ny1 – Brooklyn Bugle

SUNY Sustainability Plan: Sell or Close LICH

May 30, 2013

SUNY has released its Sustainability Plan, which focuses on preserving its teaching function at University Hospital of Brooklyn while seeking to share or transfer health care responsibilities with or to other Brooklyn hospitals and clinics and to home health care, according to The Wall Street Journal:

The proposal doesn’t guarantee that LICH will remain open, although SUNY officials and a nurses union representative said potential operators had stepped up to take over the struggling Cobble Hill institution. A Wall Street Journal analysis of the plan estimates SUNY would need to spend nearly $130 million for the LICH transfer.

NY1 quotes SUNY Downstate President John Williams as saying they are “talking to…five institutions” that may have an interest in taking over management of LICH. According to an analysis of the Sustainability Plan prepared by the Cobble Hill Association, the first mention of LICH in the Plan occurs in a footnote that says:

SUNY will review all responses received to the request for information and determine the most expeditious and financially responsible course of action to enable Downstate to exit from the operation of the Long Island College Hospital facility.

The Plan must be reviewed by the State Department of Health, which may approve it or send it back for revision.

Update: Homer’s cousin/former Cobble Hill Ass’n prexy Jeff Strabone analyzes the plan here:

Breakdown of the Sustainability Plan

Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/59561

From the Web

Health, News
Court Puts Brakes On LICH Closure
February 21, 2013
According to this NY1 story, a court has issued a temporary restraining order that blocks SUNY Downstate from implementing its just issued plan to close Long Island College Hospital. The judge who issued the order has scheduled a further hearing for March 7. Petitioners in this case are unions representing nurses and hospital workers; however, the NY1 story also quotes a “local resident” who recently used the LICH emergency room as saying the care provided there was “really good.” This is a developing story; we will monitor and keep you updated.

Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/55537
From the Web

News, Police Blotter
NY1 Reporter Vivian Lee Attacked While Covering Story in Cobble Hill
July 27, 2012

NY1 veteran reporter Vivian Lee was attacked by a whacko woman in a white sheet in Cobble Hill Friday morning. DNAInfo.com explains that Lee was reporting on the death of Richard Schwartz, 61, who was killed after lightning struck a church steeple and sent debris tumbling to the street Thursday night.
A woman draped in a sheet climbed into an NY1 news van and began using Lee’s makeup and snacking on food, according to Lee and a witness. When the reporter told her to leave, the woman allegedly took a swing at Lee. “The van’s driver grabbed the woman and hauled her out of the van. As the three stood beside the van, the woman swung again, this time punching Lee in the neck. The driver wrestled the woman to the ground and held her until cops arrived and took her away,” DNAInfo says.
Lee was not seriously injured, and an ambulance was not called. (Photo: DNAInfo)

Source: Cobble Hill Blog
http://cobblehillblog.com/archives/7656
From the Web

News
Man Killed by Collapsing Scaffolding from Christ Church in Cobble Hill
July 27, 2012
New York City’s only fatality in last evening’s powerful storm occurred in Cobble Hill when scaffolding surrounding a Christ Church on Clinton Street collapsed as a 61 year old man was walking under it, according to NY1.
Update: The victim has been identified as Richard Schwartz, a prosecutor in the State Attorney General’s office. He is survived by a wife and daughter. The scaffolding was at Christ Church on Clinton Street; it appears to have collapsed when lightning struck the church’s steeple and dislodged some stones which fell onto the scaffolding.

Source: Cobble Hill Blog
http://cobblehillblog.com/archives/7650
From the Web

Brooklyn Heights
NY1 Offers Brooklyn Bridge Park Update; Prez Regina Myer Defends Hotel/Rez Development
July 16, 2012

NY1 offers an upbeat 2-minute report on the progress of the 85-acre Brooklyn Bridge Park, which it says now attracts 60,000 visitors each weekend. Reporter Jeanine Ramirez offers: “Designs changed over the years. So did the oversight of the property. The Port Authority transferred it to a state entity called the Brooklyn Bridge Park Development Corporation. It was later transferred over to the city.”
Regina Myer, President of BBP, comments, “Mayor Bloomberg and Governor Paterson agreed that the city would take the project over because the state just didn’t have the money to put into the park and they realized the city would be a much better steward of the park site.”
Regarding the imminent controversial 200-room hotel and 159-unit residential building, Myer says they are necessary to raise funds to sustain the park: “The condominium [One Brooklyn Bridge] has been paying ground rent and payment in lieu of taxes since 2008 and all of the maintenance and security and upkeep is paid for by the funds we’ve received.” She insists the new multi-use development, which was approved in late June, “will be done with good taste.”

Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/44305
From the Web