Over 100 community activists and residents spoke at a Pittsburgh City Council hearing July 17 on the proposed expansion of UPMC Mercy facilities in the city's Uptown neighborhood, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
The council is considering a proposal that would allow UPMC Mercy to amend a previously approved plan to build a power plant to instead construct a new vision and rehabilitation hospital as part of the system's $2 billion expansion.
In protest of the plan, 116 speakers spoke for four hours, accusing UPMC of mistreating workers and urging the council to force the system to sign a community benefits agreement before breaking ground on the expansion.
"There are a lot of issues that should be addressed before UPMC builds yet another hospital and hires more employees from the Pittsburgh community who will continue to be treated unfairly," said Miranda Bridgwater, a research associate at UPMC, according to the Post-Gazette.
Jeanne McNutt, executive director of Uptown Partners of Pittsburgh, was one of nine speakers registered at the meeting to defend UPMC. She argued the system's expansion in Uptown was an opportunity for economic revitalization.
"After decades of disinvestment, deterioration and loss of population, this development for us represents an exciting, catalytic economic development opportunity for Uptown," Ms. McNutt said.