Squadron on SUNY Vote: ‘Closing LICH Makes No Sense’

By on March 19, 2013 9:57 pm in Government

NYS Senator Daniel Squadron issued this statement this afternoon regarding the SUNY Board of Trustees vote to close Long Island College Hospital:

“SUNY again demonstrated a disturbing lack of transparency, holding its vote on the future of LICH in Westchester today.

But we still made our voices heard — for our community and for Brooklyn.

LICH remains open — and our fight continues. It is clear that closing LICH makes no sense. DOH can and must ensure that the needs of our community and all of Brooklyn are met.”

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  • HenryLOL

    What on earth do you think a politico is going to say? Speak out against the unions? LoL. There is nothing that isn’t clear. IT IS a CRAP HOSPITAL THAT IS OPERATING AT A LOSS. THEY WANT TO CLOSE IT. Sorry, that is the way the world works, people.

  • Remsen Street Dweller

    For those of you that care, please join us for a candlelight vigil tonight at 7PM to support keeping LICH open. We’re meeting at the main entrance of LICH at Hicks Street.

  • http://twitter.com/Agoraks Sav Bard

    and then you stroke..

  • Remsen Street Dweller

    Remember a NY hospital cannot be closed without the approval of the NYS Department of Health. So, it’s not a done deal yet by any means.

  • Heights resident

    The loss of the neighborhood Taco Bell will hurt, but otherwise this is an institution that should have closed long ago. I live in BH, my spouse worked at LICH, and our infant child was born there, so I know the place. It’s too bad. The place is run by and for the labor unions, and the trouble is that no one could stand up to them, so no one (continuum, suny) was able to transform the place from a union jobs program into a community asset. I’m embarrassed for this squadron dude that he’s so transparently carrying water for the unions. If the hospital could free itself from the labor obligations (through a managed bankruptcy, eg), things might be different. Why hasn’t he proposed that? The status quo is a failure and deserves to disappear.

  • William Spier

    Heights Resident,

    Explain your beef with labor unions instead of just mouthing off from ignorance. I don’t think 1199 workers over there even have seen back pay from a year and a half ago. Their raises in the last contract (yes I looked, it is public) averaged just 2 or 3 per cent a year. If Senator Squadron is carrying water for the unions, he ain’t do such a good job, is he?

    You seem not to have the slightest idea why the hospital ended up on the ropes. The takeover by SUNY was messy and Continuum continued to bleed cash after the fact. It was not the unions. Really, how much do you think most union workers over there make– the medical assistants, janitors, clerical, technicians make a year? Jamie Dimon’s weekly lunch check, if they are lucky?

    This was the stupidest comment I think I think I have read on the blog. Even Michele Malkin could not do better. I have a suggestion: If you ever end up in a hospital, tell admitting that you don’t want any union workers to administer assistance to you.

  • William Spier

    Now HenryLOL,

    Your comment was even dumber than Height’s resident was.Just what is it you really want to say?

  • Remsen Street Dweller

    Thank you for your reply to Heights resident. I was so saddened by the blame put on unions, I couldn’t even respond.

  • William Spier

    I just cannot give up on the comments by “Heightsresident”. Dear Heightsresident (clever pen name), Are people who have worked at Long Island College Hospital for 10, 20 years or longer,
    and who started working at a wage that would never allow them to live near the neighborhood
    where they work, are they less worthy than you of security and merit pay? If they have to collective bargain to support their families as they care for the
    needy and wounded, you would deny then that? For what reason would you deny them that? I don’t know if you are one of the all too many feckless social Darwinists
    who surfaced in mass this last decade or two, or just someone hardwired like so many cranky libertarians; but you have some serious misconceptions about who
    and why this country has placed it most vital institutions on the side of a hill. Banks live on the side of a hill, would you not say? It ain’t unions, I say.

    There are many residents in Brooklyn Heights who have fared very well over the years; I may be one of the best examples. But, I know that without people who learned
    their trade, toiled in the nighttime hours, and asked for not much more than a modest quality life in this City, New York would have no soul at all; we would live at
    our peril. When you live in a City, as you do, you have to stop occasionally, push off to the side your aspirations and prejudices, and put yourself in other
    shoes.