To the editor,
Over the past year, we have had to stand by and watch as the situation at Long Island College Hospital has grown increasingly dire. In July, it was announced that the hospital’s obstetrics ward would be closed (“Baby Bust!,” online, Aug. 7). This came shortly after President Rita Battles was replaced in a dispute over the restructuring by Continuum Health Partner’s, LICH’s management partner.
And further plans have now been announced to sell off more of the hospital’s real-estate holdings and reduce its number of beds by as much as half.
All of this comes after LICH’s doctors called on the state Attorney General and Health Department to investigate Continuum. To date, no actions have been taken.
Shortly before affiliating with Continuum, LICH had received a $140-million bequest from Donald Othmer. But now in control of the hospital, Continuum allegedly won’t disclose how this money was appropriated. The president of hospital medical staff, Arnold Licht, says the money was used as collateral for loans instead of going toward needed services.
In addition, Continuum has closed five medical clinics run by LICH in Brooklyn. Just one of these clinics, at Grand Army Plaza, had been serving more than 40,000 patients a year.
LICH no longer has a Brooklyn-based board, and decisions like these, affecting thousands of Brooklynites, are now being made at the Continuum corporate headquarters in Manhattan. It’s beginning to look like Continuum’s strategy is to bankrupt LICH.
It is time for our elected officials to step up the pressure on the Attorney General and demand a complete investigation into the practices of Continuum. If the company has been mismanaging these funds, then LICH should be granted the opportunity to opt out of its affiliation.
We can not afford to lose the vital care and services that LICH has provided to our community for over 150 years.
Ken Diamondstone, Brooklyn Heights
The writer is a candidate for City Council in the 33rd District.
A bad McMahon
To the editor,
Talk about flip-flopping! In your recent story about Congressional candidate Steve Harrison (“Harrison stings McMahon,” online, Aug. 1), his Democratic rival Mike McMahon boasted about his success in engineering the plan to put a waste-transfer site on the land where a toxic incinerator operated illegally for 30 years.
But now that he is running for Congress, his plea to potential Gravesend voters is, “I need your votes, so for the record, now I’m with you.”
McMahon, a Staten Islander who leans slightly to the right of George Bush, is trying to make us believe that his work to get the waste transfer site into Gravesend, a Brooklyn community he had no relation to until this current election cycle, wasn’t really what he meant to do. For those of you willing to believe this, I have some stock in a bridge I want to sell you.
Harrison joined the legal action to stop this site, long before McMahon threw his hat into the political ring this year, and he has continued fighting to prevent Gravesend from becoming a waste transfer location.
Beware, my fellow voters, of a major literature onslaught to convince you McMahon is your man. Do you want a Democratic candidate who once had the endorsement of the Conservative party in Staten Island?
In a year when “change” is the watchword, we need to elect legislators, not political hacks. We have a good chance this year to make a major difference in our future. Let’s not screw it up.
Allen Bortnick, Bay Ridge
He did it Stein’s way
To the editor,
Your recent article about Oliver House developer Billy Stein (“Builder: I was too nice,” Downtown edition and online, July 31) tells the story of a sympathetic developer who was simply too nice to a neighborhood that then gloated over his current troubles.
If this is satire it is too subtle for me.
Stein, though a nice guy, has met with the neighborhood — not to ask for our support or advice, but to show us what he was going to do (and then turn around and say that he had met with us and listened).
But he didn’t make a better project for the community — he made a slightly differently decorated oversized project for his own reasons.
On the single most-important complaint raised by the community — that the building was simply much too large — Stein was immovable. He refused to give up one square foot of space he felt entitled to.
When I asked why he would build a building so much larger than any in the neighborhood, he asserted that the zoning laws were designed to define the correct building envelopes and he was simply fulfilling that mission. Now that the law says otherwise, I guess he no longer believes in its wisdom.
The reduction of the public plaza (and the trees he has already removed) is another way in which Stein has callously ignored the greater good.
He also claimed that he would be living in the top floor unit. This may have been a way to indicate his commitment to the neighborhood, but as he walked back to his Aston Martin DB9 (parked around the corner) it was hard to square his wealth with living over the subway entrance.
If the neighborhood is gloating, it is because Stein’s smug attitude has finally met the sensibility of the city’s zoning experts. This process had been underway for months, and if the builder wanted to slip under the wire he had ample time.
To be fair, Stein deserves to build a project of currently legal size and to make a profit on his investment. Indeed, had he truly worked with the neighborhood we would be supporting his efforts. But instead he employed his very obvious charm and feigned a response to our concerns.
James Biber, Carroll Gardens
They deserve raises!
To the editor,
State Sen. Marty Connor’s pay raise bill (“Pol: Give us raises and we’ll work harder!,” Downtown edition and online, Aug. 9) is basically a pay hike in exchange for giving up outside employment and punching a time card.
Legislating in the hostile environment of the Pataki era was stressful work for electeds. They’re terribly underpaid and deserve raises. If they sign up for the 35 hour week, no outside work and punch the time card they are still making only $77 an hour.
But there’s more to this, overlooked perhaps by sniping office seekers like Daniel Squadron (or any other whiners). Remember that Albany is a grueling three-hour drive on the boring New York State Thruway. Try it some time, Daniel, and make that something like 35-40 times a year.
Adding it all up, the proposed option is a fair one for legislators and the public. Sure, it’s easy to throw mud when you’re on the outside looking in. Marty Connor and our other state electeds from Brooklyn provide a uniformly high level or representation for which we all should be more grateful. Take a ride to Albany and check out the scene, you’ll be glad its somebody else’s gig.Bill Harris, Boerum Hill
