Cottage Hospital and Its Discontents

The environmental review process is supposed to prevent all of the mentioned "incompatible" from happening. By the time this project had come along in her career planner Betty Weiss had been far too adept at working "incompatible" into projects.

A dysfunctional political process is also a problem. The people are corrupt in that any criticism was met with a well orchestrated campaign by the politically connected hospital proponents campaign to squash neighbors complaints. Manipulative Ron Werft proved he is the lowest of all the players by using the "saved" to further divide the neighborhood.

And yesterday I encountered a traffic mess on Pueblo at the hospital parking lot entrance at noontime. The parking garage entrance illuminated 'parking lot full' creating havoc and backup everywhere by a reluctant public to do anything but drive drive drive, even when in good health. I think it was Riviera resident and Lodge era environmentalist who wanted the project to be 'over-parked.' Poor choice of wants and words.

Most cities don't put hospitals in residential neighborhoods because of these reasons. Cottage should buy up some of the nearby houses to sell to Doctors or something. They want have the monopoly on medical care and they do not care how it effects the neighborhood, they just want to make money.

Rezoning adjacent streets to commercial is perhaps not a bad idea, it would allow the homeowners to sell without losing their shirt, and to move to a quieter part of town.Allowing them to keep their current property tax values would help too. We can't un-build the hospital, and its impact will only increase as population ages and grows.

This is so typical of the SB whiner community. 100 people would make the world worse for the other 100,000. People of SB should thank their lucky stars they have a hospital of the quality and standing of Cottage in their town.

@blackpoodles: they already keep their current property tax values thanks to Prop 13.

The residential community grew up around this particular hospital, in essence it was there first. It's just grown and evolved unlike many people.
Oh no a parking mess, the world will fall apart.
Really people, if this is what ruins your day..

Thank you JohnLocke! Whine, complain, gripe, #itch..etc...until there comes a time when your own life (or loved ones) is hanging by a thread and the state of the art hospital smack dab in the middle of town (with a helipad) saves your whining @$$. I guess if there is any good to be had from these forums, it is perhaps that the squeaky wheel will get greased and over time, they will improve the process. But as Blackpoodles says, no one is going to un-build the hospital. Travel some other place and check out the facilities and see how lucky we are. By the way the staff is pretty awesome too. Especially the nurses.

Thank you, Cathy Murillo. Cottage Hospital needs to be an excellent health care facility AND an excellent neighbor. It needs to realize that peace of mind for neighbors is a health issue as well. No bullying in the 'hood just because you're the big guy.

For those advocates of increased density, be careful what you ask for, you just might get it. The problems around Cottage hospital should give you some idea of what the future holds with increased density.

Botany, your concept of "density" must mean buildings so large and tall that helipads atop the roofs become practical and cost-effective because the populations are so high, even denser than Lower Manhattan.

The public request to rezone Junipero Street makes a lot of sense considering the islands of single homes there surrounded by apartment buildings and medical-industrial-commercial.

My comment wasn't directed to the areas immediately adjacent to Cottage that want to be rezoned, it was directed at the concept of increasing density in the city in general. The problems currently surrounding Cottage are more like big city issues that would only be exacerbated by increased density in the city of Santa Barbara.

But these problems won't be exacerbated by density planned right, in fact they can be alleviated by density- planned right.

Okay, the delivery trucks I can understand, but otherwise the neighborhood's complaints are about children playing and helicopters saving lives? You get two of the three noises living near a school. I would support the city rezoning the homes for mixed use, but to be honest the neighbors are coming accross as a bit entitled, IMO.

@Ken - Why? Do you think having more people living in the area will not create more congestion and more people in need of Cottage's services? Maybe sick people will ride their bicycles to Cottage to get treatment? Just do the math.

I lived on Junipero for about 14 years and it has NEVER been a quiet neighborhood. Sure, no crime and you felt safe to not lock your doors but there was always noise at Oak Park, always busses and heavy duty trucks driving through there and kids running around. Just because Cottage has had these major improvements which have caused other noises specifically tied to the hospital, people shouldn't be acting like that was a quiet neighborhood 15 years ago. The freeway is right there and there's a train on the opposite side of the freeway. What they really need to do is desperately repave the roads, widen them and make drivers SLOW DOWN! I was going to the SBBT branch a few weeks ago after work and I swear drivers were driving down those side streets at 30 mph.

