Queens Hospital Closings

Last-minute deal saves Long Island College Hospital in Brooklyn. But with more hospitals at risk of closing in Queens, public healthcare will only get worse.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has found enough state grant money to save Long Island College Hospital, NY1 reported. Because of the deal, 2,500 employees, who work at the Brooklyn hospital, will be able to keep their jobs.

In the time that Christine Quinn has been Speaker of the New York City Council, at least eight city hospitals have closed :

• North General Hospital in Harlem declared bankruptcy in 2010 ;
• St. Vincent's Hospital in the West Village was shut down in 2010 after shady backroom meetings ;
• St. John's Queens Hospital in Elmhurst went bankrupt in 2009 ;
• Mary Immaculate Hospital in Jamaica went bankrupt in 2009 ;
• Parkway Hospital in Forest Hills decided to close in 2008 ;
• Cabrini Medical Center in Manhattan closed in 2008 ;
• Victory Memorial Hospital in Bay Ridge closed in 2008 ; and
• St. Vincent's Midtown in Manhattan closed in 2007.

"Last October, New York magazine published an exposé written by Mark Levine, which described the dangerous public health issues resulting from all the hospital closings.

Last year, a pair of hospitals in Queens closed suddenly, just before the outbreak of H1N1, causing overflow conditions in the emergency rooms of nearby facilities, one of which set up a triage area on a loading dock."

In January, The New York Post has made a list of more Queens hospitals, which are in danger of closing, if New York State government makes major cuts in Medicaid funding :

• Jamaica
• Peninsula

For more information, see : Governor's Medicaid cuts may kill 10 city hospitals.

Manhattan Hospital Closings

The Ever-Decreasing Number of Full-Service Hospitals, Emergency Rooms, and Trauma Centers in All Five New York City Boroughs.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has found enough state grant money to save Long Island College Hospital, NY1 reported. Because of the deal, 2,500 employees, who work at the Brooklyn hospital, will be able to keep their jobs.

In the time that Christine Quinn has been Speaker of the New York City Council, at least eight city hospitals have closed :

• North General Hospital in Harlem declared bankruptcy in 2010 ;
• St. Vincent's Hospital in the West Village was shut down in 2010 after shady backroom meetings ;
• St. John's Queens Hospital in Elmhurst went bankrupt in 2009 ;
• Mary Immaculate Hospital in Jamaica went bankrupt in 2009 ;
• Parkway Hospital in Forest Hills decided to close in 2008 ;
• Cabrini Medical Center in Manhattan closed in 2008 ;
• Victory Memorial Hospital in Bay Ridge closed in 2008 ; and
• St. Vincent's Midtown in Manhattan closed in 2007.

"Last October, New York magazine published an exposé written by Mark Levine, which described the dangerous public health issues resulting from all the hospital closings.

Last year, a pair of hospitals in Queens closed suddenly, just before the outbreak of H1N1, causing overflow conditions in the emergency rooms of nearby facilities, one of which set up a triage area on a loading dock."

In January, The New York Post has made a list of more hospitals, which are in danger of closing, if New York State government makes major cuts in Medicaid funding :

Brooklyn:

• Brooklyn Center
• Brookdale
• Interfaith
• Kingsbrook
• Wyckoff

Queens:

• Jamaica
• Peninsula

Bronx:

• Westchester Square
• St. Barnabas

For more information, see : Governor's Medicaid cuts may kill 10 city hospitals.

Bloomberg Insults Irish

Irish Eyes Not Smiling Over Mayor Bloomberg's Inebriated Insensitivity

Mayor Bloomberg described Irish New Yorkers as being ''inebriated,'' and he added that he was accustomed to seeing drunken Irish ''hanging out the windows'' of the American Irish Historical Society in their drunken state.

The mayor's insult came during a speech he gave at the American Irish Historical Society, and his disparaging remarks triggered boos from the audience.

