Bill Thompson Sr. To Be LICH Monitor

Last week-end, New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn closed on the 2014 city budget without making any provisions to save Long Island College Hospital (LICH). Because she has abdicated all sense of municipal leadership over the collapse of strategic public resources, such as hospital closings, to a laissez-faire belief that she's adopted from her close associations with Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the right wing group Partnership for New York City, she is creating opportunities for other leaders to step forward in this political and leadership vacuum.

And that's exactly what happened yesterday, when the father of one of her challengers for this year's Democratic mayoral primary election, Bill Thompson, was appointed by a court to serve as a monitor over LICH.

Let's see if the Thompson family's political ambitions will be strong enough reason for New York City's leaders to perform the political triage necessary to save LICH. If the Thompson family succeeds, it will only draw attention to how Speaker Quinn has stood idly by and allowed 10 New York City hospitals to close or downsize during her speakership, including the spectacular 2010 closure of St. Vincent's Hospital in Speaker Quinn's very own City Council district.

Lack of political triage to save LICH forces court to appoint Bill Thompson's dad as monitor over Brooklyn hospital. http://t.co/QdpUSFYz5o

— Stop Christine Quinn (@stopchrisquinn) June 28, 2013

As a side note, what does it say about Speaker Quinn's drive to overturn term limits in 2008 to allow Mayor Bloomberg to run for a third term ? The reason we were given was that Mayor Bloomberg was going to help us with the economy. What has the Bloomberg-Quinn administration done to save any of the 10 New York City hospitals that have closed or downsized since 2006 ?

Christine Quinn Flushing Meadows Corona Park Development Deal - It's not looking too good....

Ringing Opening Bell at NYC Hospitals

After Hurricane Sandy, the only operating hospital below 57th Street in Manhattan was Beth Israel Medical Center, which was partially-functioning on back-up generators.

North Shore-LIJ CEO Michael Dowling said that Hurricane Sandy showed that there was still an excess of hospitals in Manhattan. Is Michael Dowling advocating for the Berger Commission to close more hospitals in Manhattan, such as NYU Langone or Bellevue Hospital ?

In two short days after Hurricane Sandy, Mayor Michael Bloomberg raced to ring the "Opening Bell" at the New York Stock Exchange.

The taboo question that the media are too afraid to ask Mayor Bloomberg is : would St. Vincent's Hospital have helped New York City with accepting patients from the emergency evacuations from Bellevue Hospital, NYU Langone, the VA Hospital, and New York Downtown Hospital ? When will Mayor Bloomberg or Mr. Dowling race to ring an "opening bell" of a new hospital for the Lower West Side of Manhattan ?

Bill Rudin Hospital Evacuations and NYC Marathon Reality Check

Bill Rudin said that it would be safe to close St. Vincent's Hospital, which was the only Level I Trauma Center and full-service hospital in the Lower West Side of Manhattan. He and his billion-dollar real estate development company got easy building permits, zone-busting waivers, and approvals from New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn. At the time, Mr. Rudin and Speaker Quinn said that if people in Lower Manhattan became sick, or if there was a mass civilian trauma event, patients could be transported to Bellevue Hospital, which was the next closest Level I Trauma Center.

But the aftermath of hospital evacuations at NYU Langone and Bellevue Hospitals following destruction by caused by Hurricane Sandy expose the risks of the Rudin Condo Conversion Plan approved for St. Vincent's Hospital.

Note that the NYC Marathon would have three giant electricity generators, which would be used for the media tent, meanwhile, NYU Langone and Bellevue Hospitals had to be evacuated due to backup generator failures.

Watch this NBC News report about the hurricane destruction. Note that Mr. Rudin is a sponsor of the NYC Marathon, and he wants the Marathon to still take place this week-end, even though first responders haven't yet finished recovering all the dead bodies on Staten Island, or, for that matter, ensuring public safety or providing emergency care to the people rendered homeless by the tsunami of the storm surge and flooding.

Hurricane Sandy - Bellevue, NYU, and Coler Hospital Evacuations - Political Accountability

Who is politically accountable for the failure of the emergency management plan in response to Hurricane Sandy that lead to infrastructure failure at New York City hospitals ?

Following the infrastructure failure of critical hospitals in New York City because of flooding and storm surge associated with Hurricane Sandy and related power failures, some healthcare activists began to demand answers for the failure of New York City's emergency management planning. The fault does not lie with the doctors and medical staff at the impacted hospitals ; rather, the politicians in charge of the city's emergency management plan must account for this irresponsible and dangerous situation. How could it be that New York City's resources would prioritise reopening business when critical hospitals could be left in the dark ? One activist has posted a new YouTube video requesting political accountability for the dangerous risks posed to public health by Mayor Michael Bloomberg's lack of real emergency planning.

Video Link : http://youtu.be/ggjOOjbTKZs

Background

In the community effort to demand a replacement hospital for St. Vincent's, politicians imposed on the community the burden of participating in a needs assessment to determine if a full-service hospital was required in the Lower West Side of Manhattan.