Please don't forget the monstrosity the Cottage system has imposed on the site of the old St. Francis Hospital. The health care 'big dog' swallowed it whole only to spit out a gargantuan pile of view-blocking, traffic-inducing condos that are ruining another neighborhood far away from their stomping grounds.

I lived on Castillo by Cottage for a number of years and St. Francis when it was a working hospital, in fact right across the street. Of course ambulances were a constant, right past my bedroom window. Did this upset me? No.
Living on Castillo between Cottage and Mission has always been crazy and not exactly the safest hood. In fact it's probably safer now.
I agree with Muggy, people speed ion front of the hospital with ill and elderly people trying to cross. Its not the hospital, it's the selfish drivers. So when i hear they can't find parking or get caught in traffic I have little sympathy. I've never had a problem when looking to park for a medical appt; and ER has valet parking! How easy is that!
However I do feel the loss of St. Francis as an operational hospital was a blow to the area. Witness overcrowded ER at Cottage, which isn't the result of easy parking.
@Botany,
I didn't mean to imply pile more people into the area per se, but density in general. When people can walk to stores, work, ect they generally won't drive. If we build up, we don't have to pave over ag land.

For perspective, check out these old photos of Cottage and St. Francis.

Cottage has been there since 1891:

http://www.sbneurosurgery.com/sbcotta...

St. Francis moved to its lower-Riviera location in 1909:

http://www.montecitojournal.net/archi...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/65359853...

We're fortunate to have Cottage (and their nurses are cute!). I do sympathize with the person living next to the day-care center.

Many people imagine keeping St. Francis as a panacea, but consider a few things. St. Francis would have needed to rebuilt because of seismic standards, possibly with a helipad. Ambulances would come and go. Traffic would be at least as bad (probably worse than with the condos), and of course there would be less residential housing for those that clamor for more density.

Interesting points Botany. But since Cottage has a helipad I'd hope that would negate that concern.
I do love your idea of rebuilding St. Francis, updated of course. Ambulances always went thru there. I lived at the corner of Mich and Salsepuedes, I saw more action than most! And it was really not a huge inconvenience at all.
I think overall a city and county this size is better served with two+ hospitals regardless of who owns them.

The US Supreme Court has rules that people are obsolete. Super PACS and Corporations are your replacement. With that said, Cottage Hospital may have been their first. It's doubtful but CHCS is a corporation and not a person, so they are legal and relevant. With regard to rebuilding St. Francis, it's too late for people because CHCS is also a real estate broker on that beautiful piece of property. So, I suggest that the disgruntled neighbors sell out, quit complaining, deal with the helicopter noise when you're trying to sleep, and listen to your dogs howl. After all, if you have a heart attack your one helipad away from an expensive intake at the ER.

Cottage Health System is a non-profit organization. They have no shareholders.

Another neighborhood bites the dust due to over-development being allowed by a weak and compromised City Council.

How is it overdeveloped? Nothing was paved over that hasn't been since 1891? I can't move next to DisneyLand then complain about traffic and fireworks.

Ken_Volok your THC is showing.

et al "Cottage" is the key word here and with this latest 700 million dollar project it has replaced Cottage by expanding many times over with thousands of square feet of development, including building on top of Castillo Street, two parking structures, in addition to the idiotic helipad. The insensitively placed child care building has also been noted. The surrounding streets are now a cracked mess and you must now walk six blocks where you once were able to cross-the-street to get to where you wanted to go and now with a bit more conflicts. All of the above is a land-use-transportation Big City nightmare by any standard and environmental review should actually have mitigated the impacts of this conditional use permit CUP- by law or perhaps should have been rejected. The citys process failed because Cottage is a politically connected non-profit. Its public relations campaign of letter to the editor type friends squashed this neighborhood as the proverbial 900 pound gorilla. Cottage by law is supposed to be compatible with the neighborhood. And Cottage before and after still has limited freeway access! That is why Mission and Las Positas are over-used messes. But it is a beautiful building and that is the problem. Needed; detail to function similar to the detail to the more superficial and subjective beauty.

