I hit the ball about 5 years ago It was a good day

As a former FCCC employee I know how things work there. There may some speed bumps ahead, but the overall picture will not change. This a 20 year expansion project and FCCC will not let down. They will expand into the park, the question is how much. I'm sure they want to preserve as much parkland is possible and keep the majority of the community happy. Currently, the campus is essentially a square with a beautiful large wooded courtyard in the center. I like the 'cancer center nestled in the woods' feel and think the patients enjoy it as well, BUT the center desperately needs to expand and unfortunately some parkland will need to be sacrificed.

I thought burholme park is made up of two parcels of land. The cancer center wants to expand on the section that is not protected by Ryerss will.

I know this issue came up previously. There was discussion that the two parcels encompassed Jeanes land and Ryerss land. In any event, it is clear in FCCC's expansion proposal that they want part of the Ryerss land. These plans call for expansion up to and including the current location of the playground (which is not very far from the mansion).

I can fully assure you that I am not pro cancer in the least! My only opposition to the Fox Chase Cancer Center's approach to treating cancer is that it is choosing to sacrifice that which is good in the name of doing good, and that just doesn't add up. And had you been at the last Save Burholme Park rally, which was held at the front steps of the Ryerss mansion last October (2005), you would've learned firsthand from the aide to PA State Representative George Kenney who spoke that day that the Fox Chase Cancer Center was given the generous offer to fully relocate to the former site of Philadelphia State Hospital (Byberry) but turned this down flat, no rational reasons given. At that new location it could indeed become a world class cancer research and treatment facility, and believe me, no one would love to see that happen more than I. But by its insisting on expanding right where it is now, well just think it out. Because that location is so distant from any major highways, and the connecting roads are overtrafficked as it is, what is the commute going to be like for those going to the Cancer Center for treatment, the visiting family and friends of these cancer patients, the specialists who will be treating cancer, the everyday staff of the expanded Cancer Center to be, the needed vendors and so on? Don't you get it? I wouldn't wish this poorly thought out proposal on my worst enemies! On the other hand, if I was pro-cancer, I would be in full support of the Fox Chase Cancer Center's current proposal.

You have to be able to think in terms of what this expansion is going to be like when fully completed. If right now the main roads leading to the Cancer Center are overloaded with traffic, how are those same roads going to be when possibly as many as 10,000 more cars are added to them? Is the Cancer Center planning to airlift everybody in and out at that point? That is, when you or one of your loved ones gets stricken with cancer, the Cancer Center will say, "No, don't bother trying to drive to here; we'll send out the helicopter."

For seriously, it's time to get real on this! I'm protesting the Fox Chase Cancer Center's expansion proposal for cancer treatment sake as much as I want to see Burholme Park be saved, while the Fox Chase Cancer Center seems steadfastly determined to kill both positive goals on my part and that of others with one stone. And it appears it's also taking pleasure in the fact that it can use its wealth to override the Constitution of the United States at the same time. And by that I mean that the people who reside around Burholme Park and that are going to be the most hurt by this expansion are totally being overlooked in terms of having any sort of rights, in a way which I feel is very similar if not identical to when Saddam Hussein gassed the Kurds. And if we accept this happening here in this small part of the United States, where's it going to stop, where?