41 groups urge Jindal to review hospital plans

• By ALLEN M. JOHNSON JR.
• Advocate New Orleans bureau
• Published: Mar 26, 2009 - Page: 15A

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NEW ORLEANS — A national planning organization joined 40 other groups Wednesday in urging Gov. Bobby Jindal to commission an independent study, comparing the state’s proposed LSU/VA medical complex to an alternative plan to reopen storm-damaged Charity Hospital.

Paul Farmer, executive director of the American Planning Association, of Chicago, stressed his organization is not taking sides in the debate between proponents of a $1.2 billion LSU teaching hospital and supporters of a preservationist-led plan to rebuild Charity within its historic “shell.”

The APA, which sent a team of urban planners to New Orleans, at the city’s request, after Katrina hit in 2005, was one of 41 local and national organizations Wednesday that adopted a three-point call for more transparency and public participation in the hospital rebuilding process.

At a news conference inside the St. Joseph’s Rebuild Center, a day center for the homeless near the downtown medical district, the coalition called for:

• Jindal to order an independent “side-by-side” financial analysis of the construction costs of the competing hospital plans, and timelines for job creation, related economic development projects and health-care delivery.
• Public hearings by the City Council and the City Planning Commission on hospital designs and plans for a proposed biomedical research district.
• Inclusion of the two proposed hospitals and the new biosciences economic development district in the city’s ongoing master plan process.

Two City Council members could not be reached for comment on the coalition statement.

The APA’s endorsement came one day after the (New Orleans) Times-Picayune newspaper published a letter from Tulane University President Scott Cowen calling for more public discussion of the proposed hospital plan, “especially in this rapidly changing health care and economic environment.”

The Jindal administration is seeking to fund the LSU facility by appealing the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s $150 million storm-damage award for replacement costs of Charity. The state says it is owed $423 million.

The $600 million-plus Veteran’s Administration medical center is proceeding through the design phase, separately from LSU.