Medical District (Savannah, Summerville, Gordon: hotels, homes, to live)

[nortonguy]

I think many people just don't like Dr. Azziz... The fundraising efforts in the past 3 years clearly speak for themselves versus the former presidents of MCG.

[tckr83]

Originally Posted by nortonguy

I think many people just don't like Dr. Azziz... The fundraising efforts in the past 3 years clearly speak for themselves versus the former presidents of MCG.

Do you blame people for not liking the guy? There's not much to like! My wife works at the hospital in one of the most important units and I have a friend that works with Azziz personally every day (she's had her hand on a lot of the new construction) as an engineer. The guy is a tyrant and makes people underneath him miserable while intimidating anyone to speak their mind, they're afraid for their jobs if they do. Not sure what the community has to do with this, but morale sucks at the hospital and it's LARGELY because of one man.

Personally, I'm more inclined to believe that the BOR's looked over at the facilities in Augusta and how underutilized it was before deciding to spend this kind of money because of one person. I would say that MCG/GRU/ASU in terms of collegiate academics and research provided the state the best opportunity to expand and increase academic notoriety of the higher kind.

Azziz might/might not lead the University to a previously inconceivable academic level… even if he did, he'd still be an unlikable person. It's just who he is and his personality. On top of that, he hasn't ever really taken to the area as someone in his position should. If you're in a position of leadership, when you mess up, you atone for it… and that never happened either. So yea, a lot of people don't like the guy and all you gotta do is ask just about anyone at the hospital what they think about him.

You can call it fundraising, I just see the BOR's cutting checks… which is two different things to me.

[PJA]

Originally Posted by tckr83

Do you blame people for not liking the guy? There's not much to like! My wife works at the hospital in one of the most important units and I have a friend that works with Azziz personally every day (she's had her hand on a lot of the new construction) as an engineer. The guy is a tyrant and makes people underneath him miserable while intimidating anyone to speak their mind, they're afraid for their jobs if they do. Not sure what the community has to do with this, but morale sucks at the hospital and it's LARGELY because of one man.

Personally, I'm more inclined to believe that the BOR's looked over at the facilities in Augusta and how underutilized it was before deciding to spend this kind of money because of one person. I would say that MCG/GRU/ASU in terms of collegiate academics and research provided the state the best opportunity to expand and increase academic notoriety of the higher kind.

Azziz might/might not lead the University to a previously inconceivable academic level… even if he did, he'd still be an unlikable person. It's just who he is and his personality. On top of that, he hasn't ever really taken to the area as someone in his position should. If you're in a position of leadership, when you mess up, you atone for it… and that never happened either. So yea, a lot of people don't like the guy and all you gotta do is ask just about anyone at the hospital what they think about him.

You can call it fundraising, I just see the BOR's cutting checks… which is two different things to me.

His private fundraising is where he has excelled in comparison to the past presidents (and this despite the contempt some have for him).

I do agree that he has already gotten off to a shaky start with the whole name debacle. Personally I think we should just move on from that move forward.

As far as morale, I know people who work there and before he came I heard stories of extreme favoritism being shown and people promoting incompetent friends over more qualified people. Supervisors piling on work on a few people while those they liked barely did any work. I even witnessed it in the early 2000's when me and one of my friends was going to visit her mother in the Billing dept in the old Sears building and a couple of people were not only seeing the clients but answering calls too while the others were joking around and one of them was going to get back to work but then the others said " no let them do it" and preceded to joke about how they were going to take it easy and let them do everything. My whole point is it wasn't all rainbows and roses before he came.

I haven't asked their opinions of him since he's been there so I'm not sure how they feel....I just know they weren't happy before he came.

[tckr83]

There's not much fundraising to do when the Regents aren't cutting checks and are instead for decades largely funding/supporting the growth of the other major state universities… when you have the backing of tens of millions of dollars at the stroke of a pen via public money from the BOR, the money is a heckuva lot easier to get than without that. It's just how it works. His private money sure has gotta be less from past alumni/alumnae, that should speak volumes to you.

