Monday, October 24, 2011

#Occupy St. Vincent’s


The Coalition for a 

New Village Hospital 

joins #Occupy Wall Street and

Healthcare for the 99% Working Group and

Hands Off St. Vincent’s to

#Occupy St. Vincent’s

A Teach-in on the direction of health care in New York and the USA and a call to restore a hospital at the site of St. Vincent’s

 

Wednesday, October 26, 2011, 5:30 PM

At the site of the old St. Vincent’s Hospital

7th Avenue at West 12th Street

 

Teach-in participants will be joined at 6:00 PM by marchers from the

March Against the Health Insurance Industry

organized by Healthcare for the 99%

 

March Details:

·        4:00 PM Zuccotti Park/Liberty PlazaShare your personal struggles with our healthcare system

  • 4:30 PM – Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield / One Liberty Plaza: located across the street from Zuccotti Park, Empire is a subsidiary of WellPoint, the largest publicly-traded health insurance company.
  • 5:30 PM – WellCare / 110 5th Ave: the for-profit company that administers Medicaid and Medicare Advantage programs in New York and other states. Currently being investigated for fraud with estimates that WellCare illegally siphoned $400 million to $600 million from state health insurance programs for the poor.
  • 6:00 PM – Teach-in at St Vincent’s Hospital

Don’t allow our hospital to be turned into luxury 
Condos for the 1%.
Stand Up. Fight Back. Teach In.


Tuesday, October 4, 2011

DNAInfo: Village Hospital Coalition Joins Occupy Wall Street Protesters



October 3, 2011 3:18pm | By Andrea Swalec, DNAinfo Reporter/Producer


MANHATTAN — The lead group calling for the return of a full-service hospital to Greenwich Village has thrown its support behind the Occupy Wall Street protesters, an attorney representing the group said.
Dozens of members of the Coalition for a New Village Hospital demonstrated in lower Manhattan's Zucotti Park Sunday afternoon and brought food to the Occupy Wall Street demonstrators, coalition lawyer Yetta Kurland said.

"Those of us who are fighting for a hospital in the Village can really relate [to the protesters]," Kurland said. "We have a shared concern about lack of oversight of business interests."
Members of the hospital coalition will demonstrate in the park intermittently, added Kurland, 43, a one-time City Council candidate.

"We have come here today with neighbors, friends and other members of the Coalition for a New Village Hospital, including doctors and nurses, to offer our support and stand in solidarity with you, and all who are fighting to protect the public interest," the group said in a statement.

The coalition, which has more than 8,000 members, aims to restore a comprehensive hospital to the Village.
Rudin Management and North Shore-Long Island Jewish Hospital's plan to build a medical complex containing a 24-7 emergency department, full-service imaging center and outpatient surgery facility is currently undergoing community review through the city's public land use procedure.

Eileen Dunn, a coalition member and former St. Vincent's nurse, noted in the statement that anger about the actions of corporations led her to demonstrate.

“For decades we have seen our jobs, our dignity and our healthcare sacrificed at the altar of corporate greed," she said in the statement. "It is time to stand up. It is time to occupy Wall Street. It is time to demand a hospital."

Thursday, September 22, 2011

DOH Public Hearing streaming Live

Today'sNYS Dept. of Health, Public Health and Health Planning Council 
hearing on the Rudin/North Shore-LIJ Certificate of Need can be seen streaming live at:


 http://www.totalwebcasting.com/view/?id=nysdoh

Don't like what you're seeing?  Sign the petition at http://www.change.org/petitions/commissioner-new-york-state-department-of-health-deny-ns-lijs-application-for-a-certificate-of-need-project-111531.

Monday, September 19, 2011

IMPORTANT MEETING THURSDAY 9/22

 PUBLIC HEARING 
NYS Public Health and Health Planning Council 
Committee on Establishment and Project Review
Thursday, September 22, 2011, 10 AM
90 Church Street 4th Floor Rooms A/B 
Prior registration (see below) and photo ID required

 

Re:  Certificate of Need (CON)  Project # 111531
This final public hearing by New York State Department of Health is held specifically to   receive comments from  the community about the NorthShoreLIJ/LenoxHill proposal (CON) to  substitute  a "free-standing emergency room" as the replacement for  St. Vincents Medical and Trauma I Center at the site of the former O'Toole Clinic Building on the westside of 7th Ave and 12th. Street.**

IT IS ESSENTIAL THAT OUR COMMUNITY'S VOICE BE HEARD HERE!


To register, call Colleen Frost at (518) 402-0964  or e-mail PHHPC@health.state.ny.us and give reference CON Project # 111531
 
 If you intend to speak, bring a copy of your statement to leave at the hearing.
Also, it would be helpful to let us know if you plan to come and have registered others, too. 

COME EARLY - THIS PROJECT IS CLOSE TO TOP OF AGENDA

Speak or submit statements about why a drive by
Emergency Room Without a Hospital  leaves the West Side of Manhattan without a hospital from Battery Park to Columbus Circle putting every resident, employee and visitor at risk in the case of a medical emergency.  )

**The Rudin group plans to demolish the former St. Vincent's east side campus on 7th Avenue and 12th Street to build 450 luxury condos (without affordable housing mix!).
Questions: Please call 212-924-5258 or 917-301-1158
Remember:  Your attendance bears witness to our need for a hospital/trauma One center and you are representing those many who cannot be present at the meeting.

