pep talk

A fellow employee who works nights wrote a note to us via the web expressing some concerns about the detour necessitated by the work on the west campus landscape project, in front of Old Red. No doubt the project is causing some inconvenience, and in this young woman’s case, some concerns for her safety. I congratulate those at the institution who had a hand in working to make the best of this situation. I think they’re offering a pretty decent alternative to a long walk. If case you missed it the first time around, I’ve posted the information again below: 

May 14, 2007: Access for after-hour employees
Since the West Campus Landscape Project began, many after-hours faculty and staff who park in Garage 2 have found accessing the core hospital complex inconvenient. Facilities, Operations and Maintenance recognizes that inconvenience, and we apologize. Before the project started, employees who park in Garage # 2 after-hours and weekends entered the hospital complex through the Clinical Sciences Building. Unfortunately, those employees have found that reaching the CSB entrance is now very inconvenient.

The north entrance of the University Hospital Clinics building is nearby, but only open during normal business hours. (Those with properly-coded badges continue to have after-hours access through that entrance.) The solution is to help after-hours employees find parking in a more conveniently placed location.

Employees who park in a UTMB facility can request after-hours access to parking garages that are more conveniently placed near an open entrance. This additional access is from 4:00 p.m. until 9:00 a.m. weekdays and 24 hours a day on weekends; it is free of charge. Contact Greta Earls in UTMB Parking Facilities, at ext. 772-4786, to request after-hours access to Garage 1 (Administration Building), Garage 2 (University Hospital Clinics), Garage 4 (School of Nursing), Garage 6 (Rebecca Sealy Hospital), or Garage 8 (University Plaza). After-hours entrances include the main entrance to John Sealy Hospital, and the Trauma Center. As a reminder, the west entrance of the Clinical Sciences Building is open from 9:00 a.m. until 11:59 p.m. The Children’s Hospital west entrance is open from 5:00 a.m. until 9:00 p.m., and the Waverly Smith Pavilion east entrance is open from 5:30 a.m. until 9:00 p.m. Employees who choose to continue parking in Garage 2 after-hours and on weekends will have to travel around Mary Moody Northen Pavilion and the east end of the project site, traverse campus and enter through the construction tunnel at the east entrance to Children’s Hospital. The Clinical Sciences Building entrance is accessible from there, and should remain open during evening hours and weekends.

As a footnote, remember, after dark the UTMB Police Department will provide a safety escort for people walking on campus or to their vehicles. Call 409-772-2691 to access this service. Our campus is generally pretty safe; we all want to keep it that way.

This morning as I was walking in from my parking lot toward the Administration Building, a woman in high heels was carefully inching her way down a worn path on the embankment between the new University Plaza parking garage and the Administration Building. There are two places where people like her—and me—have worn footpaths across the lawn rather than take long detours. Every few days, especially when it’s rained and the goat trails get slippery, you’ll hear someone muttering, “They should have put stairs here.”

Well, there were stairs there, in the original plans. They were scratched when the area east of the Administration Building was going to be closed for additional construction. For a while, they’ve been back, at least in the plans. Work begins next week to take those plans and turn them into cement and handrails.

Starting Tuesday, June 19, a construction crew will close off part of the sidewalk north of the Administration Building for about a week, while work gets under way. With the sidewalk on the south side of the Administration Building also closed, in that case for roof repairs, one might think there’s cause for concern. But we goats always find a way…