Regarding emails about MVHS’s Downtown Utica regional healthcare campus, published online by the O-D on January 11, 2018,: Despite characterizations of select emails as evidence of a “conspiracy,” reading all of them (700+ pages) reveals:
- Elected officials expressing a preference for the downtown site, because they believe it will have long-term benefits for the city and the region, strategizing about how to obtain state funding and acknowledging that the final site selection decision is up to MVHS
- Economic development officials making the case that building downtown will reshape a long-neglected neighborhood and complement continuing positive activity nearby
- Community groups indicating support for the project
- Opponents reiterating objections to the project location and declining invitations to meet and discuss their issues
Some of the exchanges written two years ago express frustration with partners, project opponents and media coverage, mostly about issues that have long since been resolved. Their impatience indicates how firmly the writers believed then, as they do now, that the project is a rare opportunity for Downtown Utica and the entire region, and how determined they were, and are, to see it through to completion.
State, county, city and community partners working together to make our future better: If that’s a conspiracy, perhaps we need more of them.