"The hospital evacuations following the destruction by Hurricane Sandy expose the risks of the Rudin Condo Conversion Plan approved for St. Vincent's Hospital," said Louis Flores, an activist who produced this YouTube video. "New York City needs a Level I Trauma Center and full-service hospital in the Lower West Side for disaster recovery efforts. And New York City needs real resources to improve the infrastructure of all of our hospitals, including Coler Hospital on Roosevelt Island and SUNY Downstate Hospital in Brooklyn."

Hurricane Irene

In 2011, St. Vincent's activists organized a mass civilian trauma event exercise to demonstrate what grassroots community activists described was a major risk to public health : where would sick and injured patients receive emergency and trauma care in the event of a major national disaster under conditions that had created an irresponsible geographic distribution of hospital beds in Manhattan.

See related link : http://thevillager.com/villager_443/traumadrama.html

Hurricane Sandy

In the time leading up to and following the landfall of the effects of Hurricane Sandy, the infrastructure of full-service hospitals on the East Side of Manhattan has failed. Hospital patients were forced to be evacuated from NYU Langone and Bellevue Hospitals.

To Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Speaker Christine Quinn, and Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, to City Planner Amanda Burden, Brad Hoylman, Bill Rudin, and to the Partnership for New York, where are New Yorkers supposed to go now, in case of a medical emergency ?

Mike Bloomberg Is Best Friends With Bill Rudin

At NYUFASP book launch, Fran Lebowitz slammed New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Bill Rudin.

On July 15, 2012, Fran Lebowitz spoke out against the zone-busting over development that is destroying the special social fabric of New York City. The purpose of her speech was the book launch of 'While We Were Sleeping : NYU and the Destruction of New York' at McNally Jackson bookstore in SoHo.

"No one earns a billion dollars, you steal a billion dollars," said Fran Lebowitz about Mayor Bloomberg's self-made billions.

At 10:53, Ms. Lebowitz begins to speak about the closing of St. Vincent's Hospital. She describes Bill Rudin as one of the mayor's best friends.

Ms. Lebowitz goes on to mention about the countless hospital closings that have taken place in New York City.

Make a pledge today to support Roots of Betrayal : The Ethics of Christine Quinn on Kickstarter.

Christine Quinn's Book Deal

Make a pledge today to support Roots of Betrayal : The Ethics of Christine Quinn on Kickstarter.

Publishing Deal So Controversial That It Needs Regulatory Approval From Conflicts Of Interest Board, Yeah Right.

In what seems like a desperate book deal by HarperCollins editor Henry Ferris, yesterday the publishing house unit of News Corp. announced that it had signed a contract to publish a semi-fictional account of New York City Speaker Christine Quinn's life story.

Rumour has it that Speaker Quinn's book deal was pitched as being on par with A Million Little Pieces, but from a New York City lesbian politician's point-of-view. The book promises to tell compelling vignettes about how closely Speaker Quinn has allowed the City Council to be co-opted by Mayor Michael Bloomberg ; long, meaty chapters will focus on how Speaker Quinn changed term limits law to allow Mayor Bloomberg, herself, and many others to run for a previously illegal third term.

Speaker Quinn's book advance must be cleared through the Conflicts of Interest Board, The New York Times reported yesterday.

Meanwhile, Spanish language rights were also sold, under the tentative title : Turnia, Turnia, Pero No Tanto.

May Day Healthcare Protest

Comprehensive Coverage of the May Day Protest outside St. Vincent's Hospital.

On May Day, dozens of advocates for a single-payer, universal healthcare system demonstrated outside the shuttered St. Vincent's Hospital in New York City.

Rudin May Day Protest

Reminder : Please R.S.V.P. to the protest against the Rudin Family on May Day in connection with the shady way that they foreclosed on St. Vincent's Hospital, forcing it into Bankruptcy Court. Note : the Rudin family then paid pennies on the dollar for St. Vincent's, so that the Rudin family could build a billion-dollary luxury condo and townhouse complex in a zone-busting real estate deal that will make the family hundreds of millions of dollars in profit from the tragic closing of the only hospital in the entire Lower West Side of Manhattan.

Beth Israel Hospital Ambulance Stuck In Traffic

After St. Vincent's Hospital was closed so that it could become a billion-dollar luxury condominium and townhouse complex for the wealthy Rudin Family, many of the remaining hospitals in Manhattan are having to travel longer distances to respond to medical emergencies. In this video, there is a Beth Israel Hospital ambulance stuck in traffic right in front of the closed St. Vincent's Hospital. These ambulances then have the make the same long distance back to their originating hospital, to transport medical patients back to an emergency room or a trauma center. At stake are the life and well-being of medical patients, who have to risk their lives in order to wait until they receive critical medical treatment. There can be no "moving on" until a full-service hospital and trauma center replaces St. Vincent's Hospital.

St. Vincent's Community Assembly

Approximately 70 residents of the Lower West Side of Manhattan gathered at the LGBT Community Center in Greenwich Village on January 31, 2012, to participate in a community assembly to organise and brainstorm ideas to fight for a full-service hospital to replace St. Vincent's.

Stay tuned for more action ideas....