Cottage Hospital is a thing and it doesn't care about stroke victims in so much as it can make a profit on the care provided. The doctors could care, the CEO could care but all, including the stroke victims themselves, if they wanted to have first rate care should lobby for better care within a decent range of where they live. And Allah forbid anyone ever take a risk and go on safari in the Congo where even Cottage Health Care Systems is out of range with a helicopter ride.

Lastly, there is this re-occurring silly argument that sounds very childish; They were there first. Sounds like 4 year old 'me first' logic.

I chuckled at the comment "was the sound broken" on the video of the hovering helicopter. And I am VERY grateful I am not one of the "neighbors" who has to endure their rotor roar. The City should rezone the area to commercial/mixed use at least, and let homeowners sell with less of a loss than they'll already take in a bad market. Obviously Cottage is not going away, that much is true. But sanity may be at risk if endless noise sleep deprives neighbors long enough... (Yes, there was another location that made more sense for expansion, i.e.. Goleta Valley... ... but never mind about all that now...)

Do you or have you ever lived in that neighborhood Don, just asking? May I make assumptions about you similiar to your thc assumption about me? Let me guess that you've only jumped on this bandwagon because you think it's the cool thing to do Do you think stroke victims you refer to can postpone their strokes until their lobbying efforts are successful just shows you to be less a liberal progressive than just another ideologue.

John, if you sell your house and buy a new one, you don't get to keep your current property tax basis, you have to pay based on the purchase price of the new house, and that can make a big difference if you've been living in the same home for 30 years and are still paying based on what you paid then. There is a one time exception if you are over 55 and wish to move, but unless one qualifies for that, the increased property tax could make the move impossible.

"Lastly, there is this re-occurring silly argument that sounds very childish; They were there first. Sounds like 4 year old 'me first' logic."
-- DonMcDermott

If you're referring to my brief post on the history of Cottage (1891) and St. Francis (1909) then yours is an interesting take.

Unlike American movies where they drill the plot point into the viewers so as to make sure they don't miss anything too obtuse, I sometimes like to make subtler statements and leave the reader to explore.

For myself, I would prefer to take away these points:

1. Cottage and St. Francis have both been serving our community well for over 100 years and provide valuable services. Three generations of my family were born and cared for in those hospitals.

2. If I absolutely needed a quiet neighborhood to live in, why would I choose to live near an existing hospital or fire station? That's just opening up yourself to risk. Anyone who's ever watched ER or similar TV shows would know that hospitals, heli-pads, and sirens go together.

Now, if one of the nearby residents can say something like ... "before I bought my house, I checked with Cottage and they told me they would never build a heli-pad" ... then that might be a different story.

He was actually referring to me and his fantasies as to how I spend my time, but I did indeed reference your previous post EastBeach.

"All of the above is a land-use-transportation Big City nightmare by any standard and environmental review should actually have mitigated the impacts of this conditional use permit CUP- by law or perhaps should have been rejected."

This sounds very much like an anti-development, anti-density rant. Maybe just the thought of high density living sounds intriguing, but the practicalities of it are intensely problematic, especially concerning hospitals.

I worked at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles for many years. Traffic and congestion in that area is a nightmare, but there's no way around it unless you prefer sprawl.

Boy I hate defending Cottage, but...The comments about the Stroke Program are incorrect and stupid. Cottage has gone beyond the base line regulations in order to create a very good Stroke Program and their follow up government inspection noted that they addressed many items that had direct impact on patients without a ROI. In other words, they CARE ABOUT THE STROKE PATIENTS. Obviously, they started the Stroke Program in response to having enough patients to make it viable, but this was not solely a financial decision. Criticize Cottage freely about many of their foibles; but this program is not one of them and the head of the Stroke Program is one of the most astute physicians of his type on the West Coast which is also unusual for this town.

Can you believe we're attacking stroke victims now just to prove our bona fides. Lame.

