STATEMENT RE: TODAY'S LONG ISLAND COLLEGE HOSPITAL DEVELOPMENTS

JEFF STRABONE
BOARD MEMBER, COBBLE HILL ASSOCIATION

The LICH community expects the future LICH to change but not to change from a hospital into something that cannot be called a hospital. The number of certified beds at LICH has been higher than the number of staffed beds for over a decade: that is one area where change would be welcome. When politicians talk of 'transforming' LICH while carefully avoiding the word 'hospital', the community begins to doubt their intentions.

Last summer I went to jail alongside Bill de Blasio fighting to keep LICH open as a hospital. I was proud to support candidate de Blasio's call for a moratorium on hospital closings. But let's be clear: when a hospital becomes something that is not a hospital, that means a hospital has closed. The H in LICH stands for Hospital. It doesn't stand for Band-Aid Central or for a bogus 'free-standing' ER.

When SUNY and Governor Cuomo say there's a surplus of hospital beds in Brooklyn, they're using false numbers based on a bogus counting methodology. The trick of relying on certified beds versus staffed beds exaggerates the number of actual beds. This has been proven by the report of the Committee of Interns and Residents of SEIU Healthcare and has been widely reported by the media. (See links at bottom.)

The six community groups in the LICH litigation have crafted an RFP counter-proposal that is workable, careful, and positive. Even if in the end no hospital operator comes forward, it is the best shot  to save lives. Intsead of reading our counter-proposal, SUNY announced last week that it was still restricting consideration to its favored respondents from the first round of its rigged RFP.

We stand with our courageous elected officials in calling for a new, untainted RFP process to determine LICH's future: Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez, Public Advocate Letitia James, State Senator Daniel Squadron, Assemblywoman Joan Millman, and City Council Members Brad Lander, Steve Levin, and Carlos Menchaca.

Commissioner Shah's statement today that LICH would not be eligible for funds from the $10 billion Medicaid waiver proves his bad faith. His argument that LICH lacks a plan to reduce admissions flies in the face of the State's argument that LICH is an empty hospital that no one goes to. Either LICH has too many admissions or too few: the State cannot argue both at the same time.

Finally:
As for Fortis's offer of affordable housing at LICH, that is a trick that has been played one too many times in Brooklyn where we are still waiting for the affordable housing to be built at Atlantic Yards. Brooklyn will not be fooled by billionaires who dangle affordable housing promises in the face of our demands for health care.

Jeff Strabone
Cobble Hill Association

Link to the CIR report:
http://www.capitalnewyork.com/sites/default/files/CIR%20MRT%20Brooklyn%20Methodological%20Problems%20%281%29.pdf

Reporting on bed counts:
http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/albany/2014/01/8539533/dueling-numbers-battle-over-lich
http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/health/suny-trustees-vote-pulling-plug-lich-article-1.1247221

Elected Officials Join the CHA's Condemnation of SUNY's "Transparent" RFP for LICH.

This press below press release was sent out this afternoon, adding a wide range of support to the Cobble Hill Association's own disappointment in SUNY's most recent actions regarding Long Island College Hospital.

BROOKLYN ELECTED OFFICIALS RESPOND TO SUNY ON LONG ISLAND COLLEGE HOSPITAL

BROOKLYN -- Today, Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez, State Senator Daniel Squadron, Assemblywoman Joan Millman, and Councilmembers Brad Lander, Steve Levin, and Carlos Menchaca sent the following letter to State University of New York (SUNY) Chairman Carl McCall regarding Long Island College Hospital (LICH):

February 1, 2014

H. Carl McCall, Chairman, Board of Trustees

The State University of New York

33 West 42nd Street

New York, NY 10036

Dear Chairman McCall,

As federal, state and city elected officials representing the community impacted by Long Island College Hospital, we are deeply disappointed in the wide gap between your letter of January 30, which claims SUNY has embarked on a process that is “reopened and publicly transparent,” and your continued actions, which neither correct the deficiencies of the July Request for Proposals (RFP), nor add meaningful transparency. As we have told you collectively, SUNY's current path is not legal and will not lead to the best possible conclusion to address the community's needs. As such, we will not participate in this process.

For more than a year, each of us, along with community organizations and healthcare providers, have urged SUNY to adopt a truly fair and open process with the shared goal of preserving healthcare in Brooklyn. At every step, including at the meeting convened by Public Advocate James and referenced in your January 30 letter, we have been rebuffed. 

