Battle for LICH is Not Over: Lawyer for BHA and Others

By on December 17, 2013 12:43 pm in Government, Health, Legal

The Brooklyn Heights Association has sent us a letter from Jim Walden of Gibson Dunn LLP, attorney for the BHA and other petitioners opposing the closure of Long Island College Hospital. In it, Mr. Walden assures those concerned that even if, as expected, SUNY’s Board of Trustees votes to select an as yet unnamed party who would turn over most of the existing LICH campus to developers, retaining only non-hospital medical facilities, for further negotiations concerning the transfer of ownership of LICH, this will not be the end of the fight to preserve full scale hospital services in our community.

Update: Crain’s reports that the SUNY Board voted, 3-2, to proceed with the proposal of Fortis Property Group to develop the LICH site as a “medical mall” that would include ” an urgent care center, physical therapy facilities and office surgery,” along with residential condos.

Second update: evidently the Crain’s reporter jumped the gun; after the 3-2 vote by a committee of the Board of Trustees to proceed with the Fortis proposal, NY1 reports that the full Board voted to delay action until Mayor-Elect Bill de Blasio, whose support for keeping LICH open as a full service hospital is well known, takes office. The NY1 story includes this admission by SUNY Board chairman and former City Comptroller Carl McCall: “It was clear that this was something that was not going to be accepted by the community.” Thanks to readers Remsen Street Dweller and Rick for alerting us to this.


Click image for larger view

The full text of Mr. Walden’s letter is here

Share this Story:

, , , , , ,

  • nombre

    what good is EMERGENCY SERVICES without the FULL HOSPITAL Services to back it up? WHO is negotiating for JUST an Emergency Room??? We’re out here fighting for the HOSPITAL. Not just an ER.

  • gbkm

    LICH is needed for more than just emergency services. It is THE medical facility for Red Hook & provides all the medical needs for that community including acute care, primary care, preventive care, & emergency care. Majority of its patients come from Red Hook, Carroll Gardens & Cobble Hill & they depend on LICH for a lot more than just emergency services. For all the people in all the communities that rely on LICH for all kinds of medical care, the nationally ranked #2 best hospital in Brooklyn must be preserved & restored as a Full Service hospital, not reduced to just an emergency room.

  • http://selfabsorbedboomer.blogspot.com/ Claude Scales

    As a point of clarification, I’ve changed the word “emergency” to “hospital” in the next-to-last sentence.

  • Say No to crooks

    Mr. Louis Kestenbaum the owner of Fortis Property Group is a known Crook he has been criminally indicted in many states and is involved in hundreds of lawsuits, is this the a person LICH shall deal?????????

  • marshasrimler

    I am glad to see BHA do the right thing about LICH.Now they need to so the same about the bPL proposal for the library. David Offensend should not be the decider. He destroyed the Donnell Library which was a horrible thing, Do not let him and /or the BHA destroy our library. What really is !0 M to refurbish the library in this wealthy community. We can fund it ourselves and fire the bPL Board and Execs

  • Remsen Street Dweller

    Crain’s got it wrong — the motion to proceed with the proposal of Fortis Property Group was tabled by SUNY at the last minute!

  • Rick

    I see Crain’s has made a correction reflecting that on their website. Curious as to why they changed their mind after the board voted to go forward with the deal. And also curious what the other 6 bidders were proposing!

  • Rick

    I just got an answer from a NY1 article. When the full board met, enough of them had doubts about the deal to shelve the deal.

    http://www.ny1.com/content/news/200451/suny-board-delays-vote-to-turn-lich-into-condos–urgent-care-center

  • http://selfabsorbedboomer.blogspot.com/ Claude Scales

    Thanks to you and Remsen Street Dweller. I’ve added a second addendum to the top post reflecting this news

  • nombre

    the full board had enough trustees listen to the crowd, community pressure. 1 trustee said he felt they didn’t have sufficient counsel, questioned the numbers, was not comfortable with the rush to sell before a new mayor is in office, & he would vote nay. Other trustees also expressed concern. McCall was flustered, didn’t look like he expected that much division in the board. He pulled the vote when he realized he didn’t have the support.

  • nombre

    glad to see that clarification. big relief. thanks

  • nombre

    Just googled him. Wow. Ohio, Florida, Romania, money laudering, fraud, underage girls, nice guy.

  • nombre
  • Remsen Street Dweller

    Now if only the NY Times would get the rest of the story right — about the finances and why there are so many hospital workers per patient.

  • Maik Obermuller

    LICH was 420 million in red in 2011, 500 million now. It is irresponsible for LICH to stay open. Does the state need to wait until LICH is a billion in the red. Jim Walden of Gibson Dunn LLP, may be sued by SUNY for creating a fiscal disaster along with the SUNY Board for creating a mess that should never have existed.

  • Maik Obermuller

    The NYS Comptroller said LICH was primarily responsible for fiscal problems at SUNY. If any agent prevents SUNY from acting to divest LICH they may get sued for Fiscal malfeasance if any SUNY employee gets harmed by fiscal damage caused by this. This includes DeBalsio and SUNY Board. The whole LICH merger was filled with fraud. The political actions to keep LICH open are also fraud.

  • WhoIsMaik

    Who is Maik Obermuller? What is his interest in the sale of LICH?

  • Wolf

    Joel kestenbaum arrested for murder of menachem stark?