First, the Hospital was there LONG before the current residents of the neighborhood. That in and of itself is enough to tell these people to shut up and move if you dont like it. But what gets me is people complaining about something that saves lives !! I mean as much as it kills me to know that selfishness exists at all, the Helipad SAVES LIVES !! The good old "Not in my Backyard" selfishness really irks me. Not only should the Helipads exist, but they should be able to be used 24 hrs a day, 7 days a week (with all the "Orbiting" that is necessary) if that's what is needed to save lives. Not only that but if necessary they should be able to land on these "Neighbor's" homes and have the surgeries performed in their living rooms and their only response should be "Thank you for SAVING LIVES !!" Selfishness is ruining this Country, one "Neighborhood" at a time...

The Council should "steamroller" the neighbors.

Some of these points are very well taken. True, these neighbors chose to live near a hospital... And sirens are noisy too. Not true--high density equals helipads and noisy day care centers. Most of all one should use common sense when purchasing or remaining in a home that's under a flight path or near a large commercial venue needing huge delivery trucks. Buyer beware.

That said just rezone the area--which should offset property value losses. Consider exceptions to burdening sellers with an increased tax basis when they buy elsewhere. If the City and Cottage REALLY want to be good neighbors, this would go a long way toward walking the talk.

I think Cottage should bring in some of the saved patients...it might be hard for the neighbors to complain about the inconvenience of waking up to a stroke victim who narrowly escaped death. SHHEEESH peoples!

I guess it's OK if the patient doesn't get treated promptly and becomes permanently disabled as long as the neighbors peace and quiet isn't disturbed.

For what it's worth my dad just got out of the new hospital, known as "1 Oak Park" and I found the environment to be first class and the overall vibe very relaxing.

As for the subject at hand the noise part truly is inconvenient but what is the alternative?

St. Francis Hospital was not rebuilt because it was not feasible or viable to do so. Its owners, Catholic Healthcare West (now called Dignity Health Hmmm??)elected not to put up the funds to refurbish or rebuild as they did for their northern SB County facility, Marian . The fallout from the '94 Northridge quake and the subsequent mandate to retro-fit or rebuild has probably claimed 40 hospitals in California to date. Mr. McDermott has an awful lot of anger reserved for Cottage but little to back up the assertions. Cottage is a not for profit Hospital so the profit motive behind Stroke care seems ill placed and misinformed. The comments about the approval process and the environmental review belittles an arduous and time consuming process that yielded an approval and a certification of the EIR. The comments about letter to the editor writers is incomprehensible and as for cracked streets I would suggest he get out more and see the quality of streets elsewhere within the City's jurisdiction. "insensitively placed day care"? say what? The complaint was about children's laughter emanating from a Day Care Center. What other sounds would one expect from a day care center during hours of operation. Even Charles Dickens couldn't conceive of "mitigating Children's laughter in a day care setting. There are serious issues here but really.......

The hospital is needed and must be allowed to pursue its function, noisy or not, but on the other hand people have a reasonable expectation of not being regularly awakened at 4 am by beeping delivery trucks and hovering helicopters in a residential neighborhood.
The hospital has grown with the community, and has a much larger impact on its neighbors today than it did 30 years ago when some of the upset neighbors bought their homes. Maybe it would have been smarter to expand Goleta Valley instead of Cottage, since Goleta Valley doesn't sit in a residential neighborhood with narrow streets, but that's water under the bridge. At this point, rezoning adjacent streets to commercial and affording residents an exception to property tax increases if they decide to move to a quieter neighborhood is the way to go. The city planners ought to assume their share of the blame by facilitating the rezoning. It isn't fair to ask the hospital to function with one hand tied behind its back, nor is it fair to ask the neighbors to put up with a continuous nuisance. The erstwhile residences could become convalescent homes, doctors' offices, etc... That's the best solution for all concerned.

O.K. Here is why comments above are from those with elitist tendencies; because, in government we should not would want for Cottage Hospital neighbors any less than what we expect for any other residential district. Parity is never going to happen. But this helipad degradation and the placement of the child-care obviously crossed a line for its' neighbors because it would cross the line for you.

Yes Cottage is a non-profit. It is a corporation. It has a mission and it must raise a lot of cash-ongoing. Politically, with all the cocktail parties, fundraisers, public relations campaigns, wealthy benefactors, insurance (medicare) payments, etc it has undue influence over this Oak Park neighborhood. How else could Staff, Commissions and City Council turn a blind eye and over-look an obvious incompatible use in this neighborhood setting?

