Letters — Week of Sept. 7

By:
Who will benefit from hospital move?
To the editor:
   I am bewildered by the number of letters written in favor of relocating Capital Health System’s Mercer hospital to Lawrence.
   CHS has said they hope that suburban patients (that would be us) will subsidize their poorer Trenton patients. That sounds suspiciously like the prices they charge in Lawrence will be rather high.
   With three other perfectly good hospitals in the area, I don’t plan on going to a fourth one. But I will be paying anyway, because taking large land parcels off the taxable rolls means the rest of us must make up for the shrinking tax base.
   The Certificate of Need mentioned one need only: more profits, yet it was approved. Who is really benefiting?
Marcie Bader
Copperfield Drive
Home part of history, says distant relative
To the editor:
   The battle for the soul of Lawrence will continue this month at the zoning meeting. The battlefield is the William Gulick house and property. If one thinks this process is a waste of time and money, remember the next time it might be in your backyard.
   I have followed this epic battle for nearly 10 years, always hoping for a compromise because William Gulick was my great, great, great uncle. I still have some old receipts of invoices where his father paid for his clothes and tuition. To have his house demolished would be a great loss of Gulick family history.
   However, this issue is even larger than family history. Ask yourself some questions: if the township Master Plan can be changed for Care One, can it be changed for a business building in your community? What will the impact of this structure be on the infrastructure of sewer lines, water consumption and roads? Will upgrades be needed and who will pay for it? What would the impact be on the value and resale of your property? If you think traffic is bad on Route 206 now, just wait. This is a 150-bed facility that operates 24/7/365. What will the impact be of the vehicles of employees, delivery trucks, maintenance vehicles, visitors and even residents, entering and exiting directly onto Route 206 all day and night and especially during rush hours? It will make a tough situation chaotic.
   Hopes were high when the residents in the area sought compromise through an alternate location at their own expense. But that was not to be. The owners have the legal right to demolish the great William Gulick house. I recall it has been stated the house can not be moved. Is that opinion or fact? If they win or lose the owners will probably demolish the house. So regrettably, the issue is not about the house, it is about the rules that ultimately impact the community. While many community members have participated, not all who could have had an impact did. In all the stories I have read, Bristol-Myers Squibb has not had much involvement. Squibb has and continues to be an important active member of the Lawrence community but has been strangely silent on this one. Does Squibb, as the past owner of the Gulick house, still have one more role?
   I am sure Care One is a fine upstanding business, but does it want to be known as the one that tore down a spectacular house and changed the rules of private property owners that affect an individuals’ investment? An employee of Care One purchased the house for his family but it didn’t work out; that is how Care One came to acquire the property. Would Care One be willing to sell the property and house at a fair market price? The William Gulick house could be a spectacular home, corporate guest quarters or office for Squibb or another company. As the hour glass sands diminish on the great William Gulick house, do they also diminish on the principles and the rules that make Lawrence Township the great community that it is?
Bradford M. Gulick
Galveston, Texas