SUNY officials order police to arrest activists trying to save LICH from closure

BREAKING : Bill de Blasio Was Arrested in an Act of Civil Disobedience to Save LICH.

DeBlasio also marched out in cuffs with a bunch of media following. #savelich pic.twitter.com/aLWH8rB3Z9

— Sarah Jaffe (@sarahljaffe) July 10, 2013

New York City public advocate Bill de Blasio was led away in handcuffs after reports that a peaceful demonstration to save Long Island College Hospital from closing turned into an act of civil disobedience.

.@BilldeBlasio being placed under arrest. Put in the back of police van. pic.twitter.com/PbleLR3hbJ

— Erin Durkin (@erinmdurkin) July 10, 2013

A demonstration had been scheduled Wednesday morning to apply political pressure on SUNY management officials. SUNY will decide whether LICH remains open or is closed as part of Gov. Andrew Cuomo's radical healthcare cuts to window dress the New York State budget in advance of his expected bid for the 2016 presidential race.

Healthcare activists, hospital employees, and healthcare union officials have been trying for months to appeal for help from politicians from Albany to City Hall, but the state legislative session ended last month with no rescue package, and locally Mayor Michael Bloomberg and New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn concluded next years budget negotiations without making any provision to save LICH from closure.

In the last few weeks, activists had been holding many demonstrations, rallies, and other acts of protest to draw attention to the plight of Brooklyn hospitals. Since 2006, ten New York City hospitals have either closed or downsized, and the remaining hospitals are over-burnded. Wait times at emergency rooms are escalating, and patients in life-or-death situations are having to take longer and longer ambulance rides to get to the next nearest emergency room. To make matters worse, Gov. Cuomo empaneled a group called the Medicaid Redesign Team to identify three more hospitals to close in Brooklyn.

On Feb. 8, 2011, four community activists were arrested in an act of civil disobedience to save St. Vincent's Hospital, but the community received no support from Speaker Quinn. At a rally outside of Gov. Cuomo's office on Monday, Mr. de Blasio accused Mayor Bloomberg of just walking away from the community after St. Vincent's Hospital closed. St. Vincent's activists don't remember Mr. de Blasio being involved in the herculean effort to first save St. Vincent's and then to later preserve the hospital infrastructure for a replacement hospital. But pressure politics from this year's mayoral campaign season has finally pushed him to take bold action. Many St. Vincent's activists noted that it was about time that Mr. de Blasio took action, after all, he is the city's Public Advocate.

Speaker Quinn accepted $30,000 in campaign donations from Rudin Management Company before she approved the billion-dollar Rudin condo conversion plan for St. Vincent's Hospital.

Protest Against Christine Quinn At The New School

Last Tuesday, over one dozen protesters gathered outside the New School on West 11th Street in a demonstration against New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn.

Josh Isay, one of Speaker Quinn's campaign consultants, tried to walk into the New School without drawing attention to himself, but many of the protesters knew who he was. Above, Mr. Isay was photographed hustling inside to the education form whilst clutching his cup of coffee ; in the background is the community organiser, Donny Moss.

Speaker Quinn is running an unannounced campaign for mayor this year, and activists across New York City are protesting her horrible record on term limits, the use of slush funds, her blockage of the paid sick leave bill, the closing of so many hospitals in New York City including St. Vincent's, and her support to fully-fund the NYPD's practice of using stop-and-frisk.

I'd Rather Kiss a Cockroach on the Lips Than Vote For @ChrisCQuinn Facebook Page

Over 40 #LIKES : I'd Rather Kiss a Cockroach on the Lips Than Vote For @chriscquinn #Facebook Page facebook.com/pages/Id-Rathe… @hermajestyquinn

— Stop Christine Quinn (@stopchrisquinn) January 13, 2013

Upcoming January 2013 Protests Against Christine Quinn

Upcoming Protests Against Christine Quinn : January 2013

Here are two upcoming protests against the mayoral campaign by New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn :

Protest against Christine Quinn at education forum 1/15myemail.constantcontact.com/Protest-Agains… @uft @chriscquinn @stopchrisquinn @nycschools #defeatquinn

— Defeat Chris Quinn (@donnymossnyc) January 7, 2013

Christine Quinn will be speaking (campaigning) at an education event next Tuesday morning (1/15) at the New School on West 11th between 5th and 6th. If you live in on the West Side, please join us in a protest against Quinn. This is a great opportunity to educate voters about her record.

What: Protest Against Quinn

Where: 65 West 11th Street (btwn 5th & 6th Aves)

When: Tuesday, Jan 15th - 8:00 - 9:00 a.m.

RSVP: via Constant Contact (click on e-mail hyperlink)

On Wednesday, January 16th, the Financial Women's Association is hosting a panel of "power women" which will... fb.me/1N5G7hqk6

— Defeat Chris Quinn (@donnymossnyc) January 7, 2013

On Wednesday, January 16th, the Financial Women's Association is hosting a panel of "power women" which will feature Christine Quinn. Please join us in protesting Quinn's consistent abuse of power to advance her political career.