In an article about the insult, The New York Times quoted John Dunleavy, the chairman of the St. Patrick’s Day Parade, said the mayor’s words were “outrageous and totally uncalled for.”

St. Vincent's Activist Get Out of Jail ; Give Press Conference

Why Are They Closing St. Vincent's Hospital ?

Four community activists were released from jail on Wednesday, following their arrest on Tuesday for having staged a sit-in at the former site of St. Vincent's Hospital, reported the Hedz-Up Report. Ms. Katz and the other activists were each charged with criminal trespass, but all they were trying to do was to bring a new hospital to the Lower West Side of Manhattan. Following is video of the a part of the press conference, where Evette Stark-Katz, one of the activists who was arrested, made a public statement.

Why Are They Closing St. Vincent's Hospital? (Pt. 18) - Arrest & Release (Clip 1) from g. sosa on Vimeo.

Four Activists Arrested Following Sit-In at St. Vincent's Hospital

This morning, NYPD arrested four activists, who protested the closing of St. Vincent's Hospital. Politicians, on whose watch the hospital closed, remain at-large.

Watch a YouTube video of the protesters, as they were taken into police custody. While they were being put into the back of the police van, the activists shouted : "Land-lock St. Vincents ; Trauma 1 now !"

A group called Hands Off St. Vincent's held a sit-in Tuesday morning at the shuttered medical center. At approximately 10:30 a.m., four activists were arrested. It is not known how many other activists took part at the demonstration.

Among the protesters, who were arrested, were LGBT civil rights activists Iana Di Bona and Alan Bounville. Following is the statement from a press release, which was distributed to the media, by one of the group's members :

New York, NY – On February 8, at 10:30 am, four former patients and impassioned community members entered the building at the location of the closed down Saint Vincent's Hospital. These activists then sat on the ground, unfurling a banner that read, "Guilty : Neglect !" and began to chant - refusing to move. Saint Vincent's personnel closed off that section of the building - currently operating as a Credit Union - and refused entry to members of the credit union as well as persons employed within the building. Two hours after their arrival, the four activists were arrested and taken away by the police.

For 284 days, 1.3 million New Yorkers have been without a hospital in the West Village. Since St. Vincent’s illegal closure on April 30, 2010, the community has been laden with false promises, patronized with a bogus needs assessment and forced, with tragic consequences, to seek emergency or medical care at already overcrowded uptown or East-side hospitals.

“Everyday that passes is critical,” said Iana Di Bona, one of the arrested activists, “Our elected officials have the ability to turn things around, yet they do nothing. It is so important to speak out and to continue to pressure and hold them accountable to service the needs of our community.”

Commitment for a New Village Hospital by the people of the West Village and all of New York City has not wavered. Any politician not actively working to get a new hospital is a target. That is a promise the St. Vincent’s Hospital Community Activists intend to keep.

Before the sit-in took place, it appears that the activists held a "peoples trial" of politicians, on whose watch St. Vincent's closed. According to the description of the YouTube video, an unidentified Hands Off member made the following statement : "We hold the elected officials responsible for betraying their very own constituency."

On her blog, the artist and political commentator Suzannah B. Troy broke the news of the activists getting arrested at St. Vincent's. Ms. Troy made the observation that Mayor Michael Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn recently pushed through a new smoking ban in public parks as a sign of their concern for public health, but Ms. Troy questions their commitment if politicians have made no commitment to save city hospitals from closing.

Bloombo Dicto Hosni Bloomberg

Maybe after #OpEgypt and #OpItaly, we'll have #OpCityHall or #OpCityCouncil ?

After Mayor Michael Bloomberg insulted parents who heckled Chancellor Cathleen Black, Michael Mulgrew, president of the teachers union, compared Mayor with Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak, reported The New York Post.

