Two very insightful letters published by The New York Daily News, which continues to reveal voter anger toward the corruption by New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who has lost tough with reality of the challenges facing average New Yorkers :
Chris cross I
Brooklyn: Re “Begin the Quinn spin” (Feb. 12): Middle-class housing for a family of four with an income of $103,000 to $142,000. If that is middle class, where are my food stamps, Medicaid card and free housing? Those amounts are not the middle class that I know. Christine Quinn must have been making a joke in her State of the City speech, right? Clifford F. Zeman
Chris cross II
Richmond Hill: Has City Council Speaker Christine Quinn convinced herself that she is a fair, honest and ethical leader who is worthy to hold the office of mayor? In 2006, she approved a generous pay raise for herself and the entire Council. Then, she extended her own patronage-appointed, cradle-to-grave city career by changing the laws of term limits for dictator Bloomberg. The final betrayal was her denying a vote on paid sick time for the working poor. Clean up your act, Empress Quinn, and withdraw your deeply flawed candidacy. Adele DeLeva
Last-minute deal saves Long Island College Hospital in Brooklyn. Can Staten Island continue to escape the spree of hospital closing ?
Gov. Andrew Cuomo has found enough state grant money to save Long Island College Hospital, NY1 reported. Because of the deal, 2,500 employees, who work at the Brooklyn hospital, will be able to keep their jobs.
In the time that Christine Quinn has been Speaker of the New York City Council, at least eight city hospitals have closed :
North General Hospital in Harlem declared bankruptcy in 2010 ;
St. Vincent's Hospital in the West Village was shut down in 2010 after shady backroom meetings ;
St. John's Queens Hospital in Elmhurst went bankrupt in 2009 ;
Mary Immaculate Hospital in Jamaica went bankrupt in 2009 ;
Parkway Hospital in Forest Hills decided to close in 2008 ;
Cabrini Medical Center in Manhattan closed in 2008 ;
Victory Memorial Hospital in Bay Ridge closed in 2008 ; and
St. Vincent's Midtown in Manhattan closed in 2007.
"Last year, a pair of hospitals in Queens closed suddenly, just before the outbreak of H1N1, causing overflow conditions in the emergency rooms of nearby facilities, one of which set up a triage area on a loading dock."
In January, The New York Post has made a list of Bronx, Queens, and Brooklyn hospitals, which are in danger of closing, if New York State government makes major cuts in Medicaid funding :
Two Bronx hospitals are at risk of shutting down. Based on the spree other hospital closings, things don't look promising for public healthcare in the Bronx.
In the time that Christine Quinn has been Speaker of the New York City Council, at least eight city hospitals have closed :
North General Hospital in Harlem declared bankruptcy in 2010 ;
St. Vincent's Hospital in the West Village was shut down in 2010 after shady backroom meetings ;
St. John's Queens Hospital in Elmhurst went bankrupt in 2009 ;
Mary Immaculate Hospital in Jamaica went bankrupt in 2009 ;
Parkway Hospital in Forest Hills decided to close in 2008 ;
Cabrini Medical Center in Manhattan closed in 2008 ;
Victory Memorial Hospital in Bay Ridge closed in 2008 ; and
St. Vincent's Midtown in Manhattan closed in 2007.
"Last year, a pair of hospitals in Queens closed suddenly, just before the outbreak of H1N1, causing overflow conditions in the emergency rooms of nearby facilities, one of which set up a triage area on a loading dock."
In January, The New York Post has made a list of Bronx hospitals, which are in danger of closing, if New York State government makes major cuts in Medicaid funding :
In February 2011, it was announced that Long Island College Hospital in Brooklyn had been saved from closing ; it eventually merged with SUNY Downstate Hospital.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo found enough state grant money in February 2011 to save Long Island College Hospital, NY1 reported. Because of that 2011 deal, 2,500 employees, who work at LICH, will be able to keep their jobs.
But in the time since, Gov. Cuomo has been window-dressing the New York State budget by closing down entire hospitals in a scorched earth campaign to make savage cuts to Medicaid, the state of public health be damned. In fact, two years after Gov. Cuomo portrayed himself as a hero of public health, employees of LICH and residents and patients of LICH participated in a protest right outside of Gov. Cuomo's Manhattan offices. As time went on, Gov. Cuomo came to be seen for his true intention : willing to shut down entire hospitals to make severe budget cuts off the backs of the people most in need : underinsured and insured hospital patients.
