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Originally Posted by the urban politician
^ Yeah, the only hope comes from a development planned on the site that was formerly planned to be a tech park. It has a lot of potential towards improving the desirability of this area--it would be hard to find those renderings again, but I think Spyguy posted them somewhere about a year ago.
You know, being in the health profession I can tell you that doctors are just so damn one-track minded. They are so focused on patient care and research, research, research that they forget that you need to provide MORE than that to attract talent. When students/residents/staff look at a potential employer they always look at the hospital's surroundings. Nowadays that is very important--people want to be able to live near their jobs and actually take pride in their neighborhood, and that usually entails attractive streetscapes and walkability. IMD will forever be at a disadvantage in attracting talent from, say NWU and U of C as long as their campus looks like some concrete goliath dropped next door to an expressway, a strip center, and large swaths of useless, empty space. These people really need to get their noses out of their medical texts and operating suites for just a few minutes, take a look around, and realize this simple concept.
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Hmmm as one of these doctors who just signed a 5 year contract with Rush starting in 2010 I have to say you are being awfully harsh. Part of the reason I personally chose the IMD over Northwestern, which is where I currently work, is because of the much easier commute from the suburbs and ease of parking. The IMD is a destination center, it is not a live-work-play area and shouldn't be. Now I agree with you that perhaps the surrounding neighborhoods are not living up to their potential. But to put this on the shoulders of doctors, and paint with such a broad brush that doctors "only care about research" and to pretend they don't like desirable neighborhoods (WTF?) and they are somehow at fault is just strange. I mean how broad of a brush do you have to paint here, LOL. Let's get realistic: much of the revenue has to come from the vast suburbs who are transfers from outside hospitals or patients with more complicated situations that the suburban hospitals can't handle. This isn't a local community hospital, this is one of the largest medical districts in the country and a virtual Rochester, MN in the middle of the city. The IMD handles these cases. If you are having open heart surgery you come here, and you will 99% of the time drive from some place else. If you are a doctor you work weird hours, and you will 99% drive from some place else. Heck, I drive from Lakeview, because it is unacceptable as a Radiologist to be late for work and I have been late far too many times taking the L.
The IMD and Rush in particular is particularly well positioned to become a major center for care for all of these people, if it isn't already, as it has some of the easiest access from all areas of Chicago anywhere, especially from the vast suburban areas, being situationed at basically the Circle and four of Chicago's main expressways. And it has to keep this in mind. Jane Oak Brook and Bob Lombard and Suzy Burr Ridge and Tom Winnetka hopefully will all get their transplant surgery done here. That's the goal. And they will all drive and park. That said, I agree that it would be nice to make the surrounding neighborhoods better, but let's be realistic, doctors are probably not going to be living near Rush/IMD for a long long time. But I agree that the area is not living up to its potential. But this is 100% the job of private developers and the surrounding area. The district is doing all it can financially to become an exceptional center of health care. It is no more a Radiologist's job to make the community urban and walkable than it is a commerical developer's job to tell me what is on my patients spiral lung CT. That said, EVERY doctor I know would support and sign on the dotted line a proposition to make the surrounding area more walkable and "nice." Heck I may even take some time off from all my massive research and having my nose in books all day to do it, LOL!