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[Westsiders for Public Participation]

New questions raised about Jewish Home Lifecare

A recent letter from the New York State Department of Health to Jewish Home Lifecare (JHL) obtained under the Freedom of Information Law has left us uncertain of the status of JHL's real estate development intentions for West 100th Street. The letter concerns a "modification" to JHL's  application to construct a new residential health care facility on West 106th Street. In order to acquire complete information for the use of citizens and to preserve their right to public participation, we have written this letter to the Department of Health. Read the letter

[Jean Golden]

Great letter written by Paul Bunten about our concerns regarding  JHL!  Hopefully, we'll get the response and information we need.

                                                                                 JG

PS  In the meantime, let's see if we can bring a stop to the IDLING delievery  trucks that begin lining up on Columbus Avenue around 6:00 and 6:30 in the morning.

[Rob]

Bravo!!
Wonderfully constructed message.
Good luck to us all.

[CT]

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

[GJS]

That is a very fine letter - good for you.  I hope a lawyer can pursue the issue of how a permit can be transferred to a different location.

[Robert Cabrera]

Great detective work.  

With reference to  'on a street, (100th Street),  that is already overburdened by multiple extraordinary uses.' etc. I think it would be in the best interests of Westsiders to continually define those 'extraordinary uses',  e. g. extremely active firehouse and police station 24/7 with  their accessory on street parking, often double parking,  already filling the block between Columbus & Amsterdam. Hardly an environmental improvement over the current relatively quiet JHL location on West 106th Street.

[Paul S. Bunten]

With reference to 'on a street, (100th Street),  that is already overburdened by multiple extraordinary uses.' etc. I think it would be in the best interests of Westsiders to continually define those 'extraordinary uses.'

We will all have the opportunity to define those uses at a hearing before the Commissioner of Health.

[C.H.]

What a superb letter...thank you!

[P.F.]

Very very good and the property on 107 st should not be given to this developer.

[Paul S. Bunten]

Health Commissioner Daines received our request for a public hearing on Friday 06/18/10 at 9:01am.

Director Jeffrey Rothman received our FOIL request on Friday  06/18/10 at 10:36am.

[Jean Green Dorsey]

Jean Green Dorsey
Westgate - 160 West 97th Street - New York, NY  10025

An Open Letter to:

Mr. Jeffrey Rothman, MS, MBA
Director, Bureau of Project Management
Division of Health Facility Planning
NY State Department of Health, 6th floor
433 River Street
Troy, NY 12180-2299

                                                                        Re: CON 062403
                                                                              Jewish Home and Hospital
                                                                              a/k/a Jewish Home Lifecare (JHL)

Dear Mr. Rothman:

When I learned that you were a key contact for the decision making regarding the Certificate of Need (CON) necessary for this project – I was concerned with making the best presentation possible. Therefore, please allow me to provide you with a little background information.

I am an ultimate “Native New Yorker” having arrived here when at 9 months old – fussing because it was not my birthplace. A resident of Manhattan, and at my present address for more than 35 years, this is my home. I served on the Board of Community Board 7 for 8 years and have been the Chair of our Tenants’ Association for 10 years. Part of the work on the Community Board involved the Zoning Task Force that, with extraordinary effort on the part of City Planning, developed a comprehensive plan for our area.

The new proposed site for the Jewish Home and Hospital makes no sense – other than to allow for a “little killing” by some development interests. It will greatly harm the quality-of-life for our neighborhood. There is nothing that is Necessary about their request. The proposed 22-story nursing home is not a “modification” of their original proposal. Rather, it is an attempt to skirt the spirit of the law and the goals of the in-place zoning regulations.

The lack of notice that a new CON had been distributed, and the fact that no staff person at DOH would report on JHL’s CON status speaks volumes about what has happened to keep this project under everyone’s radar. Too late! We know about it, do not find it acceptable and ask for your help in allowing the appropriate public mechanisms to work. Our community organizations and citizens wish to exercise our rights and responsibilities through public comment, verbal and written, and will address serious questions as to the character and competence of the provider, the unsuitability of the proposed new site, and financial questions which may not have been addressed.

