Thursday, June 26, 2014

SUNY Board of Trustees Congratulates Itself Over Breaking LICH Then Seling the Pieces to a Developer

LICH, when it had ambulances. Photo: MK Metz
As expected, the SUNY board of trustees on Wednesday approved the sale of Brooklyn's Long Island College Hospital (LICH) to a developer.

The scene became downright bizarre as the trustees congratulated each other for wrecking, closing and selling  northwestern Brooklyn's only hospital and deepening Brooklyn's healthcare crisis.

Even odder, they expressed the notion that their their long, self-inflicted nightmare is over.

One hour later, a car crashed feet away from the closed LICH. One man died, a second victim had to be transported to a hospital in Sunset Park.

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7 comments:

Anonymous said...

C'mon, don't lose your head over this decision. I predicted this many months ago because this decision was baked into the process. No rights unless there's enforcement and all the union wanted was more time (they knew it was a lost cause, which they'd admit only privately--that's why they're not hitting hard on your big man Diblasio-it's all smoke and mirrors)

Anonymous said...

No matter what, we was robbed! We still need our hospital,LICH.

Anonymous said...

The nurses and LICH workers with their unions did everything they could to save the hospital. Then a settlement between SUNY & the community last winter allowed for LICH workers to all be laid off. There's only a couple dozen remaining. Nobody is left to "hit hard" with. Get your facts straight. You can't expect to fight without an army & the community got rid of their main army with that settlement. LICH is closed for 1 reason & that is Governor Cuomo who steered this whole murder conspiracy. Also point the finger at our mayor who promised to stop hospital closures then changed his tune after the election & now says well as long as there is some kind of medical something there it's ok to not have a hospital. Both politicians are controlled by their real estate developer campaign donors. If letting real estate developers decide a community's healthcare is not acceptable, it's up to the community to keep the pressure on. Don't expect the LICH workers to be able to do that --- there are none of those anymore.

Anonymous said...

That poor man was decapitated. So even if LICH were open, so far there is no known treatment for that condition.

Anonymous said...

The unions' lawyers agreed to that settlement.

Anonymous said...

The man was decapitated. The woman had to go to Sunset Park.

Anonymous said...

You can't be robbed if you leave your valuable possessions available for the taking. Only unsophisticated voters weren't aware that DeBlasio would double cross you by promising X and then delivering Y. Every time there's a land grab there are vague and open promises, which are then either not filled at all or met initially and then abandoned. Go back and read the initial coverage for IKEA, Atlantic Yards, Brooklyn Bridge Park. Go further back and look at Battery Park City, and the then new (now old) Times Square/42nd St redevelopment. It's a sucker's bet, and this blog fell for it, as did many others, despite being told, in advance and contemporaneous to the DeBlasio statements, that the promises were vague and unenforceable.

The LICH unions, as opposed to some of the individual union members who weren't clued in to the charade, knew it was all a charade. The goal was to keep the facility open for as long as possible, keep the members employed and collect their union dues, and then use the LICH fight as a basis for future organaizing and how the union fought the good fight. But in the end the unions knew the hospital would close--1199 is far too savvy an operator and too hooked into the power structure and 1199 can read the same tea leaves.

Once you know the rules of the game you'll understand the outcome further in advance.