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Community Objections to St. Vincent's Campus Redevelopment Project

Below are some of the objections filed with the New York City Planning Commission in opposition to the Rudin Organization's plan to build 450 luxury condominiums at the site of the former St. Vincent's Hospital in Manhattan.

Included are the objections from the Coalition for a New Village Hospital, Community Board 2, and Democracy for New York City.


Community Objections to the St. Vincent's Campus Redevelopment Project

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Coalition for a New Village Hospital Submits 3,500 Petition Signatures, Comments in Opposition to Rudin Condo Plan

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:

Yetta G. Kurland, Esq.

Kurland, Bonica & Associates, P.C.

(212) 253-6911

Coalition for a New Village Hospital Submits 3,500 Petition Signatures, Comments in Opposition to Rudin Condo Plan

West Village, NY. July 12, 2011. The Coalition for a New Village Hospital submitted 3,500 signatures to the New York City Planning Commission yesterday along with an 11 page position paper in opposition to the Rudin’s plan to develop St. Vincent’s Hospital into luxury condominiums. They petition called upon the CPC to deny the Rudin Organization’s plan alleging that it would violate law, deny lower Manhattan with desperately needed health care and overtax the current infrastructure in the area with the additional 450 luxury units the plan proposes.

The petition, viewable online at: http://www.change.org/petitions/a-hospital-not-condos-for-nyc, highlights that the Rudin application “does not include a hospital. As such, it does not comply with the requirements of the 2009 LPC ‘judicial hardship’ approval. Nor does it comply with the provisions of 501(c)3 of the Internal Revenue Code in that this sale and the proposed Rudin plan does not continue the charitable mission of SVCMC as it is required to, namely to provide a full service hospital.”

Online signatories (the majority of signatures were gathered on paper) had the opportunity to comment as well. Many of the comments spoke to resident’s personal experiences at St. Vincent’s, and more recently in the absence of a hospital.

Fred Hersch wrote: “St. Vincent's saved my life three times. It should be there for others.”

Rosemary Rowley said: “What we need is health care, not more upscale housing to burden all ready overburdened services.”

The petition was supplemented by formal comments from the Coalition for a New Village Hospital’s attorney, Yetta Kurland.

Those comments, viewable at http://demandahospital.blogspot.com/2011/07/comments-on-coalitions-petition-to-cpc.html, focus on the various land use, zoning, public health and nonprofit law deficiencies in the Rudin’s application, and called upon the City Planning Commission to reject the application.

In a statement, Ms Kurland said, “The Rudin Condo plan does not comply with the law, and it does not comply with common sense. This location is clearly well suited for hospital use – and has been for 160 years. There can be no doubt that the interests and public health of the City of New York would be irrevocably damaged if this flawed, illegal plan is permitted to proceed.”

###

Comments on the Coalition's Petition to the CPC

View below the powerful comments from our community on the coalition's petition to the City Planning Commission.


Comments on CNVH Petition to NYC CPC Opposing the Rudin Condo Plan for St. Vincent's

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

CB2 Landmarks/St. Vincent's Meeting tonight!

Community Board Two's St. Vincent's Omnibus and Landmarks committees are having a joint meeting tonight to discuss the Rudin/LIJ plan's changes to the landmarked O'Toole building. This is integral to their plan. Please attend, and ask them not to allow the Rudin's to change the exterior of the O'Toole building until they guarantee a hospital across the Street.

TONIGHT, Tues., 7/5 @ 6:30 PM– NYU Silver Building, 32 Waverly Pl. Room 208

  1. *30 Seventh Avenue (O’Toole Building)-Application for façade changes and new entrances. For more information go to: http://bit.ly/iNUSWj
Hope to see you there. Thanks.

Friday, July 1, 2011

What happened at that City Planning Commission meeting?

Well, it was a packed house, and the Coalition for a New Village Hospital spoke loud and clearly. Every speaker except one supported the Coalition position that there should be no condo development in the absence of a full service hospital.

The Coalition also delivered over 2,500 petition signatures to the CPC from community members who couldn't make the midday meeting. (Speaking of which, please join us tomorrow to get more signatures...).

It was a very encouraging meeting, and the commissioners seemed engaged. For a fantastic, thorough write-up of the meeting, check out Perry Street Palace's post.

Hospital struggle continues in the courts, and the streets…

The Coalition for a New Village Hospital has not dropped it’s lawsuit

You may have read this week about a lawsuit relating to the former St. Vincent’s Hospital being dropped. The suit in question was brought by allies of the Coalition, who lacked the resources to pursue it further.

We assure you that the Coalition for a New Village Hospital has not dropped our challenges to the Rudin Condo plan in the courts, in the streets in City Hall or at the NYC Planning Commission.

In fact, at this week’s City Planning Commission scoping meeting, community members filled the halls speaking passionately in opposition to the Rudin Condo plan and of the need for a full service hospital. The tone of the discussion and the parameters of the debate were set by our voices. The Coalition delivered over 2,500 signatures on our petition to the Planning Commission, gathered in only a few days.

Please take a moment to sign the online petition now: http://www.change.org/petitions/a-hospital-not-condos-for-nyc. Or just click the petition widget to the right.


Then, join us the rest of the Coalition for a New Village Hospital

at our big street petitioning drive tomorrow


Tomorrow, Saturday, July 2, 2011

12:00 PM– 4:00 PM

Meet at Tea & Sympathy

108-110 Greenwich Avenue

between Jane and Horatio Streets (MAP)