Closing streets would benefit community

By Kyle Skogman

Closing two blocks of Second Avenue SE to make way for Physicians' Clinic of Iowa's planned medical facility would be the right decision for our community.

However, I want to remind people that there is a specific process for closing a street. The process includes various City Council resolutions, notification to adjoining property owners, traffic studies, real estate valuations, utility relocation issues and public comment. The City Council's recent unanimous vote was to support the process required to get a point where Second Avenue could be closed for that two-block stretch.

Indeed, there is a process to close streets because there are times when doing so is for the good of the community, despite the fact that it will be a change for some and might even be considered a hardship for others. That is the case for closing a portion of Second Avenue for the PCI facility, which will be attractive and a good neighbor. The parking areas will be well landscaped, and with the help of the city and the proposed medical district association, street scaping and other attractions will be developed.

Third Avenue SE likely will be converted into a two-way street, as will Second Avenue from 10th Street through downtown. Those accommodations would help alleviate some of the closing's “hardship” for travelers.

Downtown property owners will be excited to know that the PCI facility will consolidate and grow the number of physicians and staff - almost 350 of those physicians and staff in the area on a daily basis. It also is anticipated that about 1,000 patients will come to the PCI facility each day. Studies show that patients bring an average of 1.5 people with them. So, a total of about 2,500 people generated exclusively by PCI's new facility will be in the downtown and near downtown area. That number will grow as the medical district grows.

PCI's cost of building in Cedar Rapids is higher than other possible locations. However, the synergies of being near our two wonderful hospitals, and the chance to be the catalyst for the medical district, are, at this point, sufficient incentive for PCI to overlook those increased costs.

Not closing Second Avenue for two blocks would increase the cost of the project and jeopardize its existence.

The PCI facility will further attract development in the medical district and reinvestment in downtown and adjacent neighborhoods. When every community in the country is looking to create and attract high-tech, clean jobs, PCI's facility and the new medical district are huge steps in the right direction.

Kyle Skogman is president, Skogman Homes, Cedar Rapids, www.

skogmanhomes.com