As we have expressed repeatedly, a good-faith effort to solve the crisis at LICH must include a fundamentally improved process, with healthcare focused priorities and significant community representation throughout. As you know, allotting the community merely one token representative per committee is deeply insufficient, as is the continuation of the same RFP process that has been rejected since July.

We have outlined a process to reach a reasonable conclusion. We again implore SUNY to engage it substantively. SUNY's unwillingness to meaningfully address our concerns needlessly risks extending the process indefinitely.

Sincerely,

Nydia M. Velazquez, Member of Congress

Daniel Squadron, State Senator

Joan Millman, Assembly Member

Brad Lander, City Councilmember

Stephen T. Levin, City Councilmember

Carlos Menchaca, City Councilmember

Self guided walking tour of Cobble Hill treasures

The folks over at Curbed have published a small walking tour itinerary of some architecturally notable buildings in Cobble Hill. In this sunny weather, why not take a stroll through our historic district with an eye on these 9 noteworthy buildings.

http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2014/01/31/take_a_walking_tour_of_nine_mustsee_buildings_in_cobble_hill.php

CHA Statement Regarding SUNY's Latest Action

News broke today that The State University of New York (SUNY) will allow respondents to its RFP process for LICH to modify their proposals. The Cobble Hill Association first heard this news from reporters. Below is the Cobble Hill Association's response to this news.

Without consultation or notice, SUNY today issued a press release announcing that the respondents to its rigged RFP process will be given the opportunity to modify their proposals. Make no mistake about it: SUNY has acted unilaterally with no forewarning, let alone consultation, to community stakeholders. They have made this announcement on a night when the nation's and the city's attention will be devoted to President Obama's State of the Union address.

SUNY has not reopened its RFP process: it has simply given its favored parties an opportunity to make their condo proposals look less repugnant. We affirm the words of our counsel Jim Walden of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher: "By acting unilaterally, SUNY assures only one thing: the Community will fight until hell freezes over, and then we will fight it out on the ice."

SUNY is still explicitly steering the RFP respondents away from hospitals and towards outcomes that are not hospitals. Witness the parameters suggested by SUNY today in its letter to the RFP respondents:
"some form of comprehensive health care at the LICH campus, including perhaps an off-campus hospital emergency department and/or a federally qualified health center or other clinic providing substantially the same services for self·pay or low pay patients".

Since there were no hospital operators among the respondents in the original rigged process, there will be none now.

How can the process be called "reopened" when SUNY narrows the scope of acceptable responses and utterly disregards community input?

The six community groups, with the support of our elected officials, submitted a proposal for a reformed RFP process to SUNY. Despite negotiations, SUNY has chosen to ignore our good faith offer and has acted in bad faith by releasing its unilateral plan to the press before the community and the elected officials.

There is only one word for SUNY's actions today: contempt.

An Open Letter to the Community & SUNY

The below open letter was delivered on January 23rd, to Carl McCall, the SUNY Trustees, Mayor de Blasio, Public Advocate Tish James, and other elected officials. It is signed by the six community groups who are co-petitioners in the LICH-related cases before Justices Baynes and Demarest. We think it's important and are therefore sharing it with the press.

Summary:
-The six community groups thank certain elected officials for their support in keeping LICH open.
-We call for SUNY's RFP process to be dismissed and for a new RFP process to be designed with community stakeholder voting power.
-In deciding to close LICH, SUNY has done no assessment of community health needs and no disaster-preparedness assessment. Furthermore, SUNY has never consulted any community group or local elected official in its plans for LICH.
-SUNY's RFP process improperly discouraged responses from full-service hospital operators.
-SUNY's decision to sell LICH was first and foremost a response to SUNY's own financial distress.
-SUNY's claims regarding LICH's alleged liabilities are based on false representations, which we debunk point by point in the letter.
-SUNY must account for the $85.7 million in Othmer funds that it directed to a malpractice trust, not all of which has been used to settle malpractice cases. SUNY must also account for all other missing portions of the $140 million Othmer Endowment.
-We stand ready to partner with SUNY in finding solutions for LICH whenever they are willing to talk with us.

Open Letter to SUNY re: LICH 1-22-14 by Paco Dave Abraham

76th Precinct Community Council Meeting Tuesday, Blood Drive Thursday

76th Precinct Community Council Meeting Reminder

The next 76th Precinct Community Council Meeting will be held on Tuesday, January 7, 2014, 7:30 PM, at the 76th Precinct Station House, 191 Union Street.
  
