Second Avenue closure is about prestige

In my judgment, the threat of PCI to move to Hiawatha was a bluff. I believe that the Cedar Rapids City Council is also using this bluff on the community instead of double-checking how weak it is.

PCI says that Second Avenue needs to be closed because its new office building must have a wider, mall design instead of having a taller design. PCI says the wider design is better for the convenience of the patients.

I think a comparison of convenience in moving around in a mall-style building compared to a multistory building is questionable and certainly debatable.

Moreover, I think two conveniences are more significant than a spread-out, mall-designed building: First, being located near the center of the community instead of being in Hiawatha, which would mean that most patients and staff would have to drive seven miles farther to get there. And second, having convenient covered and skyway-linked parking. Indeed, the city of Cedar Rapids is planning to build convenient ramp parking for the new PCI Center.

Rather than convenience, I believe PCI wants Second Avenue closed for the prestige it would, in theory, provide the new medical mall.

I hope the doctors of PCI would stake their reputations for being impressive doctors only on the quality of their services and not the exceptional prestige of their new road-closing, showstopping office building.

Clark Rieke

Cedar Rapids