Much has been written concerning the failed Holiday Inn proposal on Second Street Southwest. It's a waste of time and energy to blame all or anyone. We need a solution for Second Street.
The failure comes from not having a vision or plan to move people from one Mayo Clinic campus to another along the Second Street corridor.
Mayo contracts with a company to run buses back and forth all day from downtown to Saint Marys. It needs a people mover, whether underground, at surface level or above the street, to get personnel and patients from one location to another.
There has been talk for years about a more efficient, less polluting means to transport people. By investing in infrastructure to move people between Mayo campuses, we also would be moving people between businesses, as well as Ronald McDonald House, Hope House and other locations.
Without a people mover along Second Street, we cannot move forward intelligently with mega projects. This is an expensive proposition, but reconfiguring or settling within a developer's framework will be even more expensive.
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Mayo, Destination Medical Center and the city should create a plan to move people with an infrastructure developers can enhance or embellish. If public money is to be used, the greater good should be a consideration, and a project of this magnitude would benefit many patrons.
Sandra Guyse
Rochester
