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UCSF engages community at Mission Bay

By Lisa Cisneros

During more than 50 meetings over the past seven years, UCSF representatives have listened and responded to the voices of many community members who have helped shape what will become the UCSF Medical Center at Mission Bay.

Hundreds of neighbors from surrounding areas such as Dogpatch, Potrero Hill and Mission Bay have come to UCSF Mission Bay to review and weigh in on plans for the new complex, which will include specialty hospitals serving women, children and cancer patients.

In fact, the Community Advisory Group (CAG), a diverse group of neighborhood, labor, ethnic and business leaders with an active interest in UCSF’s role in the city and the San Francisco Bay Area, has been involved in the hospital planning process since 2001, when it worked with faculty and staff to develop criteria to be used in evaluating site options.

“We’ve made a considerable effort of truly involving the community, and I think that most people in the community are supportive of the project,” says Barbara Bagot-Lopez, associate director of Community Relations. “We involved neighbors from the very beginning, and they have been working with us every step of the way.”

Bagot-Lopez, the day-to-day communicator in chief of the project, serves as the liaison fielding phone calls and relaying UCSF’s messages to community members, and then conveying their comments – compliments and complaints alike – back to UCSF. She works side by side with Cindy Lima, executive director of administration and project director for the Mission Bay hospital complex, to discuss the issues and respond to community concerns during what can be lively meetings.

The ongoing dialogue during this process, they say, has fostered mutual understanding and has resulted in a better design of the medical center.

Responding to Feedback

“We listened to their feedback and revolutionized the look of the medical center complex from its initial design,” Bagot-Lopez says. “I think this is an example of when we listen to the community, we end up with a better product.”

For example, after public meetings were held in 2005 regarding the proposed height and bulk of the hospital buildings, UCSF responded to community feedback by reducing the maximum height of the buildings. To be sensitive to the urban environment, UCSF also made other design modifications, such as:

• adding a prominent public entry plaza along 3rd Street;
• placing the high-volume, outpatient building to the north away from the neighborhood, and placing the quieter hospital at the south across from a public park;
• shielding the service yard for delivery trucks and ambulances from open view; and
• relocating the proposed helipad to be used for transport of critically ill children in helicopters further away from surrounding neighbors.

Additionally, UCSF conducted a helicopter test flight in October 2007 in response to a request by Mission Bay neighbors. UCSF will have more in-depth discussions with the community in the coming months to discuss ways to further mitigate impacts associated with the proposed helipad.

Loran White, who lives on Berry Street in Mission Bay north, has attended dozens of meetings over the past few years. White, who kept her neighbors in her building informed about the hospital project, says that many appreciated being able to share their opinions. “It was really fascinating to watch because I felt that [the UCSF representatives] respected us even if we had strong feelings and they would make changes based on the concerns of the community,” White says.

Corinne Woods, also a longtime CAG member and member of the citizen’s advisory committee for the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency, appreciates the opportunity to have her voice heard.

“This is my neighborhood, so I have to try to make sure that it is built as well as it possibly can be,” says Woods, who has lived on a houseboat on Mission Creek since the mid-1980s. “UCSF does a good job taking the concerns of the neighbors seriously, and I think the CAG is an effective way of reminding UCSF that it is part of the community.”

Woods would like to see UCSF continue to work with the city to expand public transit and affordable housing as well as help support maintenance of open space in the area.

“If that hospital was being built by a private developer, there would be an ongoing commitment to fund the infrastructure improvements,” Woods says. “I know that UCSF has no legal obligation to do that and I totally understand that.”

Barbara J. French, associate vice chancellor of University Relations, says UCSF is grateful for the ongoing involvement of the CAG, its subcommittee, the Hospital Replacement Community Action Team and members of the public at large, who have helped UCSF in the planning process.

“Many community members have invested countless hours in helping UCSF get this project right,” French says. “We are indebted to them for their commitment and are grateful for their time, energy and honest feedback.”

Throughout the planning and construction process, UCSF will continue to invite members of the community to meetings to provide input for UCSF’s consideration.

“We will continue to do our best to be great neighbors,” says Mark Laret, chief executive officer of UCSF Medical Center.

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