Again the city should say be able to say NO to Cottage but it has a lot of undue influence with these conflicting project aspects. Keep in mind that this massive influx of economic activity required relatively very little review. Compared to some little old tear-down and rebuilds or additions to single family residences on the planning review docket Cottage sailed through the process.

So how do you know if you're a corporate Cottage co-conspirator elitist? If your cozy, secure and tucked in for the night and you don't give a damn about what your Oak Park neighbors have gone through and will be going through. This uncaring attitude explains so much about some of our degraded environments.

I suppose, if you're an elitist, you expect that these degraded environments for an underclass of poor white trash, negroes and Mexicans, the hearing impaired and perhaps, mute. You expect unreasonable and degraded living conditions for 'others' and that would make you an elitist. And now we know why things in general are seemingly screwed up. It's not entirely the 1%. Because Moneycito cannot do it alone. The good portion of 99 % are co-conspirators.

BTW I support CHS including the Bella Riviera housing project at the old St. Francis location. That project will be a great addition to that neighborhood and city. But I just don't think it is fair or reasonable to expect helicopters in any residential setting. I love children too but the adults allowed a childcare facility so close to residential neighbors.

So it is time to grow up. We don't 'Plan Santa Barbara' by the 'you should have never moved there' edict. That means more degradation. Bad neighborhoods should be improved, even if that means modifying your behavior, or saying 'no' to incompatible uses. Try not to be so selfish by expecting so much of 'others.'

BTW I think Cottage still has a helipad out at their Goleta Hospital Campus.

Where are my "elitist tendencies' Don?? The fact that I think people should have access to HealthCare? Isn't the one who would advocate the denial of that (i.e. your proposal that they "lobby" for clinics in their neighborhoods) the far more elitist?
Maybe it's time that you grew up Don.

"The good portion of 99 % are co-conspirators."
-Don McDeremott

Wouldn't that make it a a community supported project ? You seem to have a problem with voting and democracies. Do you realize what country you are in?

It appears that any decision consistent with your rather parochial perspective is arrived at democratically but anything that differ from yours were the product of conspiracy and now racists? Galileo was persecuted for arguing that the known universe revolved around the Sun but instead it appears to revolve around you. Good planning is a process dependent upon involvement during the process not after the fact. If memory serves many were involved in submitting input to the process pro and con. One other question, if helicopters address the most challenging, time sensitive and life threatening of cases why would sending them to a smaller peripheral campus instead of to the larger more well equipped facility and the locus of more specialized expertise be superior to the present arrangement?

Clearly if millionaires are complaining about taxes while schools are crumbling, knapsackers are thrown off church lawns, nascar fans rules the road, while police departments 'train' alcohol "establishments" how to serve properly, then brutally close down medical THC shops, all-the-while two-buck-chuckers guzzle in the San Roque Samarkand Estates then we truly must have a very small d democracy.

What has happened to this Oak Park neighborhood is not democracy. It is domineering. There are all types of hospitals out there and certain aspects of Cottage Santa Barbara have been pigeonholed by a superficial review and gang-up-on political process. All I am saying is that if this community body politic wants to save victims with helicopter traffic from Fresno to the Santa Barbara county line it should plan for it and above all properly and fairly place it.

So, McD, are you suggesting that the hospital should be moved? Where? Next to the airport, perhaps? Wouldn't there then be much better grounds for complaint by those who already live there? I think it is you, McD, who are the elitist. We don't and never did have a democracy; we have a constitutional republic, where elected representatives are supposed to sort out the good-for-a-chosen few (your Oak Park complainers) from the good-for-many (those who do or may need hospital services supported by some sort of life-flight).

The hospital is where it has been for quite a while now (someone said 100 years?). How many residents have lived there that long? How many are renters (they can move much more easily than owners)? And in any case, if you truly believe in small-democracy, how can you possibly believe in denying hospital services supported by some sort of life-flight to the "masses" for the benefit of a chosen few?

Its current location is actually pretty central to the area it directly serves. Carp up. And btw, there are many people who live around the Goleta Cottage Hosp, for some reason they're chopped liver in the eyes of some commentators.