This St. Vincent's Community Assembly was sponsored by the Healthcare for the 99% Working Group of Occupy Wall Street. This is an independent, unofficial video, and it is not endorsed or approved by any of the participants.

Bill Rudin Condo Kills

Do Protesters Have To Leave A Coffin Outside St. Vincent's Hospital, To Demonstrate How Deadly The Rudin Luxury Condo Conversion Really Is ?

The people, who live around the Rudin Luxury Condo Conversion Project at St. Vincent's Hospital, will live a life of a nightmare for years : they will be living next to a major construction project that will stir up asbestos, rodents, noise, and other construction-related pollution. And this is not even taking into consideration the fact that the luxury condominiums and townhouses are replacing a full-service hospital, meaning, that there is no no where to go if residents (including the luxury condo buyers) have asthma attacks, heart attacks, strokes, or trauma. All this courtesy of Seventh Avenue Socialite Amanda Burden and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn.

The Political ECG Lead Has Flatlined When It Comes To Saving Hospitals In New York City

In the 21 months since St. Vincent's Hospital has closed, our political leaders have showed no activity to prevent hospital closings in New York City.

A Beth Israel ambulance was stuck in traffic in front
of a closed hospital in the West Village of Manhattan.

Five hospitals in Brooklyn are in danger of closing, according to The New York Times : Interfaith Medical Center, Wyckoff Heights Medical Center, Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center, Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center, and Brooklyn Hospital Center.

In the case of St. Vincent's Hospital, which closed in 2010, leaving a hole in public health in the Lower West Side of Manhattan, activists are seizing on the irresponsible hospital closings as a way to organise for a single-payer healthcare system : "How can we bring a hospital back to our community ? How can we get true universal healthcare ? Come Join the Discussion ! RSVP at the Facebook page for the St. Vincent's Community Assembly."

Amanda Burden Sold Out

The Rudin Luxury Condo Conversion Plan for St. Vincent's Hospital was approved on Monday, Jan. 23, 2012, by Amanda Burden, the Amsterdam Avenue socialite, who volunteers in her free time to be City Planner for New York City. Other political enablers have joined Ms. Burden in aiding the Rudin Family's scheme to convert what used to be the only full-service hospital and Level 1 Trauma Center that served the Lower West Side of Manhattan into luxury condominiums and deluxe townhouses.

Sept. 11 Hero Richard Sheirer Dies

"Mr. Sheirer was driving to work from his home on Staten Island when he began having chest pains, pulled over at 14th Street and 10th Avenue and called 911. He was taken to Beth Israel Hospital, where he died," reported The New York Times.

Richard J. Sheirer, the former director of New York City's Office of Emergency Management during the September 11th attacks, fell ill a few blocks away from St. Vincent's. Video by Suzannah B. Troy.

St. Vincent's Community Assembly

Join us on Tuesday, Jan. 31, at 6 p.m. at the LGBT Community Center at 208 West 13th Street in the West Village.

With St. Vincent’s closed, the West Side still has no hospital beds below 57th Street. How can we bring a hospital back to our community ? How can we get true universal healthcare ? Come Join the Discussion ! RSVP at the Facebook page for the St. Vincent's Community Assembly.

This "town hall" is a consensus-based conversation facilitated by HEALTHCARE FOR THE 99%, an OCCUPY WALL STREET working group.

2012-01-31 St Vincents Community Assembly - Luxury Condos Cant Do CPR

Lenox Hill Hospital Eviction

Lenox Hill Hospital evicts the 99% to accommodate the 1%.

The luxury Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan's exclusive Upper East Side closed one of its wings to accommodate Beyoncé Knowles' celebrity birth.

Bloomberg Philanthropies : What A Joke When It Comes To St. Vincent's Hospital

After Going on a Decade-Long Spree of Hospital Closings, New York City Michael Bloomberg is Launching a New Desperate Campaign Blitz to Resuscitate His Public Image.

Mayor Bloomberg has launched a Facebook advertising propaganda campaign to counter his growing image of a reckless chief public officer of New York City. He likes to tout his anti-smoking campaign, but how about his record on hospital closings ? If the Rudin Family's Luxury Condo Plan is approved for St. Vincent's by City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, then Mayor Bloomberg would be saying that it is O.K. for an entire section of New York City to have no full-service hospital. How can this be a responsible public health care policy ? Mayor Bloomberg needs to stop the Rudin Luxury Condo Plan for St. Vincent's Hospital until a full-service hospital is created.

St. Vincent's Christmas Caroling Video

Mic Check : Christmas Caroling in front of St. Vincent's Hospital

Protestors gathered on Christmas Eve in 32 degree weather -- and some spent all night on the frigid sidewalk to symbolize the patients "Left Out In The Cold" after the closing of St. Vincent's Hospital. Activists and community members modified a classic Christmas Carol, "Here Comes Santa Claus" in this YouTube video.

St. Vincent's Hanukah Protest

Rudin-Quinn HANUKAH Christmas Protest St Vincent's Hospital

"Praying for miracle -- very windy used Occupy Wall Street signs to protect candles," wrote Suzannah B. Troy.