Hospital seeks permission from Los Angeles Council to resume expansion

Officials at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center have urged the Los Angeles City Council to allow construction to resume on a $180-million expansion, saying the project is caught in a legal and political quagmire that is putting emergency care and jobs at risk. Critics of the project, which include the Service Employees International Union and a handful of neighborhood groups, contended that the hospital had failed to fully address traffic, parking, safety, and environmental concerns. In October, a judge the hospital to halt work on a four-story patient care wing until the council reexamines the expansion and decides whether more environmental review is needed.