Laurelhurst Community Council Isn’t Sure Helicopters Need to Land Sick Kids at the Hospital

2026-05-06 20:42 UTC

Last week, the Seattle subreddit dredged up a long-time drama between the Laurelhurst neighborhood and Seattle Children’s Hospital about its helicopters. Seattle Children’s is the go-to specialized pediatric care center for Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho. When children from near and far away need urgent treatment, they’ll get swooped up by a helicopter and taken to Seattle Children’s. This, the affluent North Seattle neighborhood will tell you, is quite the nuisance. Such a nuisance that a neighborhood group wanted to make sure the hospital wasn’t landing flights on the helipad for non-emergency reasons, according to meeting minutes from 2021. “There needs to be a medical justification form for each flight (one was a broken leg for example),” said one member. In the six years of documented meetings The Stranger looked at, they had a lot more to say.

Replies (12)

@aramis87@fedia.io 2026-05-06 23:21

Per Wikipedia > the average home price [in Laurelhurst] is approximately $1.85 million [...] The LCC has also restricted parking for hospital staff in the surrounding area, requiring employees to use a satellite lot and shuttle. The council has opposed hospital expansion efforts since the 1980s. No sympathy. They want all the benefits of being rich and privileged in a society, but don't believe they should have to accommodate anyone else in that society. They're wannabe-Lords who don't care if the peasants suffer, add long as the view (and noise) from the Manor House is pretty.

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@OwOarchist@pawb.social 2026-05-06 21:08

Must be nice, having a life where your biggest problem is the occasional helicopter flying overhead.

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@sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2026-05-06 23:26

Oh, Laurelhurst. When the food riots start, remember that the U District / U Village is basically next door to you, and ya'll are very old and slow.

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@rainwall@piefed.social 2026-05-07 03:06

The needling, Seattle's lovely local onion style rag, has a very reasonable response: [Report: Laurelhurst Residents Blocking Helicopter Landings at Seattle Children’s Ain’t Heard Shit Yet](https://theneedling.com/2026/05/04/report-laurelhurst-residents-blocking-helicopter-landings-at-seattle-childrens-aint-heard-shit-yet/)

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@betterdeadthanreddit@lemmy.world 2026-05-06 22:28

If I were one of those patients (or their parent) whose life-saving helicopter ride unfortunately made one of those special people hear a "whup whup whup" in the distance, I'd be writing letters to everyone who complained at that meeting and their next few neighbors in every direction. Might be a coin toss to determine whether the complainer gets the polite or rude version. Unlikely to be read by them anyway but hopefully some shit-stirring with others nearby would spill over. If Nextdoor is any indication, neighbor drama always sells.

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@EatYourOrach@lemmy.ca 2026-05-06 23:30

The lack of empathy is nauseating. Imagine making it your business to harass and hobble a children's hospital for 40-odd years. 2021, we're all in the depths of the covid crisis, hospital staff are already beyond overworked, and you're gonna moan that *they haven't provided documentation to justify last month's emergencies to a frigging community council group?* Rotten little over-entitled hoarders. Good on the people keeping this filthy business in the public eye.

Open ##3051130
@magnetosphere@fedia.io 2026-05-06 23:24

My proposal: fly helicopters over the area several times a day, with no patients on board. This will normalize the sound of helicopters, which they apparently find so horribly intrusive and disruptive. Since there is nobody to bill, spread the costs among this community, perhaps focusing on the loudest complainers. I suspect the “problem” will somehow resolve itself after that.

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@mojofrododojo@lemmy.world 2026-05-06 23:57

fucking ghouls.

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@Draegur@lemmy.zip 2026-05-07 21:39

I'm not so sure these dipshits have a right to have such a stupid fucking opinion heard. They disgust me so much I want them to experience consequences that would traumatize them for the rest of their lives. It's a shame we don't live in a just universe where stupidity like theirs is corrected with brutal force.

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@magnetosphere@fedia.io 2026-05-07 01:01

I know. I’m imagining a world where the rule of law actually exists to serve the public.

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@pinball_wizard@lemmy.zip 2026-05-07 00:36

Ooh. That tracks.

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@EatYourOrach@lemmy.ca 2026-05-07 15:02

A merit-based appointment, I'm sure. /s She may be the one putting her name to the council's requests, but they should all be on the hook for this ongoing abuse. The idle rich amusing themselves and finding their purpose by harassing the help: born to be our supervisors, aren't they all?

Open ##3051136