From the Demand A Hospital listserv
Dear All :
A deceptive astroturf mailer is being sent to Brooklyn residents formerly treated by Long Island College Hospital. The mailer praises the condo conversion deal that closed the hospital with plans to replace it with another "urgent care center on steroids."
LINK : De Blasio-allied group defends LICH deal to brownstone Brooklyn (Capital New York) : http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/city-hall/2014/07/8548261/de-blasio-allied-group-defends-lich-deal-brownstone-brooklyn
Shades of when Bll Rudin used an astroturf group called "Westside Healthcare Coalition" to send his own deceptive mailers about the inferior urgent care center to be operated by North Shore-LIJ/Lenox Hill at the old O'Toole Building that the community was being duped into accepting as a sub-par replacement for the full-service and Trauma Level I hospital that was St. Vincent's.
LINK : Westside Healthcare Coalition is a Lie (Scribd) : http://www.scribd.com/doc/52718885/West-Side-Healthcare-Coalition-is-a-Lie
The really shocking part of the deceptive LICH mailers being sent to Brooklyn residents is that the mailers are coming from the lobbying firm Berlin Rosen, which is Mayor Bill de Blasio's political arm in public relations.
Mayor de Blasio didn't save LICH, betraying his campaign promise to support "hospitals, not condos." Now, the mayor and his people want to spin a story about how the luxury condo conversion of another hospital is good for still yet another big name real estate developer, this time the Fortis Property Group.
Shame !!!!!
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Tell Mayor Bill de Blasio and Gov. Andrew Cuomo to stop closing our hospitals. Call 311 for the mayor and 1 (518) 474-8390 for the governor.
You can also tweet your concerns to : @BilldeBlasio -and- @NYGovCuomo
The major problem for Bill is the loss of goodwill with the public. Once this story gets out there, it will be tough for him to rid himself of it. The key point is that the community surrounding LICH must FINALLY band together in unity and demand better treatment. If they say nothing, then Cuomo/de Blasio/real estate development wins. Had the local residents been protesting all along, there may have been a better outcome. It is still not too late.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you 100%. Something similar to what you described happened with St. Vincent's -- and with probably every hospital closing. Politicians lose their goodwill, precisely because they don't honor the demands of the communities they pledged to serve. The city's activists and the citizens must (re)unite and demand better treatment. The key is to give people an opportunity to participate (be it whatever form that needs to take) that gives them a satisfied role in the outcome of the process. It is never too late. But people have to (re)unite to cross-support each other in our efforts to reform the broken political system.
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