09:08 AM
Stop with the "Cottage Saves Lives" chant. Are people suposed to go, "oh yeah, I forgot that. Nevermind." Solution: Allow a perimiter of homes around the hospital to be reviewed for zone change. Owners given a window of opportunity to sell units to hospital or other suiters for office use.
COMMENT 276151	2012-05-01 09:08 AM
The city should immediately rezone the surrounding neighborhood as commercial/residential so homeowners can sell their homes more easily if they wish. As it stands now, homeowners have trouble selling their properties because of an unfixable (ie heliopad) quality of life issue. Their values have plummeted, I'm sure. BUT I would buy a little craftsman immediately if I could open a little business there that would cater to the hospital staff.
COMMENT 276168	2012-05-01 09:45 AM
Cottage saves lives for money, with an emphasis on 'for money' That said, the recent number of flights has been fine for me, two to three a week and a lot less noise from two blocks away. I sympathize completely with those a block away however and there needs to be some sort of restitution for those so impacted. I don't see the current flight numbers having an impact on house values though unless as I mentioned you are within a block.
COMMENT 276200	2012-05-01 11:10 AM
No matter what happens, you will never make everyone happy. Cottage and the City Council should keep this in mind as they continue to ignore this whiner.
COMMENT 276279	2012-05-01 03:14 PM
Cottage should offer free earplugs to all those who are negatively effected by the noise from the helipad.
COMMENT 276320	2012-05-01 04:39 PM
The ground emergency responders must use red lights and siren to have the protection of an "emergency vehicle" that is provided by the Vehicle Code. If they were to be involved in an accident without sounding siren and flahsing red lights they could be held liable for vehicle code violations and sued civily. The writer who mentioned the cost of life saving helicopter transport is correct about the money, although Cottage does not get it for the helicopter ride. The helicopter ambulance costs into the four figures but that is money that is made by the transporter not by the hospital.
COMMENT 276434	2012-05-02 07:55 AM
Cottage Hospital is a terrible neighbor in a residential area and has been for a long time. No doubt about it. So where would you put the hospital? Would you try to move the great facility we have now? Now I think that at this time since Cottage has a local monopoly they should be required to do all further expansions at their Goleta location which is in a commercial/industrial area with good access to main roads, but the huge investment in infrastructure made downtown over the course of a century will have to stand for a long time to come or health care in our area will become even less affordable
COMMENT 276611P	2012-05-02 12:56 PM
How many of the homeowners moved into the neighborhood knowing there was a hospital there? How many moved in since the hospital expansion was being constructed? However, if the hospital expansion made the hosptial your neighbor - then you are not a NIMBY. I do think that Cottage's expansion has changed the character of the neighborhood, and with all the Dr's offices and other commercial/office facilities there the area right around the hospital isn't very quiet residential anymore. So I do feel for the few long-time residents, if they want a zone change so they can sell, then they should get it.
COMMENT 279434	2012-05-13 10:28 PM
Good Day, I would suggest that some of the critics re-read my letters because you attack me for ideas that are not in these letters. I am the one who wrote the letters to City Council and I would like to clarify some points. 1) We are not against the Hospital, we are not anti-hospital, and we do not want it shut down. 2) We are not asking to end all helicopter flights – we want them limited 3) Nothing that we are asking for will risk lives. 4) We do not want to leave the definition of what is a “necessary lifesaving flight” to the CEO and COO or board of directors whom have a strong financial need to make money and have as many flights as possible. 5) We do not want a verbal ok that can be changed at the whim of hospital executives in the future. 6) There has not been helicopter noise in the past 7) Ambulance and police sirens are almost never used in this area, so it has never been a problem. 8) The freeway noise is almost non-existent except for the block bordering the freeway. 9) There has been no other noise in this neighborhood that compares in loudness or the vibrations from the helicopter flights. 10) We need government intervention in this case because we all work and do not have millions of dollars to spend on attorney, advertising and management to protect ourselves as the hospital does do “get what it wants”. This is what government is supposed to do. Those of you who think you disagree, why not ask questions to see if your assumptions are correct before you attack. Thanks Dana Schorr

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