Aiding and abetting Gov. Cuomo has been neoliberal Christine Quinn, who, as Speaker of the New York City Council, has oversight of the city budget, including that of the Health and Hospitals Corporation, which is charged with overseeing the state of public health here in New York City. Speaker Quinn also administers billions of dollars in City Council discretionary funds, which, instead of allocating resources to develop a truly sustainable funding model for healthcare, makes disbursements according to political expediency that benefits her immediate political and personal ambitions. To wit, during the time that she has been in charge of City Council, Speaker Quinn has stood by and done thing as ten city hospitals have closed :
Westchester Square Medical Center up in the Bronx was sold in 2013 after its own bankruptcy proceeding and is expected to be downsized into an urgent care center ;
Peninsula Hospital Center in Far Rockaway declared closed in 2012 after having declared bankruptcy ;
North General Hospital in Harlem declared bankruptcy in 2010 ;
St. Vincent's Hospital in the West Village was shut down in 2010 after shady backroom meetings ;
St. John's Queens Hospital in Elmhurst went bankrupt in 2009 ;
Mary Immaculate Hospital in Jamaica went bankrupt in 2009 ;
Parkway Hospital in Forest Hills decided to close in 2008 ;
Cabrini Medical Center in Manhattan closed in 2008 ;
Victory Memorial Hospital in Bay Ridge closed in 2008 ; and
St. Vincent's Midtown in Manhattan closed in 2007.
"Last year, a pair of hospitals in Queens closed suddenly, just before the outbreak of H1N1, causing overflow conditions in the emergency rooms of nearby facilities, one of which set up a triage area on a loading dock."
In January of 2011, The New York Post has made a list more Brooklyn hospitals, which are in danger of closing, if New York State government makes major cuts in Medicaid funding :
Brooklyn Center
Brookdale
Interfaith
Kingsbrook
Wyckoff
In the summer of 2012, members of the Healthcare for the 99% Working Group of Occupy Wall Street participated in a demonstration outside of Wyckoff Heights Medical Center in solidarity with employees and residents of that community, to say "No" to the closing of Wyckoff.
Last-minute deal saves Long Island College Hospital in Brooklyn. But with more hospitals at risk of closing in Queens, public healthcare will only get worse.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo has found enough state grant money to save Long Island College Hospital, NY1 reported. Because of the deal, 2,500 employees, who work at the Brooklyn hospital, will be able to keep their jobs.
In the time that Christine Quinn has been Speaker of the New York City Council, at least eight city hospitals have closed :
North General Hospital in Harlem declared bankruptcy in 2010 ;
St. Vincent's Hospital in the West Village was shut down in 2010 after shady backroom meetings ;
St. John's Queens Hospital in Elmhurst went bankrupt in 2009 ;
Mary Immaculate Hospital in Jamaica went bankrupt in 2009 ;
Parkway Hospital in Forest Hills decided to close in 2008 ;
Cabrini Medical Center in Manhattan closed in 2008 ;
Victory Memorial Hospital in Bay Ridge closed in 2008 ; and
St. Vincent's Midtown in Manhattan closed in 2007.
"Last year, a pair of hospitals in Queens closed suddenly, just before the outbreak of H1N1, causing overflow conditions in the emergency rooms of nearby facilities, one of which set up a triage area on a loading dock."
In January, The New York Post has made a list of more Queens hospitals, which are in danger of closing, if New York State government makes major cuts in Medicaid funding :
The Ever-Decreasing Number of Full-Service Hospitals, Emergency Rooms, and Trauma Centers in All Five New York City Boroughs.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo has found enough state grant money to save Long Island College Hospital, NY1 reported. Because of the deal, 2,500 employees, who work at the Brooklyn hospital, will be able to keep their jobs.
In the time that Christine Quinn has been Speaker of the New York City Council, at least eight city hospitals have closed :
North General Hospital in Harlem declared bankruptcy in 2010 ;
St. Vincent's Hospital in the West Village was shut down in 2010 after shady backroom meetings ;
St. John's Queens Hospital in Elmhurst went bankrupt in 2009 ;
Mary Immaculate Hospital in Jamaica went bankrupt in 2009 ;
Parkway Hospital in Forest Hills decided to close in 2008 ;
Cabrini Medical Center in Manhattan closed in 2008 ;
Victory Memorial Hospital in Bay Ridge closed in 2008 ; and
St. Vincent's Midtown in Manhattan closed in 2007.
"Last year, a pair of hospitals in Queens closed suddenly, just before the outbreak of H1N1, causing overflow conditions in the emergency rooms of nearby facilities, one of which set up a triage area on a loading dock."
In January, The New York Post has made a list of more hospitals, which are in danger of closing, if New York State government makes major cuts in Medicaid funding :