Ms. Black's ''Awwwwwww'' moment came when she mocked parents, who were going to desperate measures to save several schools from closing, and her insensitive mocking and juvenile immaturity has inflamed the anger of parents and has shocked the conscious of even some school officials. In response to the despair of parents, Mayor Bloomberg has predictably unleashed a ridiculous backlash against Ms. Black's critics.

Mayor Bloomberg, who subverted a public referendum to run for a third term as mayor, went on to say that angry parents were acting unpatriotic. "This is not democracy -- letting people yell and scream. That's not freedom of expression," Mayor Bloomberg said. "That's just trying to take away somebody else's rights. And if we want to attract good people to come and work for the public, you don't do this."

Under his tight fist of ''mayoral control'' over the school system, Mayor Bloomberg wields totalitarian control over the Panel for Educational Policy, which votes to close schools ; the Panel operates under the appearance of independence, but in reality the Panel is ''entirely undemocratic'' and takes its ''marching orders only from Bloomberg,'' according to the Post Mr. Mulgrew noted that if the Panel doesn't vote the way that the Mayor wants, he retaliates against them. ''The last time they voted against him, he fired them,'' Mr. Mulgrew said.

Even The New York Times Agrees : the ''Fix'' Was In.

Meanwhile, at a meeting on Thursday night, where more schools were voted to be closed, City Councilmember Charles Barron said, “You will let us scream until we get hoarse, and then we know what will happen — you’ll shut all our schools down.”

''The closing of struggling schools has been a key piece of Mr. Bloomberg’s agenda, and his eight-person majority has stood behind him, phasing out more than 100 schools, often replacing them with small schools and charter schools,'' reported The Times.

Update on Christine Quinn

While Mayor Bloomberg spent the week closing schools, firing teachers, and getting rid of classrooms and school lunches, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn was using NYPD as enforcers against activists outside a fundraiser for her presumed candidacy for Mayor in 2013.

Christine Quinn Won't Audit Shady St Vincent's Hospital Closing

The City Council Sneaker Investigates the Very Idea That Wal-Mart Will Open a Store in New York City, but She Won't Investigate Why St. Vincent's Hospital Closed ?

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn called Wal-Mart a ''union-busting, tax-evading, wage-correcting, job-destroying, civil-rights-abusing, food-stamps-denying multinational corporation.'' But Speaker Quinn won't investigate the shady and rapid closing of St. Vincent's Hospital.

If Comptroller John Liu were to launch an investigation into St. Vincent's Hospital, he could count on the support of a few hundred thousand New Yorkers, who live in the former St. Vincent's catchment area, who have been left with no hospital in the Lower West Side of Manhattan. That area also happens to coïncide with what would be considered Speaker Quinn's strongest base of support, if she were to run for mayor of New York in 2013.

At Christine Quinn Campaign Fundraiser, do NYPD work as Private Security ?

Is Speaker Quinn using city resources, and police,
for campaign activities ?

At a political fundraiser on the evening of Feb. 2, 2011, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn deployed a large team of police officers. Three peaceful protesters, myself included, gathered to hold up a banner, asking for a new hospital for the Lower West Side of Manhattan, to replace St. Vincent's. Police told us to move, and one officer pushed me to get me to move, even though we were on a public sidewalk and not blocking traffic. Plus, there were no barricades, to indicate that there was a restricted zone. Is Speaker Quinn using city resources, and police, for campaign activities ? Who is instructing NYPD to intimidate protesters ?

Commissioner Daines Sees Hope for St. Vincent's Hospital

On April 30, St. Vincent's Hospital closed. 15 days before, New York State Health Commissioner Richard Daines said St. Vincent's would not close.

Since the Berger Commission believed that St. Vincent's should remain open, New York State Health Commissioner Richard Daines should replace St. Vincent's with a full-service hospital.

Prohibit workplace retaliation

In an act that The New York Post is calling, ''spiteful,'' City Council Speaker Christine Quinn has reetaliated against a fellow Democrat Councilmember.