Sincerely,

 Jean Green Dorsey


Copy to:         Westsiders for Public Participation
                        Gale Brewer
                        Melissa M. Viverito
                        Charles Rangel
                        Bill Perkins
                        Daniel O’Donnell
                        Mayor Bloomberg
                        Cathy Unsino
                        Sue Susman
                        Amanda Burden

[Gerald Sider]

Dear Mr. Rothman,

JHL, as you must know, has the lowest possible level of approval for their eldercare facilities.  Indeed they have a record of lying and misrepresenting BOTH their presence in the neighborhood AND their care for the elderly. The new facility they propose will make it difficult to do anything but keep the elderly confined to their rooms -- it is too high and narrow for anything else -- and will have a significant negative impact on the neighborhood. For the sake of both, crucially, I urge you to proceed here with the utmost caution and openness.  Both the elderly and the neighbors will be grateful to you for doing so.

Thanks,

Gerald Sider, Ph.D.
Elder and Youth Violence Specialist

[Norman A. Ross]

Dear Mr. Rothman:
 
I have been living in PWV since 1967, first in 792 Columbus Avenue, quite close to where the JHL disaster is pending, and across the street in 392 CPW since the birth of our first daughter in 1975.  Having bought our apartment about 20 years ago, when it was relatively cheap, my wife & I cannot imagine any circumstances where we might be able to afford to move out in our lifetimes.
 
The four new buildings now separating 392 from 792 are a tragedy for the neighborhood, the new shopping be damned.  Sunsets have been shortened while shadows have been lengthened; the Hudson River has disappeared from the views of those of us on high floors, as has our privacy; the construction drags on forever with its attendant noise and pollution; parking has disappeared on Columbus Avenue, yet there’s a big influx of shoppers; and I can only imagine what it’s going to be like using the reduced NYC transit services once the buildings are fully occupied—not to mention overcrowding at the local schools, although we are well beyond personal involvement in that problem.
 
The last thing the neighborhood needs is another building in the middle of the complex—although I’m sure the Chetrit Group is working their tails off trying to find ways to do just that not only in the parking lot of 784, but also the one in front of 792, whether by hook or by crook.  Which brings me to how the deal was apparently made with JHL.  You tell me—was it by hook or by crook?  Did JHL make the deal to move before they requested a variance for their property at 106th Street?  From everything I have read about the sponsors—and from the stink emanating from this deal and everything about it, I would be willing to lay big odds that an investigation of their communications would reveal just that—unless they were smarter than Nixon and destroyed all the tapes!
 
As you probably know, Chetrit bought a number of buildings with rent-stabilized apartments with the express intent of forcing out as many of their tenants as possible so they could raise the rents, PWV included.  They have already lost a few of those buildings, but of course, they know how to cut their losses and they seem none the worse for having bankrupted those buildings.   And as the article below indicates, they are just as happy blocking out the sun in Brooklyn as they are in Manhattan (I grew up in Prospect Park so to speak).
 
Representatives of Chetrit addressed a meeting in our building around the time they were starting on the construction of 888 and they said “we are going to spend a million dollars landscaping the areas where the parking lots are now in front of 784 and 792.”  I threw up at the time and I’m still a bit nauseous from hearing such lies.  It is urgent that this disaster be stopped. Otherwise, I’m hoping my neighbors will join me in picketing your office.
 
I am waiting for the day when nobody believes anything Chetrit says, because they have no concern for anyone or anything except profits in their pockets.

Norman A. Ross, President
Ross Publishing LLC

"Brooklyn Hospital may not have found a cure for its ailing finances, but it recently got a $15.6 million band-aid. That’s the price the Chetrit Group paid for the former Caledonian Hospital on Parkside Avenue, according to public records. The multi-building complex—which fronts Prospect Park—can support a residential development larger than 200,000 square feet. Caledonian was downgraded from a hospital to a health center a few years ago, according to Across the Park. (Non sequitur: We're not sure exactly what neighborhood this is in, since it's not exactly Prospect Park South or Prospect Lefferts Gardens, far as we can tell. This just plan ol' Flatbush?) The property’s high-flying buyer, the Chetrit Group, owns more than 50 commercial and residential buildings across the U.S., including a stake in the Sears Tower. And the firm’s been making significant inroads into Brooklyn lately, with developments planned for two sites in Williamsburg. Given the prime location next to the park and the big footprint, seems like the smart money would be on Chetrit razing Caledonian and building a condo. But, then again, who knows where the smart money is nowadays."

[Paul S. Bunten]

Jeffrey Rothman acknowledged Westsiders for Public Participation's Freedom of Information Law Request on June 18, 2010:
http://wppnyc.org/docs/NYSDOHtoWPP.pdf