Bill Rudin, Marathon Organisers Hoarding 41 Generators Whilst NYC Still In Dark

Mayor Concedes To Critics : Cancels Marathon : What Took So Long ?

Race organisers, including the Rudin Family, the New York Road Runners Club, and ING, used Mayor Michael Bloomberg to be the fall guy for criticism about the city using valuable resources to hold the New York City Marathon. Yesterday, Mayor Bloomberg was forced to cancel the marathon after The New York Post reported that at least 41 generators were being hoarded by race officials. Meanwhile, large numbers of New York City residents were rendered homeless with little to no resources for food, shelter, heat, health, or safety in the wake of Hurricane Sandy.

Many storm victims were outraged at all the resources, not just power generators, that were being hoarded by marathon organisers for the sole benefit of runners.

"Runners were set to dine on a lavish Saturday-evening pre-race meal that included lemon-thyme chicken with shallot jus, and autumn vegetable bow-tie pasta primavera with extra virgin oil and fresh herbs — which most storm victims would have killed for," reported The New York Post.

"More than 2,000 cops are typically assigned to work the marathon. About five years ago, the city started privatizing medical coverage at the event, although scores of city paramedics and EMTs are still assigned to the race," reported The New York Daily News.

NYU Langone Is Evacuated As St. Vincent's Hospital Becomes Luxury Condos

From The New York Times :

To the Editor :

Looking at the images of ambulances in front of NYU Langone Medical Center evacuating the hospital, one remembers the cry for the preservation of St. Vincent’s Hospital Manhattan made by the community and its doctors.

Let us join together to come up with a solution so that the people of New York will have access to the critical emergency care they need.

ROBERT B. GOLDBERG
New York, Oct. 31, 2012

The writer, dean and professor at the Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine, is a former attending physician at St. Vincent’s Hospital Manhattan.

Brad Hoylman #OccupyCB2 Flyer

2011 10 17 RE ACT OccupyCB2 Flyer
2011-10-17 Stop the Rezoning of St. Vincent's Hospital Flyer #OccupyCB2

Jeffrey Kraut North Shore-LIJ

After William Rudin's giant scheme to take over St. Vincent's Hospital real estate properties has triggered an investigation by prosecutors, the Rudin Family went to great lengths to make sure that its luxury condominium conversion plan would be fast-tracked, pulling out all the stops.

But new information came to light this week : one top official of North Shore-LIJ hospital system, Jeffrey Kraut, is chair of the committee, which will recommend or deny North Shore-LIJ's application for a Department of Health license to operate a controversial stand-alone Emergency Department.

The Emergency Department is a consolation prize for the loss of a full-service hospital and Level 1 trauma center after St. Vincent's Hospital closed on April 30, 2010. Thus far, Mr. Kraut's actions has not been referred to the Attorney General's office, which oversees the ethics of the State's executive agencies, such as the Department of Health.

Mr. Kraut's conflict of interest in having influence over his own company's financial contracts and government licenses provide fresh evidence about the lack of integrity in the Rudin condo version plan.

In order to build its luxury condos, the Rudin Family encouraged North Shore-LIJ's application for the stand-alone Emergency Department. Because the Rudin condo conversion plan depends on the approval of North Shore-LIJ's application before the Department of Health, community members question Mr. Kraut's influence on other members of the Committee on Establishment and Project Review Meeting and Public Hearing, which will determine the outcome of North Shore-LIJ's permit application.

The information about Mr. Kraut's conflict of interest is another negative blight on the Rudin Family, who have also tried astroturfing, lobbying, and distribution of propaganda by mail. The Rudin Family has also been criticised for opposing freedom of information requests that might be useful in investigations.

Separately, the Department of Health has been criticised for its inaction in saving other hospitals from closure, and for the absence of any investigation or prosecution of individuals, who were involved in the hospital closure crisis.

