To: Hank Johnson,
Editorial Page Editor
Athens Daily News/Banner-Herald
P.O. Box 912
Athens, GA  30603

Dear Mr. Johnson:

I appreciated your balanced editorial of Sunday, May 16. As a resident of King Avenue, not far removed from Athens Regional Medical Center, I have been actively involved in the public input the hospital has received regarding their long-range plans. The healthcare needs of the hospital and the community are valid and deserving. My family is an example of the growing, and I am one of the soon-to-be aging population members that has used ARMC's services. We're glad they're there and as excellent as they are. The neighborhood is truly appreciative of the concessions the hospital has made and the invitation to partner with them in development of a 20-year plan.

As an authority, ARMC is obligated to act in the public's interest--not just the public's health interest. I don't think it was anyone's intent to make them so independent of their effect on Athens-Clarke County that they be given freedom to buy and rezone property at will. No, they haven't evoked their powers of eminent domain to condemn property. However, they have acted on those powers by acquiring land without having to go through any zoning regulations--the normal check and balance system that protects inappropriate intrusions into an area. They have an obligation to educate the public on the health needs of the area and to formulate a plan to meet those needs with public input.

If I were to agree with the hospital's contention that the needs in the five-year plan are immediate and therefore, non-negotiable, then I would endorse the opinion that the hospital does not need justification for its actions. Is it a compelling reason to proceed simply because these plans are already set in motion by the hospital? This is not a five year plan, it is more appropriately called a five-month plan. The hospital formulated this plan several years ago but introduced it just four weeks ago and wants to begin implementation this fall. Does that argument conversely relate to any future plans of the hospital--that the lesson learned by the hospital is that it was best to proceed in secret, as they have done in the past and in the five year plan, until they claim it's at a point where it's too late for input? There has never been an alternative plan proposed on the hospital's part to protect the neighborhood which they admit they value highly for it's aesthetics and safe environment.

There are elements of the five year plan which are intrusive and destabilizing to the adjacent neighborhoods: the scale and placement of the medical building, more surface parking, and tearing down approximately 5 homes--albeit ones the hospital bought without a public plan several years ago.

The plan is not entirely objectionable though and this is the crux of the matter. The plan has only been revealed for four weeks--there has not been enough time to enter into a reasonable dialogue with the hospital. The intent is not to withhold valuable healthcare needs from the community. The Athens-Clarke County residents who wish to offer input to the hospital on the five-year plan are using the only tool available to them--asking that the bonds guaranteed by the Athens-Clarke County government to implement this plan be delayed until we have had time for a true learning process.

Amy Andrews 282 King Avenue