THE "MONSTER" WHICH "HAUNTED" A CITY

THE "MONSTER" WHICH WOULD "HAUNT" SPRINGFIELD Sure, it would take well over a century, for the "monster" to be completed, but, when it was, the local hospitals were the only groups which were happy with the "monsters" final form. By the time the "monster" was completed, it would cover an area, ranging from 9th Street, to Rutledge Street, and from Madison Street, to North Grand Avenue. Any remaining property owners, in this area, would have been "removed", via "Emminent Domaine" clauses, in mortgages. That is, for anyone who had not, already, sold out. The issue, most property owners had, with the "monster" was that it was built just 100 feet above the roofs, of their properties. The one, "good" thing, about the "monster", was that, once built, property owners no-lonegr had to shovel sidewalks, or drive ways, in winter. The bad thing was that sun-light no-longer touched the ground. Ofcourse, the "monster" was a bonus, for the city government, since fifty square blocks, of city streets, no-longer needed snow-plowing, in the winter. Thanks to the construction, traffic, on these streets, now travelled through "tunnels", which was where the "monster" capped city streets. On the "ground floor", or street level, of most of the area, there were either patient drop-off points, or access to the largest, underground, parking garage, in the state. Starting at about 100 feet off the ground, the Springfield Combined Medical Services Complex would represent itself as a solid wall, to the city. A wall, with columns, of shatter-proof gass, but a "wall", some fifteen city blocks wide. The local hospitals also handled the annoyance, of the abusive overuse, of train whistles, by "wrapping" the third street train tunnel with over twenty feet, of sound insulation material. This, in a tunnel designed to be tall enough to accomodate the largest freight train allowed, by state standards. It would have taken a century to build the "monster", but, when completed, patients no-longer had to "shuttle" about, and brave the weather, hot or cold. Once inside the complex, trams, and golf carts (all electric, ofcourse), moved supplies, personnel, and patients, about, nearly silently. What would earn the "monster" its award, for "most inspired" design, would be the multi-story, pressurized, heliports. No other medical complex, in the state, had dared to enclose its helicopter ports. Instead of exposed, rooftop heli-ports, the city's medical helicopters would fly right into the building, through sliding panels. Once the helicopters were inside the port, staff's primary concern was patient care. The staff no longer needed to worry about blowing snow, ice, or rain. The incredible SIZE, of the complex, bordering 9th Street & E. Madison, north to North Grand Avenue, west to Rutledge before turning south, back to Madison Street, allowed for even more heliports, than had been considered possible, before. The hospitals even promised that the heliports could have specialized functions. This would be the first medical complex, in local history, which could handle twenty-five helicopters, at a single time. On the inside, of the building, dozens of elevators, and escalators, would move supplies, and people, about, while zones would be "coded", to help patients find their way. Due to the size, of the "monster", it would require atleast seventy-five workers breakrooms, as well as several, twenty-four hour, fast food restaurants, and formal dinning, to see to human food needs. Due to the sheer, exterior, size, of the "monster", flood-lights would "wash" the exterior walls, after dark, while navigation lights woud warn off aircraft. The 1,000 story height, of the "monster", meant that the city would have a building which was tall enough to be seen, from both the extreme north, of the state, and the extreme south, as well. Although chidren found it "cool", to be able to look out of windows, at distant counties, adults stayed a little farther back. Due to the incredible height, of the "monster", 75% of the upper floors had to be pressurized, yet visitors still found it unusual to look DOWN on storms, which were raging, on the city below. In order to "humanize" the place, for in-patients, the original plan, for the normal, hospital, wards, had to be replaced with one, and two, bedroom, "pods". Doctors, nurses, and other suport staff, would also be provided with bedrooms, most of which had bunk-beds. As for parking, since a 1,000 story buiding would need a massively deep foundation, to keep it standing, the foundations would be cut deep into the bedrock, with multi-level basements, housing a "forest", of generators, as well as fuel storage, and room to park thousands of cars, trucks, and vans. The "Combined Medical Complex" would be the only "property", in the county, to have its own, multi-zoned, utility grid. Athough the complex COULD have chosen to build just