Hospitals in KW

[ac3r]

Fuck em, make them crawl to their appointments and slip and slide in the snow for their 12 hour ER shift cars are evil lmao.

[westwardloo]

https://nextmetro.substack.com/p/an-urge...it-mistake

Nice little article about how big of a mistake this hospitals location is. We got it so close to being in the right location it is frustrating.

[danbrotherston]

https://nextmetro.substack.com/p/an-urge...it-mistake

Nice little article about how big of a mistake this hospitals location is. We got it so close to being in the right location it is frustrating.

So...I haven't seen the plan before.

This doesn't seem like a "mistake". Like, I'd like to think Hanlon's razor applies, and that transit is a box that is checked, and not a moment more care is given to it. But given this is planned by the same gov that is building a highway through the greenbelt and criminalizing bike and transit lanes it seems more likely this is an intentional snub. Building the hospital as far from transit as possible, in order to further disenfranchise transit riders and maximize car use in the province.

Leaving aside the fact that this is climate arson, the region needs to fight this, because the city invested a lot of money into the ION and building this cuts the legs out from under it.

But this kind of thing is why it feels so hopeless, and why even if I hadn't moved to the Netherlands, I'd still have moved out of Ontario.

[MidTowner]

Good article. It actually understates the problem a bit by saying it's over a half-kilometre walk. It's almost a full kilometre using the current roads, and that's only to the nearest side of the proposed hospital.

The Region is negligent if it doesn't push back on this. We have an opportunity to have a brand-new hospital directly adjacent to the new rapid transit system we spent the better part of a billion dollars to build. Building parking lots on that land, and the hospital just outside of walking distance from that same station, is unconscionable.

I think the writer has a point that Grand River Hospital could be developed instead. It seems like there's no interest in that, but it's too bad. The seven-and-a-half acres being used for parking at Union and King are a huge opportunity.

[danbrotherston]

Good article. It actually understates the problem a bit by saying it's over a half-kilometre walk. It's almost a full kilometre using the current roads, and that's only to the nearest side of the proposed hospital.

The Region is negligent if it doesn't push back on this. We have an opportunity to have a brand-new hospital directly adjacent to the new rapid transit system we spent the better part of a billion dollars to build. Building parking lots on that land, and the hospital just outside of walking distance from that same station, is unconscionable.

I think the writer has a point that Grand River Hospital could be developed instead. It seems like there's no interest in that, but it's too bad. The seven-and-a-half acres being used for parking at Union and King are a huge opportunity.

Yeah, I generally have this opinion...to me there doesn't seem to be a reason to develop a new site, other than "pols like ribbon cutting" and "greenfield is easier". But it seems like it was never considered as an option, so we're going with the new site idea...I was glad they chose a site near transit, but they seem determined to fix that with this design.

The fact that we could visit GRH easily by transit was a huge plus for us, when we lived car free to be sure, but also when I was unable to drive due to an injury that required hospitalization and rehab. If I couldn't get to the hospital easily...or if it involved a 20 minute walk across a winter windswept parking lot along Northfield, my life would have been meaningfully worse. And I really cannot believe that this is an oversight...or rather, if it isn't, the people involved are beyond incompetent.

[ijmorlan]

You could have an impressive ribbon-cutting by building a new hospital on the block (actually 2 blocks, if I believe Google) bounded by King/Union/Park/Mount Hope. Yes, I know it’s the Sun Life parking lot. That’s why the first step would be building a large structured parking lot on the south side of Union. Then ribbon-cutting. Then building the first phase of the new hospital on the rest of the site. Then ribbon-cutting. Then redevelop much of the existing hospital site into a combination of yet more parking (with ribbon-cutting) and the rest of the hospital expansion (also with ribbon-cutting).

[creative]

https://www.wrhn.ca/waterloo-regions-new...pital-site

Great read including all of the subsections regarding how and why the site was chosen. I encourage everyone to review.

A lot of really knowledgeable people from varying experiences were involved in the decision. They did also reach out to people from the community for ideas and input.

The site layout is just a suggestion. That will also be reviewed and ultimately designed by experts in their fields.

If the transit issue is that big of a deal to anyone then they should look into how to voice your concerns to those in a position to affect change.

[panamaniac]

https://nextmetro.substack.com/p/an-urge...it-mistake

Nice little article about how big of a mistake this hospitals location is. We got it so close to being in the right location it is frustrating.

Is there anything to suggest that the other location was available?

[tomh009]

Good article. It actually understates the problem a bit by saying it's over a half-kilometre walk. It's almost a full kilometre using the current roads, and that's only to the nearest side of the proposed hospital.

The Region is negligent if it doesn't push back on this. We have an opportunity to have a brand-new hospital directly adjacent to the new rapid transit system we spent the better part of a billion dollars to build. Building parking lots on that land, and the hospital just outside of walking distance from that same station, is unconscionable.

I think the writer has a point that Grand River Hospital could be developed instead. It seems like there's no interest in that, but it's too bad. The seven-and-a-half acres being used for parking at Union and King are a huge opportunity.

I think the King/Union redevelopment option has been long rejected, rightly or wrongly, I don't expect there is any way to change that now. As noted in the comments, hydro corridors and private land ownership make it difficult to locate the hospital buildings closer to the R&T station.

They are planning a shuttle from the LRT station to the hospital, which somewhat mitigates the distance from the station. I would also hope that they would have bus routes (maybe 8, 9, 13 or a new route) stopping at the hospital as not all transit users would be on LRT, either.

[JoeKW]

How hard would it be to realign the LRT route to take a detour after the R&T Station?

[MidTowner]

How hard would it be to realign the LRT route to take a detour after the R&T Station?

It would be expensive. I don't think it would be at all realistic given the much much cheaper alternatives of running a shuttle and re-aligning bus routes.

The writer of the article westwardloo posted suggested a spur. I don't think that's at all likely either.

[danbrotherston]

https://nextmetro.substack.com/p/an-urge...it-mistake

Nice little article about how big of a mistake this hospitals location is. We got it so close to being in the right location it is frustrating.

Is there anything to suggest that the other location was available?

The other location is currently an open field, and is planned to be developed...INTO PARKING FOR THE HOSPITAL!

At least according to the map presented.

[danbrotherston]

How hard would it be to realign the LRT route to take a detour after the R&T Station?

It would be expensive. I don't think it would be at all realistic given the much much cheaper alternatives of running a shuttle and re-aligning bus routes.

The writer of the article westwardloo posted suggested a spur. I don't think that's at all likely either.

100% impossible...and given that this is intentionally locating the hospital away from the station...clearly not going to happen.

[MidTowner]

It would be expensive. I don't think it would be at all realistic given the much much cheaper alternatives of running a shuttle and re-aligning bus routes.

The writer of the article westwardloo posted suggested a spur. I don't think that's at all likely either.

100% impossible...and given that this is intentionally locating the hospital away from the station...clearly not going to happen.

Nothing is 100% impossible...but this would be pretty close.

[the_conestoga_guy]

I just noticed on the site plan that has been floated around that the "emergency walk-in" entrance is located at the end of the hospital furthest from the parking lots and transit.

I can't imagine that would actually be included in the final design. I'm just surprised to see something so inept like that in the conceptual design stage.

For those keeping score, that's a 1.41km walk from the ION station according to Google Maps. This site is not transit accessible as-is.