What: Protest Against Christine Quinn

Where: Bank of NY Mellon 101 Barclay Street (Between Greenwich & West Streets). We will be at the entrance on Murray Street.

When: Wednesday, Dec 16th - 5:00 - 6:15 pm

RSVP: via Facebook

See you there.

Quinn Protest at 2013 Mayoral Education Forum

"City Council Speaker Christine Quinn will accept money and support from StudentsFirstNY, an education advocacy group that was criticized today for having some donors in common with Mitt Romney." (Capital New York)

Does Carolyn Ryan At The NYTimes Protect Christine Quinn From Critical Journalism ?

Does Carolyn Ryan, an editor at The New York Times, prevent any journalism that is critical of New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn from being published by the newspaper ?

Instead, we get fluff pieces, like the one that the bloggers Gary Tilzer and Suzannah B. Troy refer to as the "Betty Crocker story," the main point of which was to show that Speaker Quinn knew how to bake pies.

Meanwhile, nobody knows exactly how much taxpayer money Speaker Quinn has given to Brooklyn political boss, Vito Lopez.

For more information, please visit the blog : Christine Quinn Sold Out.

Christine Quinn Newsletter 2012

Christine Quinn: Learn the Facts 2012

Community organiser and activist Donny Moss has issued a newsletter summarising just some of the more than 20 protests that the community organised against City Council Speaker Christine Quinn in 2011.

Among some of the newsletter highlights :

• Quinn must be humiliated by the unrelenting protests because, in order to avoid us, she has navigated through piles of garbage bags, entered buildings through basements and used her security detail and handlers to divert our attention so that she could scurry past us without being noticed.
• On December 2nd, the Human Rights Project at the Urban Justice Center released its annual NYC Council Human Rights Report Card. Christine Quinn received a D+, the second to lowest score in the City Council. In addition to voting against human rights bills, Quinn used her power as Speaker to kill bills that had a veto-proof majority of supporters.
• As the NY Times reported in October, "A year ago City Council members tried to push through a living wage in the Bronx and to mandate a few sick days for workers. Christine Quinn ensured each effort ended up baled, tied and set by the BQE for early sanitation pickup."
• One of the most powerful weapons in Quinn's arsenal as Speaker is the discretionary funds -- tens of millions of dollars that Quinn 1) doles out to reward campaign donors and loyal Council Members or 2) withholds from Council members who challenge her political or legislative agenda.
• In March, Christine Quinn strong-armed the City Council members to vote in favor of renaming the Queensboro bridge for former NYC Mayor Ed Koch. Several months later, Mayor Ed Koch endorsed her for Mayor -- two years before the election.

For more information, read the entire Christine Quinn Newsletter 2012.

#OccupyWallStreet Marches to St. Vincent's Hospital

The activist group called Hands Off St. Vincent's endorses the #OccupyWallStreet march to St. Vincent's Hospital.

Quinn Plaza Hotel Protest

Christine Quinn - Plaza Hotel - Gays Against Quinn (Protest Video)

Over 20 activists gathered outside the Plaza Hotel in a demonstration against City Council Speaker Christine Quinn. Watch as protesters speak against Christine Quinn to former Mayor David Dinkins' entourage and hand anti-Quinn literature to Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver.

Some of us were there because of Speaker Quinn's use of a $50 million slush fund during a time when we live under constant threat by Mayor Bloomberg, that he is going to lay off teachers and close down fire houses. Others were there, because Speaker Quinn pushed through a controversial extension of term limits, allowing Mayor Bloomberg, herself, and others, to run for a third term in office. Still yet others were there because of Speaker Quinn's complete abdication of full civil rights for LGBT New Yorkers, do-nothing record over hospital closings, horrible animal rights record, and use of city staff for campaign work.

Please join us for a Third Anniversary Protest of the Term Limits Extension at 2 pm on Sunday, October 23, at City Hall.

Please also join our Facebook group : Gays Against Christine Quinn.

Quinn Booed at St. Vincent's Hospital Rally

At One Year Anniversary Rally of the Illegal Closing of St. Vincent's Hospital, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn are Booed by the Crowd.

Yesterday, it was almost like a repeat of the St. Patrick's Day Parade booing and the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire booing. Only the trigger that made the crowds boo at the unpopular mayor and city council speaker was the mere mention of their names.

At the one year anniversary of the hospital's closing, several speakers spoke at a rally, demanding that a hospital be restored at the site of the former St. Vincent's. Nurse Eileen Dunn worked for 25 years at St. Vincent's Hospital -- right up until the time that the hospital was closed after shady meetings between the hospital's management, politicians, potential buyers, and officials with the Department of Health.

Watch the booing beginning at 2:37 :

In this video, which was recorded on 30 April 2011, at the one year anniversary of the hospital's closing, Nurse Dunn asked if the crowd was angry at Mayor Michael Bloomberg or New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn for not doing a thing to help save a full service hospital for the Lower West Side in Manhattan.