Rudin Plan Geographical Nightmare

Chief Abdo Nahmod calls Rudin Plan for St. Vincents a ''Geographical Nightmare''

Watch as the community of the Lower West Side of Manhattan confront New York City EMS Chief Abdo Nahmod over the intentional confusion being propounded by Brad Hoylman, the chair of Manhattan Community Board 2, over ambulance "Response Time" and "Transport Time" in the wake of the closing of St. Vincent's Hospital.

Chief Nahmod said that Manhattan CB2 would be providing statistics about ''response time'' versus ''transport time,'' but no such disclosure has been made.

Residents of the Lower West Side believe that Mr. Hoylman is working against replacing St. Vincent's with a full-service hospital with a Level 1 Trauma Center and is, instead, trying to help the billionaire Rudin Family turn St. Vincent's into more and more luxury condominiums for Greenwich Village.

9/11 Tenth Anniversary

September 11 Tenth Anniversary - St. Vincent's Fallen Hero Tribute

On September 11, 2001, the only Level 1 Trauma Center below 14th Street in Manhattan was St. Vincent's Hospital -- it was the hospital that would have treated thousands of people, had there been more survivors. Sadly, many people perished on that awful day. Less than 9 years later, St. Vincent's Hospital was closed, as part of a luxury condo conversion plan by the billioniare Rudin Family.

Another NYC Hospital Closing

Is the Rudin Family eyeing their next real estate harvesting operation on the dead carcass of the Peninsula Hospital Center in Queens ?

After he's done with St. Vincent's Hospital, it has been heard on the street that William Rudin is considering another real estate harvesting operation, this time at the Peninsula Hospital Center in Queens.

Rudin Family Political Donations

In an apparent conflict of interest, Beth R. DeWoody, Madeleine R. Johnson, Eric C. Rudin, Jack Rudin, Katherine Rudin, and William C. Rudin each donated $4,950 to Christine Quinn's presumed 2013 mayoral campaign. During this time, the Rudin family has been trying to salvage a multi-million dollar real estate purchase of the buildings that belong to the bankruptcy estate of St. Vincent's Hospital. Since the Rudin family wants to build luxury high-rise condos on the site of St. Vincent's, do these large campaign donations explain why Speaker Quinn has done nothing to restore a hospital to the former St. Vincent's site ?

Jane Jacobs would save St. Vincent's Hospital. Why can't Brad Hoylman ?

For Stroke Victims, Every Minute Matters

Jim Fouratt exposes the dangers faced every single day by residents of the Lower West Side of Manhattan : in a healthcare emergency, every minute matters.

Elizabeth Adam, commuity organizer, senior advocate, and health care worker, suffered a stroke on April 1, 2011. Luckily, she was at work in Brooklyn and not at home on West 12th Street in Greenwich Village. At the time of her healthcare emergency, she was 8 minutes away from a hospital. Who knows how long it would have taken if she was at home, where there is now no full-service hospital. None of the 14 URGENT CARE CENTERS on the West Side could have saved her life. She need a full-service hospital. Community activist Jim Fouratt said that this is why we are fighting to get the Rudin Family to take back the O'Toole Building they bought, tear it down, and build their condos there -- so we can restore a full-service hospital with an emergency department and a Level 1 Trauma Center at the former site of St. Vincent's Hospital. This story has a happy ending ... this time.

Brad Hoylman is chair of the Omnibus St. Vincent's committee of Manhattan Community Board 2. Since the illegal closing of St. Vincent's, the community successfully pressured CB2 to pass a resolution that would prevent any change in zoning of the former site of St. Vincent's Hospital. But since then, Mr. Hoylman had done nothing to enforce that resolution, because he is bed with Deputy Mayor Christine Quinn and her rich developer friends. In fact, the Rudin Family, who want to tear down St. Vincent's in order to build more and more luxury condos, has donated approximately $30,000 in disclosed donations to Deputy Mayor Quinn's expected campaign to run for mayor in 2013.