Letter from Pamela Frantz and Charles McParland

Manuela Albuquerque
Berkeley City Attorney
Berkeley, California

Re: Alta Bates Hospital

Dear Ms. Albuquerque,

This letter addresses our view of the impact of Alta Bates on our neighborhood. Our house is one block from Alta Bates at the corner of Florence and Russell and we have lived here since January, 1988. When we moved here we did not really consider the impact of hospital related traffic (both pedestrian and vehicles) on our neighborhood and we did not know about the 1983 agreement between the Alta Bates and the neighborhoods, but we have definitely learned!

1. Traffic and Parking. In 1988, parking and foot traffic were noticeable, but not too difficult. Trying to find a parking space during the day near the house was the only real problem. However, every year it seems to have gotten a bit worse. Several years ago (1993?) when the Credit Union building tried to change the amount of space it could lease to doctors and dentists those of us in the immediate neighborhood protested at the Zoning Board hearing and luckily were able to stop that move, as by that time traffic and parking in the neighborhood had worsened to the point where it was not possible to leave the house on a week day, return before 5:00 and find a parking space within a 1/2 block radius - particularly on Florence Street.

In the last six months to one year, parking problems have begun to be more and more noticeable. As always, parking during the day is difficult, if not impossible. At lunch time, we often have to park more than a block away from our house. The problem now is that parking has become more difficult in the evening, as well. We can arrive home in the evening as late as 7:00 or 7:30 and not be able to find a spot near the house. We attribute this increase in parking problems (and traffic) to Alta Bates because of the following observations:

a) Increased number of people who park, get out of their cars with flowers and head down the street to Alta Bates.

b) Number of overheard conversations (from our back deck) concerning illness or medical situation of person they have just visited.

c) Extreme increase in the last 6 months of pregnant women heading to Alta Bates for check-ups or classes, including many that we have seen between 6:30 and 8:00 in the evening.

The parking permit situation, where residents are able to have full time parking permits helps a little, but we have always noticed people in hospital clothing and regular street clothes who move their cars every two hours or who wipe off the chalk marks on the wheels. In the last two years, this practice has increased to the point where if we are home on a weekday we see at least 3 or 4 people wiping off chalk marks or moving their car two feet! We have also noticed pairs of hospital personel in hospital garb trading parking spaces on Florence to avoid parking citations. And these are only the people we notice. I can assure you that we don’t spend our time at home watching the street to see if people are abiding by the parking rules. We find it irritating that people who do not have parking permits and do not live in the neighbothood do not get tickets, while we have gotten a ticket for parking in our driveway because we could not find a spot on the street!

Foot traffic between Alta Bates and the Credit Union building has increased dramatically in the last nine years. It is clear that most of the foot traffic we see (even on weekends) is connected to the hospital because they are either dressed in hospital green or are wearing hospital i.d.’s. With the increased foot traffic there is increased noise, which is particularly irritating in the early morning. And the increase in foot traffic is not limited to weekday daylight hours, but is also increasing in the evenings and on weekends! And for some reason these people seem to think that our garden is a place that they can leave their soda cans/bottles and other trash!

2. Ashby Avenue. One of the most aggravating aspects of living in the Willard neighborhood near Alta Bates is the traffic on Ashby Avenue. We realize that traffic on Ashby cannot be attributed solely to Alta Bates, but it continues to amaze us that Ashby Avenue has become such a problem. It has always been true during rush hour, but it is now a particular problem on weekends. We are astonished by the attitude of Alta Bates as expressed by representatives of the hospital at various meetings including one last spring. A representative of the hospital stated that increased patient activity at Alta Bates would increase traffic on Ashby Avenue by only one car per hour. This meeting was in relationship to changing the placement of the emergency room from its existing location to Ashby. I suspect that the proposed increase in maternity facilities will increase traffic on Ashby Avenue by more than one car an hour not to mention the additional traffic if they manage to change the emergency room location!

3. Misrepresentation by Alta Bates. We have been to several neighborhood meetings with Alta Bates, where they have represented that they are only trying to continue to give “excellent” patient care and provide needed care for the community, and, of course, that they would never knowingly violate the neighborhood covenant and that they would keep us informed of what they were doing. Since those meetings last spring and one early this summer Alta Bates has not communicated to the neighborhoods or the City of Berkeley of its intentions. It is clear that Alta Bates and Sutter/CHS believe they are above the city and the neighborhood. We disagree.

4. Health Care Management. Other then our concerns about our neighborhood and how intrusive Alta Bates presence has become we are ultimately concerned about our health care system. Alta Bates appears to be positioning itself to be the main hospital provider in our area. It seems ludicrous that we would allow Alta Bates to continue that strategy. Centering health care at an institution that is reached primarily by a two lane street, and is only a mile or less from the Hayward Fault seems like the epitome of bad public policy!

Sincerely yours,

Pamela Frantz and Charles McParland

Last update: May 12, 1997.