On 2-Year Anniversary of Sandy, NYS AG and Comptroller Send LICH to the Wrecking Ball

When the lights went off, LICH was there for NYC. Photo: MK Metz

On the two-year anniversary of Superstorm Sandy, Brooklyn’s Long Island College Hospital (LICH) was shoved one step closer to the wrecking ball.

The state Attorney General and Comptroller on Wednesday approved SUNY's plan to sell the hospital that saved lower Manhattan and Brooklyn patients during Sandy to real estate developer Fortis Property Group -- to be demolished.

Selling the LICH complex at a time when northwest Brooklyn is one of the fastest-growing areas in the state will likely go down in history as one of the most damaging blunders ever masterminded by Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

Recall that during the mega-storm:

NYU-Langone in Manhattan was evacuated, flooded and closed. (Repairs cost taxpayers more than one billion dollars and took two years.) Bellevue in Manhattan was evacuated, flooded and closed. Coney Island Hospital was evacuated, flooded and closed. New York Downtown Hospital was evacuated and closed. 30 nursing or adult care facilities were evacuated, displacing roughly 6,300 residents.

The only hospital left perfectly situated and able to serve lower Manhattan and Downtown Brooklyn was LICH.

Since LICH closed, Brooklyn's ERs are overcrowded on a normal day.

Let's hope that Gov. Cuomo has somehow arranged that another disaster never happens again in New York City.

* State AG and Comptroller sign off on LICH sale to Fortis [Brooklyn Eagle]

* A.G., Comptroller sign off on LICH deal [CapitalNY]


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