I haven't heard the folks from around Goleta CH complaining. But then, they don't have choppers to complain about. On the other hand, the chopper flights frequency seem to have dropped dramatically from the first week of operation, so maybe the Oak Park folks are continuing to complain so they don't have to admit they jumped to judgement. Not that anyone in SB would do such a thing...

Our property is very close to Cottage. Never accrued to me to ask if they were someday going to build a helipad.

If they had projected the type of activity they are now having would the helipad been approved? Seems like every EIR under determines impacts and after it is approved there is really no recourse.
I'd love to see some real data from an independent source.
Of the people being helicoptered in, where did they come from? Where would they go to if cottage did not have a helipad? Over the last 2 years how many stroke victims died that could have been saved if there was a helipad? What does Cottage charge for a helicopter ride compared to a standard ambulance? Who decides if a helicopter is needed?
We lived for 100 years without a helicopter. Are we really providing a better level of care?

Loneranger, that's like asking if we're providing a better level of care since the invention of the ambulance itself.. of course. In cases like strokes, and any medical emergency- time is crucial, seconds can literally mean life or death. A street ambulance has to navigate streets, a helicopter can pretty much go in a straight directory to and from. It is indeed a better level of care. It could be someone you care about in that helicopter someday.
Recently, I have spent a lot of time in that area. It doesn't seem noisier than when I lived there. people make it sound like it's Apocalypse Now or something.

There's really no reason to argue about WHY Cottage has a helipad. Helicopters improves patient outcomes. We use helicopters and ambulances because faster transportation improves patient outcomes. Helicopters reduce mortality rates significantly especially for trauma patients. I can list references but everyone here knows how Google works.

If a helicopter travelling to or from Cottage rouses you from slumber it most likely means that a human being has been critically injured. In the moment that the helicopter noise wakes you, if all you can think about is how you're being inconvenienced (at home, safe in your bed), then your perspective sucks.

A better level of care, does not mean a necessary level of care. A better level of care might be to keep women in the hospital for a week after child birth (as in Australia and some other countries). Is that necessary?
Not to be overly critical or presumptuous but a helicopter ride most likely cost much more than an ambulance ride . If Cottage needs to pay for the helicopter and crew or wants to make more revenue --they just might be more inclined to send a helicopter in cases that an ambulance would work just fine.

Once a patient is in the hands of paramedics, they are officially "in care" and "receiving treatment". Part of that care is the safe and timely transport to a medical facility. This should ease your concerns LoneRanger.
Seriously, it is the 21st Century. I'd like to see all this outcry over drones than medivac helicopters, kinda shameful and embarassing to the community as a whole.

"If Cottage needs to pay for the helicopter and crew or wants to make more revenue --they just might be more inclined to send a helicopter in cases that an ambulance would work just fine." @Loneranger

You're suggesting that Cottage would pay rescue/medical helicopter companies to transport local non-trauma patients and that Cottage's revenue would increase as a result of that practice? Good thing you're not Cottage's CFO.

Summing up; The helipad and certain other Cottage Hospital features were ill-designed and/or misplaced. It is the result of a corporation-non-profit, its benefactors, laissez-faire political influence in a ruling class of 1%ers, certain 99%ers with autocratic tendencies, drama queen suck ups, and numerous newsy organizations who aren't reporting it as such. Most people are probably ignorant of their maligning behavior but that all too often is human nature; to delegate or deny what one wouldn't want for themselves.

And our resident Socialist genius speaks.

"Summing up; The helipad and certain other Cottage Hospital features were ill-designed and/or misplaced."

OK, I'll bite. Where should the helipad have been placed?

"certain 99%ers with autocratic tendencies"
You make it sound like we live in North Korea Don, get a grip. You darn well if John Locke or anyone else you've painted as "conservative" had come out against the hospital you would be for it. That's just how nakedly obvious you've become.
Occasionally there's a diamond in your comments, but it's often spoilt by everything around it.

They should've put the helipad in the basement Botany, duh..

As far as that award winning day care - I say Mr. Werft needs to get over there "yesterday" & see it in action without tipping off the staff to have the kids off on a field trip or taking naps.

I'd also think a sound wall or something else that dampens the sounds of the lively kids & crying toddlers should be a HUGE priority. Another solution, Cottage Health Care could purchase the properties from all the residents with a premium & relocate them.