Officials and community members fighting over the future of Long Island College Hospital have reached a deal, though its details are being kept under wraps for now.
The settlement was reached Thursday between SUNY Downstate, which runs the Cobble Hill hospital, and community groups that sued to keep the facility operational.
Sources say that according to the settlement, the bidding process will start fresh, and only proposals with “a major health care component” will be considered.
Sources also say that representatives from the community will play an active role in the selection process.
The deal will also allow SUNY to pull out of operating the cash-strapped facility by May of this year.
Even though both sides still have to sign off on the deal, the plaintiffs are claiming a victory, adding that the real winners are the people of Brooklyn.
“I think that you’ll see at the end of the day that we had certain core principals that were critical to us, and SUNY was generous enough to accommodate those core principals,” said Plaintiffs Attorney Jim Walden.
“The main thing from the very beginning that the community has wanted, the unions have wanted, the physicians have wanted is a full-service hospital,” said Susan Shanahan, a LICH registered nurse.
“This really is about health care. And basically, what we’ve agreed to is a new process where we will be focusing on health care, and that we will be analyzing the bids based on health care and not finances and/or real estate,” said Public Advocate Letitia James.
In a statement, Mayor Bill de Blasio praised the work of nurses, doctors, neighborhood associations, patients and elected officials, and also commended the commitment of Cuomo and SUNY.
“For months, we were told the free-fall closure of Long Island College Hospital was inevitable. We fought back. We went to court to keep the padlocks off the doors. We fought shoulder to shoulder with this community and used all the tools of city government to press for a better outcome. And now, we have a resolution that finally puts people’s health first,” the statement reads, in part.
The statement goes on to say, “Protecting continuity of care and ensuring the health care needs of this community are met will now be the yardstick by which proposals for the future of LICH are measured. There is more work ahead, but we are closer than ever to the long-term, sustainable solution all of us have sought.”
Last month, SUNY announced it was renewing its request for proposals to redevelop the struggling hospital into condominiums, but that idea was tabled at the 11th hour.
Both parties are set to present the agreement to a judge on Friday.
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