On Martin Luther King Jr. birthday the Lancaster Healthcare Rights Committee of Put People First! PA took action at the Lancaster City Planning Commission Meeting to stop the UPMC rezoning petition.
Tammy Rojas, Put People First! PA, mentioned poverty stats for Lancaster, PA and shared a vision for what St. Joseph’s hospital should and needs to be and they gained support for that vision.
Anne Wenger, works in mental healthcare, she showed a graph and explained how death rates and emergency room walk outs have spiked tremendously in Lancaster County since UPMC closed St. Joseph’s Hospital!
Matt Beakes from “Impact Missions” proposes eminent domain, how we can and why we should use it to take the hospital.
Eric Fisher, called out power holders, expressed his concerns about the shady deals happening, the treatment and intimidation of the poor and dispossessed by people in power when they speak out!
The Lancaster City Planning Commission members seemed to go back and forth finding it hard to agree on the direction we should go in regards to the UPMC rezoning petition and community reacts in kind.
Nick, from PSL, states we have come to a point of a line being drawn in the sand and asks which side the people in power are on.
The City Planning Commission ultimately decided to recommend the rezoning of the old St. Joseph hospital property from a Hospital Complex zone to a mixed use zone with some contingencies that include the redevelopment be transformational, services for the homeless, children and healthcare services.
Media Coverage Links:
ABC27:
Link to LNP article:
- Actions, Media & Communications, Nonviolent Medicaid Army, South Central PA
- lancasterhrc, st josephs, upmcpinnaclelancaster