one, massive, water-purification complex, this idea would be replaced with what would come to be known as the "ultimate", in water purification. Every floor, due to their size, would have their own electrical, and water, sub-stations. Some critics would heckle the "Combined Medical Complex", for needing such things as an "army", of security officers, just to keep the peace, but, with 1,000 floors to watch over, what else could the hospital be expected to do? What local populations feared, most, was the fact that, when people, to the south, of town, looked skyward, what did they see, "looming" over their properties? Neighbors, on the north side, of the building, had the same complaint, about when they looked south. From street level, looking skyward, the complex appearred no different, to observers, than what a two-year-old sees, when looking up, at a six foot adult. Although, maybe, not, intentionally, designed to be "intimidating", or to make the public feel "small", or "oppressed", many patients reported feeling exactly that way. Atleast at ground level. The biggest problem the complex would, eventually, have was with "Community/Patient Relations". The "Combined Medical Complex" was created to place every conceivable medical procedure under one, convenient, roof. Providing everything, for patients, and families, round-the-clock. The problem was not that the property made people feel like nameless files. The problem was in the perception the public had, when they looked UP at a building, which seemed to rise, above the clouds. Something so huge that it made visitors feel like they were "insignificant". This impact was felt, when some patients began declining to see doctors, who operated out of the complex. Some doctors even had to re-open offices, OUT-side, of the medical complex, since patients had an "imagined" fear, of what some referred to as "the brute". The hope, of the medical profession, that a "one stop experience", for patients, became the medical complexes worst downfall. When locals began selling homes, and mooving OUT of the shadow, of the complex, one of the main reasons, cited, for the moves, was how the public felt they were being "watched", by the towering structure. It was not loong after the combined facility was finished , and operating, that some doctors had to withdraw approval, and support, for the complex. In fact, some, who had waited, for YEARS, for the complex to be completed, backed out of leases, and returned to older properties. Although the administration, of the complex, TRIED to solve this problem, by assigning in-coming tenants in a pattern, which did not make the building look so "vacant", the problem was that, with twenty floors worth of space, coming open, even with spacing, and especially at night, the facade, of the building, began appearring to resemble a monster, with gaping wholes, between its teeth. More or less the same problem, which a new library's parking deck had, since the parking deck was built to hold several hundred cars (in the hopes of drawing additional tourism). Problem was that tourism was in decline, even as wages declined, and working class people began spending "vacations", resting at home. As a result, the parking deck spaced out parking enough to make the deck look fully used, but succeeded only in making the parking deck resemble a gap-tooth monster. What really hurt the "combined medical center" though was the fact that revenues projection would never come close to matching construction costs. The "monster" had cost hundreds of billions, to build, yet its revenues would, hardly, ever, exceed ten million dollars. In fact, within a year of its completion, the fast food restaurants closed out, and the "dining restaurants" transformed into "order from the patients room", with room delivery. As the "monster" emptied, of tenants, the administration would try renting out space, as a shopping mall. What the administrators could not understand was the public perception, of the "monster". No one WANTED to go NEAR that, "towering" thing. Eventually, all that administration could do was shut down entire sections, of the building, and consolidate what was left. As a result, only the lowest 100 stories would be inhabited. That, and the heli-ports. The rest of the building would be "closed off", and marked "For future use". Hospital administrators would face so much grief, over what the media would call an "enormous WASTE, of healthcare dollars", that the complexes administration would resign their posts. Still, this left the question of "What would the complex DO, with 900 floors, of un-used space? As far as doctors were concerned, though, they found that patients preferred smaller scale, for their healthcare, as opposed to a "one stop shop". The complex, which many had HOPED would become a "shining example" of "excellence in healthcare", would go down, in history, as one of the worst wastes, of money, in history.