Suzannah B. Troy has already blogged about how City Council Speaker Christine Quinn has abused her power to dole out slush funds to punish Liz Crowley, but here is the entire New York Post story, quoted in its entirety :

Spiteful Quinn $laps mouthy Qns. Dem
By SALLY GOLDENBERG and GINGER ADAMS OTIS
Last Updated: 10:56 AM, July 4, 2010
Posted: 3:00 AM, July 4, 2010

"Freshman City Councilwoman Liz Crowley played with fire and got burned.

The Queens Democrat learned a hard lesson during recent negotiations for the 2011 city budget: Don't anger Council Speaker Christine Quinn.

Crowley got the least amount of member-item money in the 2011 budget -- approximately $358,000 -- as punishment for prematurely sending out a press release two weeks ago announcing 20 firehouses had been saved, and hogging all the credit, sources told the Post.

"It showed that [Crowley] doesn't understand the deference she needs to pay to the speaker of the council. She knows it now. Lesson learned," said a City Council source.

Tempers flared between Quinn and Crowley when Crowley's staff sent out a press release in the middle of a tense session of budget negotiations. It touted the Queens lawmaker as the central figure in helping "save" the firehouses.

It was a costly error for the rookie legislator, who has since gotten the "absurdly low" amount of pork-barrel spending, said a City Hall insider."

Public Health Crisis

Quoted entirely from WNBC Channel 4 :

Queens Hospitals Overcrowded in Wake of Recent Closings

By JILLIAN SCHARR
Updated 5:30 PM EDT, Mon, May 24, 2010

After a series of hospital closures and reduced state support -- most recently the closure of St. Vincent’s Hospital in Manhattan -- many New York City hospitals are severely overcrowded, particularly in the borough of Queens.

St. Vincent’s, the last Catholic general hospital in New York City, closed on Apr. 28. 

Three other Queens hospitals, including Mary Immaculate Hospital, a Level 1 Trauma center, closed in the past two years, leaving Queens with the smallest bed-to-resident ratio in the city, Kenneth Raske, President of the Greater New York Hospital Association, told the Wall Street Journal.

According to the paper, in 2008 Queens had 1.7 beds per 1000 residents, as compared to 5.7 in Manhattan and 2.7 in the Bronx. 

Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, a not-for-profit whose Emergency Room  was designed to handle 60,000 visits a year but saw 130,000 visits in 2009, a 30 percent increase from the previous year, a hospital spokesman told NBCNewYork. In the first three  months of this year, ER visits increased by another 10 percent.

According to the spokesman, although there is no direct relationship between Jamaica Hospital’s patient surge and St. Vincent’s closing last month, “each reflects the reality of the demographics in New York City.”

“There was no real meaningful communication, coordination, or planning on the part of the New York State Department of Health with the surrounding hospitals for the closing of Mary Immaculate so that the.. patient surge following the closing could be properly handled,” said the spokesman.

If another hospital were to close, Raske told the Washington Post, “it could precipitate a public health crisis."

First Published: May 24, 2010 2:12 PM EDT

The disasterous legacy of Bloomberg-Quinn's term limits maneuvering

Testimony by Michael D.D. White of Noticing New York delivered at the New York City Charter Revision Commission meeting on May 25, 2010

Michael D.D. White has posted the written remarks he delivered in testimony on May 25, 2010 at the New York City Charter Revision Commission’s hearing. Among his remarks, Mr. White also posted his own, independent commentary about the farce that has become what I've separately called the "charter revision barter commission:"

« John Keefe, a representative speaking on behalf of Assemblyman James Brennan’s office, went further: He said that because the commission had been convened to implement a pre-agreed-upon a 'cynical and opportunistic deal' between billionaires Michael Bloomberg and Ron Lauder (to repeal and then restore term limits after Bloomberg's election to a third term), that the commission should take no action at all as none could be considered legitimate. »

Central Perk

" When Mayor Bloomberg wants something, he has plenty of tools to help him get it - friends in high places, a bully pulpit, six-figure donations to political parties and money for influential city nonprofits. ¶ One of his most prestigious and mysterious perks, however, has two wings and three engines, " Adam Lisberg reported in Sunday's New York Daily News.