76th Precinct Blood Drive
The New York Blood Center will have their Mobile Blood Donation Busparked in front of the 76th Precinct Station House, located at 191 Union Street, on Thursday, January 9, 2014, from 12:30 PM, through 6:30 PM.

January 4th, 2014 - Christmas Tree mulching at Cobble Hill Park

Ten stripes for safety

Cobble Hill's newest crosswalk adds predictability to our pathways

It's now been over two months since NYC's Department of Transportation implemented a much needed crosswalk on Court street (near Bergen St) at the request of the Cobble Hill Association. Pedestrians had been walking sans crosswalk for years and risking their safety along what is a very obvious desire line for those crossing Court Street. Though it has likely taken both pedestrians and drivers some time to adjust to the new changes, there is now zero confusion as to when a pedestrian has right of way and drivers are legally obligated to yield.

Before the stripes were added, pedestrians crossed without a signal or any clear pathway.

Just how well does the new set up work? Yesterday I spotted an entire family walking safely and dragging a last minute Christmas Tree purchase across this safety zone. Cars calmly waited for them to pass before making the left turn from Bergen onto Court Street. While the tree itself probably made the family visible, there is no denying the new stripes and new signal made their intended pathway entirely predictable. Predictable patterns for cars, peds, and bikes alike, help keep us all safe on the road.

Once again, many thanks to the NYC DOT for their continued involvement and willingness to listen to the Cobble Hill Association's concerns along the Court Street corridor. Most especially, on behalf of the thousands who now cross Court street much more safely, thank you to Christopher Hrones at DOT. He has been the point person hearing us out, offering input, and coordinating our requests with the agency. We look forward to working with him to achieve even more improvements on our local streets in 2014.

LICH updates

What seemed like an early Christmas miracle come to Cobble Hill last week when SUNY Downstate succumbed to our community's vigilant voices and withdrew its plan to convert Long Island College Hospital to condos. Our own local leader, Jeff Strabone, told the NY Times "This is a victory for community power." For more on the story, read the full article and other associated links pasted below.

NY Times: SUNY withdraws development plan
Crain's; SUNY tables LICH mall plan
Curbed: Condo Redevelopment Plan Halted For Brooklyn Hospital
The Real Deal: SUNY officials reject fortis hospital to condos plan

Brownstone Blues: Update

Last week we mentioned the sidewalk construction that got neighbors wondering what would happen to the historic brownstone slates in the ground. Thanks to Catherine Zinnel at Councilman Brad Lander's office, we are happy to announce the Department of Transportation confirmed...

National Grid is required to replace the sidewalk in kind. This means that National Grid will lay down new bluestones (as opposed to filling them in with concrete). DOT's Highway Inspection & Quality Assurance Office (HIQA), which inspects sidewalks, is also going to visit this location.

We are very happy to know the bluestone sidewalks of Cobble Hill will be replaced and Henry Street's visual character will be returned.

Bluestone Blues

19th century brownstones and a 50 foot heigh limit help give Cobble Hill its visual character, but they are only part of the equation. In our landmarked area, the most overlooked element may be what rests underneath our feet - the sidewalk.

Unlike most of the city that has concrete squares, much of Cobble Hill offers unique bluestone slates providing a smooth walking surface.

Construction began in late October along Henry Street's sidewalk, ripping up much of the surface with no notice of what project was underway. A tweet to Community Board 6 put it on their radar and brought the project's details to light. A water line running along Henry Street needs to be replaced. In order to safely replace it, Natural Grid needs to relocate an adjacent gas main currently too close to the water line for Department of Design and Construction to do the replacement work. Only the work done by National Grid requires cutting the sidewalk, which means it is National Grid's responsibility to repair the sidewalk.

Unfortunately their typical sidewalk repairs only involve poured concrete.

Having heard many concerns from the neighborhood, the Cobble Hill Association will work with the local community board to make sure the Department of Transportation pushes National Grid repair the sidewalks to their original condition when all construction work is complete. Stay tuned for more updates on this issue and ways to help make sure our landmarked area retains its distinct look.

76th Precinct Community Council Meeting, Tuesday Dec. 3rd

The next 76th Precinct Community Council Meeting will be held on Tuesday, December 3, 2013, 7:30 PM at the 76th Precinct Station House, located at 191 Union Street, between Henry Street and Hicks Street. We encourage all residents to attend these meetings and get to know their local officers. Whether its complaints or compliments, this is the place to have an open discussion of what's happening in the neighborhood and what else you'd like to see.