Brandon Soublet — Rooted in our community

Sutter Health

If you’re on this page, you probably know that I’ve been very outspoken about the Emeryville Sutter Health proposal since the day it was publicly announced. I did not see enough tangible benefits to Emeryville residents, and, frankly, I still don’t. However, there are a lot of rumors and speculation swirling online about my views on the proposal. I want to use this page to unequivocally state my current positions about this project as proposed. But first, let’s do a little quiz. (Note: I 100% agree with every statement and question below. You just need to figure out which ones I actually said during public meetings.)

Let’s play “Did Brandon say that?”!

“When border neighborhoods in North Oakland gridlock, our shared emergency response times slow down, our joint transit corridors collapse, and both cities get left holding the check for emergency services and road repairs we cannot afford.”

“What other community benefits do you reckon you would consider, especially because you’re going to be nonprofit and you will not be paying taxes?”

“I live here every day. The impacts are every day. Most people aren’t going to look at the traffic and say ‘OK, but someday I’m gonna need that urgent care facility.’ They’re going to look at their neighborhood being drowned in traffic and look at us and ask why we broke our promise. We need better options. We need better options that show that you appreciate the context and that’s why you’re building here and we need better options that clearly bring in the community and other stakeholders.”

“This represents a complete rejection of nearly every transportation investment the city has made in the last two decades.”

“There’s a whole lot we need to do in terms of the community benefits agreement. All it takes is a new CEO, a new board of directors, and all of that is gone. I want to make sure that there is some sort of accountability as we’re going into this conversation.”

“The problem with this project is that I don’t feel like it’s connected to the context at all. The context here is that this is a really beautiful part of town that is nice to spend time in. Some of that is incomplete. Every project that comes in should be doing more to complete that.”

“To me full removal of the diverter is a dealbreaker…We put in those constraints to reduce vehicular traffic through the neighborhood. Those aren’t an accidental thing.”

As you can see, I am not saying anything radical, and local elected and appointed officials agree. I want to ensure that any and every developer — for profit or non-profit — that wants to do business in Emeryville is a contributing member of our community, not just a corporate tenant. We’ve moved past the years where Emeryville was for developers. Now Emeryville is for the people.

More Sutter facts

  • Sutter’s initial traffic survey states that the project will generate 20,000 vehicle trips per day into an area that currently sees fewer than 2,000. That’s at least a 10x increase.
  • Sutter Health is a non-profit, so they will not pay property or business taxes despite pulling in $19.8 billion in revenue last year. At a $1 billion valuation for the hospital, that means that the City of Emeryville, Alameda County, Emery Unified School District, and Peralta Community College District are missing out on more than $11.5 million per year in potential tax revenue.
  • The main hospital entrance is on 53rd St., and in the middle of the walking and biking route to Anna Yates, Emeryville’s only traditional TK-8 school, and the Emeryville Child Development Center.
  • The all-electric hospital will not be able to generate all the power it needs on-site, so it will strain the local electric grid and potentially driving up residents’ PG&E bills.
  • Roads around the hospital site have been intentionally narrowed to slow traffic speeds and increase bicycle and pedestrian safety.
  • Every Sutter proposal involves removing the Horton St. traffic diverter, which local officials have called “a dealbreaker” and “breaking a promise to the community.”
  • Despite the massive 1,992 space parking garage, Sutter acknowledges the facility will operate at a parking deficit, forcing drivers to seek parking on local residential streets.
  • The project will cut into the 53rd St. raised bike lane to accommodate the hospital entrance.
  • Measure BB (which I support) is completely separate from any issues related to Sutter Health and should not be considered an offset for a lack of Sutter’s tax revenue.