You would be hard pressed to find a more divisive issue in the City of San Carlos. The proposal to build a PAMF campus consisting of a hospital, medical office and clinic at 301 Industrial Road is bound to play a major role in the upcoming City Council election. The original proposal essentially called for the following:
* Hospital with 110 beds
* The campus will employ 180 physicians and 1,137 staff members
* Total square footage for the buildings will be 478,500
* Two parking structures will house a majority of the 1,377 parking spaces
The concerns over the proposed PAMF campus are as follows:
(1) Traffic. Many east-side residents and those who use Holly Street to access Highway 101 North believe that the addition of the PAMF campus will only worsen traffic congestion on Holly Street. The city of San Carlos recently completed a Traffic Analysis Report which appears to state otherwise. Click below to view the report: http://cityofsancarlos.org
(2) Need. Many have questioned whether the mid-peninsula and more specifically, the City of San Carlos, actually need another hospital.
(3) City of San Carlos. PAMF has offered a lucrative financial package to the City of San Carlos. Many San Carlans seem to be in favor of the PAMF project but want to make sure that the City negotiates the best possible deal.
A great website for more specific details is http://healthysancarlos.org
7 Comments
Thank you for allowing me to re-post on this issue. On behalf of myself and all other eastside San Carlos residents who are alarmed about the the PAMF proposal, I would like our city council, planning department and planning commission to please use a bit of common sense when interpreting the recent traffic study. The recent study (now posted on the city of san carlos website)indicates that the addition of the PAMF campus would not result in traffic congestion beyond the current city standards. Does this make sense to anyone who drives Holly on a daily basis? It is ALREADY congested. Its is the only on-ramp to North Bound 101 in the city. Holly also serves as the main route to Redwood Shores. By all means, please add a 475,000 sq. foot hospital campus at Holly and Industrial and I am sure the traffic situation will be just fine.
I would urge Reality Check to really do his/her homework. The PAMF project would bring a ton of financial help to San Carlos at a time when we could really use it. The financial benefit to the city cannot be stated enough. I did read the traffic study and it seemed very thorough and its conclusions were well reasoned and based on actual data, unlike Reality Check’s response. I would like to encourage everyone to write our city council to support the PAMF project and to please ask them to provide leadership on this issue and not leave it to a referendum.
On the face of it, the financial package to San Carlos sounds appealing. But what is the true upshot for a typical resident? Will our taxes decrease? Will our services improve? Or will the funds sort of evaporate after the fanfare. I’m – as you can tell – highly skeptical that the residents will benefit.
I would suggest that you check out the site mentioned above, http://healthysancarlos.org. The long term financial benefits to the citizens of San Carlos seem to be quite generous. At a time when our city is in an financial crisis, having a stable company such as PAMF provide a long term revenue stream to SC is a huge plus. I would also be in favor of putting some type of mandatory direction on the revenue stream, such as capping the percentage that can go to individual government programs. My only concern, as mentioned in previous posts is the traffic congestion on Holly and the surrounding streets. According to the reports ordered by the city, all traffic burdens would be within city guidelines.
I think PAMF is a WONDERFUL idea
BRING IT ON!!!
The folks that are tired of the traffic should probably move to the mountains where there is none…Urban living comes w/traffic…get over it, join in or leave!
Think about the revenue to the city of good living and the housing costs…they are only going to increase…doesn’t that make homeowners happy, MORE EQUITY IN YOUR HOME!!!
Think about it!
“get over it, join in or leave!”???? That’s a well thought out response. And people wonder why there is such animosity between those supporting PAMF and those of us that are against it.
I am not against traffic. We actually already have “traffic” on the eastside. Believe me, I am it in everyday as I try to get home. Adding PAMF would create something far worse than our already bad traffic issue on Holly. Sorry, maybe its just me, but I did not realize that moving to San Carlos meant fighting through traffic in the middle of the day until I get to my driveway.
Yep, “join or leave” is a pretty self-centered and arrogant comment.
So, I guess it looks like PAMF can’t afford to come to San Carlos afterall. Are they still adding up their dollars to do this or what? Why don’t they let the citizens know what the heck they plan to do? This doesn’t seem very upfront.
Well, in the meantime, I’m happy I don’t have to deal with all the added traffic on Holly.
Hopefully, they can’t come up with the money. Big organizations who buy people off deserve this.