A group of us took a tour of the historic but beleaguered Woolworth Building in downtown Watertown. The journey was designed to give us a feel for the challenge ahead in renovating the building.
There is a tentative plan for a hotel and some state funds are committed but there are many questions yet to be answered before developer Michael Trainor moves forward. Issues like financing and parking.
The building is sructurally sound, but otherwise in rough shape. Age, vandals, lack of heat all have combined to take their toll.
This is still a priority project for all involved but it is also obvious this is one of those 'Rome wasn't built in a day' scenarios.
5 comments:
That is a perfect place for an adult ASSISTED living home. Think about it: most of the don't drive (no parking problem), they would be close to Dr's office (right across the street), they would be close to restaurants, banks, farmers' market, library etc......
Whatever happened to the lunch counter that was in the Woolworth? Was stored there back in the 80's but never heard what happened to it. A great piece of history.
'Mayor, from the WDT, Ed's page: "The decision by three orthopedic surgeons to discontinue their services at Samaritan Medical Center leaves the community vulnerable and at risk." Here's the thing and we've discussed this on air, you think about the menu of services available at Samaritan Hospital and you might argue as I did that they need the ability to insert 'Stints' for a person with a blockage during a 'Heart Attack' right there on-site day or night at Samaritan. My life was on the line a few years back when I needed two stints. Well I wrote them a long letter and said, "please consider that when your expansion of Hospital is undertaken that we need a Cardio-Vascular capability where stints can be inserted here in Watertown, as opposed to having to go all the way to Syracuse for a procedure in the middle of a blizzard." All this while your still trying to calm down about your life expectancy being so short. :)
Well we still have to go to Syracuse. Now people with certain types of fractures will not be treated here in town on certain days or at certain times. What are the reasons these three doctors decided to discontinue their services? Someone on your show suggested they wanted weekends for their personal lifestyles. You said Bingo! Consider this, maybe they've decided to take a 'boutique approach' on providing this type of service on the basis of your likely ability to pay for it.
If patients aren't insured or if the hospital, city or state won't guarantee payment, they've decided they will not provide the service that they as skilled physicians can provide as orthopedic surgeons. Now we've got a problem and that problem is what makes a lot of people lose sleep. I'm not picking sides here believe me, I'd want to be paid too. Its just that this system might not be sustainable if specialists all start to cherry pick among their patients. Avoiding any patients unlikely to be able to pay, because they lack insurance. And tough if they need to be shipped to Syracuse, NY or where-ever they can be treated when they have a problem. So do the places we send patients, they'll have to pay in the end for the un-insured, and if this really is the reason behind the 'orthopedic surgeons decision we all could be in trouble.
MCM
I'd like to see the building rehabbed but we don't need anymore low income apts downtown, in the county or anywhere. The Hotel is a pie-in-the-sky dream of Trainor's, What we need is a medium to large scale venue for concerts. Having a large scale Hotel downtown won't cut it, it will eventually be long term rentals and the downtown needs no more apts.
The Mayor used the I don't know anything about this defense today. Its getting old too. The way you find out is you make a few calls. Its the way yah find about about attracting business to the area too. It's called being proactive.
No matter how much I like someone, they aren't getting my vote unless they change that impression fast.
A caller on the 'Hot Line' show did everything but beg the Mayor to get interested in why these three orthopedic surgeons discontinued their services at 'Samaritan Medical Center' leaving the community vulnerable and at risk. The Mayor is ducking the issue. Unacceptble to me.
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