New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn has been identified as being among the politicians, who received undisclosed luxury trips on Mayor Bloomberg's private jet, a Dassault Falcon 900s. At least one of Quinn's trips on the Mayor's jet was not disclosed in official government records, according to Mr. Lisberg.

Meanwhile, in an advisory to city employees, the Conflicts of Interest Board offered guidance in respect of accepting gifts from one's supervisor : accepting "regular and extravagant" gifts may create an appearance that a supervisor is "attempting to buy" certain kinds of behaviours from the supervisor's subordinates, Mr. Lisberg added. And now that Mr. Lisberg has reported about these extravagant gifts, how can City Council Speak Quinn or the other government officials, who have received these regular, luxury gifts, explain that they can remain independent, impartial, and free from undue influence or corrupt interference from the Mayor's Office, after they have accepted free rides on his private jet ?

Perks, privileges, and a sense of entitlement.

In her latest video blog, Suzannah B. Troy has lost her patience with Mayor Bloomberg and City Council Speak Quinn. Ms. Troy has said, "Sub-zero trickle down when it comes to the people...huge trickle down for pals."

Organized medical emergency response

St. Vincent's Hospital - bankruptcy case update by Yetta Kurland

Community leader and activist, Yetta Kurland, gave a presentation to the Lower Manhattan community on May 13, 2010. Ms. Kurland described the legal process that has been taking place in the community's efforts to intervene, to prevent the full closing of St. Vincent's Hospital.

Ms. Kurland reported that Attorneys for St. Vincent's had opposed the community's attempt in NYS Supreme Court to make the hospital abide by NYS Health Department rules. After being challenged by Attorneys for St. Vincent's Hospital, the venue for the community's lawsuit was changed to bankruptcy court, where the bankruptcy judge claimed jurisdiction over the lawsuit over NYS Health Department rules, but the same judge denied that patients have the ability to sue to enforce NYS Health Department rules.

A classic Catch-22.

Lies Mileage

Senate hopeful Harold Ford hits a Stonewall in West Village on gay nups
BY David Saltonstall
NEWS SENIOR CORRESPONDENT
Thursday, February 25th 2010, 4:00 AM

Harold Ford took his "listening tour" to the mostly gay Stonewall Democratic Club in Manhattan's West Village on Wednesday night - and he sure got an earful.

Ford tried to explain how he went from voting to ban gay marriage with a constitutional amendment in 2006 as a Tennessee congressman to now supporting it as he mulls a primary bid against Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand.

It wasn't an easy message to get out in a raucous 30 minutes at the W. 13th St. club. Ford was interrupted repeatedly by chants of "No more lies, no more lies" and "Snake-oil Harry, go away."

At one point, several audience members raised signs with slogans like, "It's the lies, stupid!" At the end of the session, someone even ignited a loud but harmless confetti bomb - sending a noticeable jolt through Ford and others.

Ford stood his ground, answering a dozen or so questions and trying - with little apparent success - to argue that his support of gay marriage was now for real.

"I don't know what more I can say, other than that I realize I was wrong," he said. "You may not embrace me, you may not vote for me, but I would only hope that you would at least accept the fact that the reason the numbers and support for marriage equality goes up is because people like me change their minds."

Ford has said he expects to make a decision about running against Gillibrand - whose work to repeal the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy has won her plaudits in the gay community - within the next week or so.

One of few hushed moments of the evening came when Lt. Dan Choi - a gay Army officer who came out last March - rose to press Ford on gay marriage, noting pointedly that he fought in Iraq to secure rights "for your family that mine is not afforded."

Ford said he, too, would fight to let gays serve openly, but Choi was not convinced.