As far as favorites in the workplace and people being hired that others might deem worthy/unworthy… that happens in every office in the country. I've experienced that everywhere I've worked.

But it's not about the naming fiasco, that is over and decided... this is about the person and this guy has shown his colors more than a few times already publicly. Has he not?

Some people think he doesn't get a fair shot from locals and that may be true in some instances, but it could also be said that he has earned what distrust there may be directed at him. I just think that he's getting too much credit due to the most powerful academic group in the state altering their historical financial course in the Augusta area.

[nortonguy]

Originally Posted by nortonguy

This much growth in such a small compact area..
https://www.google.com/maps/@33.4722...6G6Br9psPg!2e0

1. Cancer Center/crosswalk over 15th street (Augusta would become the 2nd NCI Cancer Center in the state after Emory in Atlanta)
2. $1 million Laney Walker pedestrian park
3. $76.5 million Medical Commons
4. $50 million renovation of the old dental school
5. 25 acre commercial development(grocery store, restaurants, greenspace, hotel)
6. 4 story residential building at 1399 Walton Way

Under construction

[GRU_Minion]

Originally Posted by nortonguy

Under construction

Not really. The activity going on there now is renovating the old Dental School building, which includes demolishing the exterior stairwells. That's why all the areas are fenced off outside right now causing traffic issues. The pedestrian park is further down, starting somewhere around the overhead crosswalk and continuing down to RA Dent. Nothing going on with that just yet.

[nortonguy]

Originally Posted by GRU_Minion

Not really. The activity going on there now is renovating the old Dental School building, which includes demolishing the exterior stairwells. That's why all the areas are fenced off outside right now causing traffic issues. The pedestrian park is further down, starting somewhere around the overhead crosswalk and continuing down to RA Dent. Nothing going on with that just yet.

They were tearing up the sidewalks it seems when I drove past and the project is on the planning and zoning website..
Planning & Zoning - Project Search Details

This article is from the 29th of January..

Work to replace sidewalks along Laney Walker Boulevard will begin Jan. 29.. "We plan to install sidewalks with brick paver elements, colonial style light posts, and decorative bollards for pedestrian safety – all of which match exterior standards that exist on the Summerville campus," Smith says. "Our goal is to create a unified exterior look to all of our campuses."
Exterior campus upgrades to begin at GRU's Health Sciences campu - WFXG FOX54 Augusta - Your News One Hour Earlier

[GRU_Minion]

Originally Posted by nortonguy

They were tearing up the sidewalks it seems when I drove past and the project is on the planning and zoning website..
Planning & Zoning - Project Search Details

This article is from the 29th of January..

Work to replace sidewalks along Laney Walker Boulevard will begin Jan. 29.. "We plan to install sidewalks with brick paver elements, colonial style light posts, and decorative bollards for pedestrian safety – all of which match exterior standards that exist on the Summerville campus," Smith says. "Our goal is to create a unified exterior look to all of our campuses."
Exterior campus upgrades to begin at GRU's Health Sciences campu - WFXG FOX54 Augusta - Your News One Hour Earlier

I was going on the drawings you posted. They only show the pedestrian park element being from the cross-bridge to RA Dent. The work going on between the bridge and 15th is mostly related to bringing the old dental building up to the exterior feel of the newer buildings on campus. They did replace the sidewalks across the street there recently, but I think it had more to do with utilities than aesthetics.

[PJA]

Subway is opening up a Medical District location on Harper Ave off of 15th St.

Subway Coming to 15th Street | Buzz On Biz

[GRU_Minion]

Originally Posted by PJA

Subway is opening up a Medical District location on Harper Ave off of 15th St.

Subway Coming to 15th Street | Buzz On Biz

Was announced back in September. See the "New Dining Options" section of the article. ( Laziza Mediterranean Grill food truck begins business at GRU | The Augusta Chronicle )

It was in the GRU thread on here as well.