The
Red Hook StarªRevue
NOVEMBER 2013
SOUTH BROOKLYN’S COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER
FREE
“Skip” Williams - hospital hitman
“T
his community has been lied to,” said Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio. “At the same time [that] SUNY and the Governor promised everything possible was being done to save LICH, they were preparing to sell it off to the highest bidder.” “SUNY is violating a court order to keep this hospital open, and we won’t let it stand,” de Blasio said. “The same luxury condos being put up over St. Vincent’s will soon rise over LICH if we don’t stop this in its tracks.” One man stands leading that charge: SUNY Downstate President, Dr. John “Skip” Williams. School Chancellor, Nancy Zimpher and the SUNY Board of Trustees have stood behind Williams’ decisions to close Long Island College Hospital. In a memorandum on March 19, 2013, Zimpher wrote to the board, “The proposed resolution expresses the Board’s approval and support for the President of SUNY Downstate Medical Center [Williams] having submitted a plan […]
by Kimberly Gail Price to cease operation of [LICH] as a fullservice inpatient hospital facility.” In a press release from the same day, SUNY said, “We commend Dr. John
LICH may have blinded many to a more sinister purpose to seize its assets and dismantle the hospital,” she wrote. In August, SUNY chose a man well
“In January 2003, Williams was named Provost – or senior academic administrator - of GWU. On August 23 that same year, George Washington University Hospital closed the doors.”
Williams and his team at Downstate Medical for their commitment to preserving and ultimately strengthening this hidden jewel of the SUNY system,” by closing LICH. SUNY officials may have put plans in place long before Williams was hired, as suggested by Kings County Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice, Carolyn Demarest. In August 2013, she overturned her original decision to grant ownership of LICH to SUNY Downstate Medical Center (DMC). “The wave of enthusiasm for a solution that would preserve
seasoned in leading a medical school to the eventual closure of a university run hospital. For that purpose, the truth speaks clearly on why McCall considers Williams to be “precisely what we have been looking for.”
A change of leadership Dr. John LaRosa preceded Williams as President of DMC from 1999 until June 2012. Prior to that, LaRosa served as the chancellor of Tulane University Medical Center. From 1987-1991, he served as dean of clinical affairs, and dean of research from 1991-1994 at George
John Williams (photo by Kimberly Gail Price)
Washington University (GWU). During LaRosa’s time at GWU, Williams was working first as an assistant professor of anesthesiology, then as an assistant dean for admissions, and finally, as Associate Vice President for Graduate Medical Education and Spe(continued on page 3)
Elite private school to be built near Red Hook Houses
A
private K-12 school catering to parents who can afford $23,500 annual tuition is about to receive a variance allowing it to be constructed in Red Hook. It will be built on what is now a truck parking lot at 556 Columbia Street. That location is across from Red Hook Park, close to IKEA and about two blocks from the Red Hook Houses. The operators of the school, BASIS Independent, run a number of charter schools in Arizona, Texas and Washington DC. The company is owned by a husband and wife who were granted their first charter school in Tucson, Arizona in 1998. They opened a second in 2003, and have received the support of Craig Barret, founder of the Intel Corporation, who is used to promote the schools on their website. Preparation for this school began as early as last summer, when a builder contracted by BASIS had an environmental study performed on the property. The
by George Fiala
only obstacle they now face is approval from the NYC Board of Standards and Appeals (BSA) for a special use variance to operate a school in an M-1-1 Special Mixed Use site. That hearing is scheduled for December 15. They have already received approval from a CB6 committee at a meeting at the Miccio Center held on November 14th. The CB6 Executive Board is expected to rubber stamp it’s approval at their December 11 Executive Board meeting.
Not much publicity For those not paying attention, a for-profit private school two blocks away from the Red Hook Houses comes as a complete surprise. Meeting notices were only required to be posted up to 400 feet away from the property, an area pretty much unoccupied. Neither Lillie Marshall or Dorothy Shields, presidents of the East and West Tenant Associations, were notified. Wally Bazemore, local activist living on Columbia Street, was surprised to hear about this plan when contacted
The truck parking lot which is the future location of the BASIS school. (photo by Stefanie Deji)
by the Star-Revue. Red Hook investigator John McGettrick only found out by scanning upcoming hearings of the Board of Standards and Appeals. Dan Wiley, from Nydia Velazquez’s office, stated that since no government funding
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is asked for, BSA approval is probably all they will need to start building. According to DNAinfo, a representative from BASIS told CB6 that they chose Red Hook because of its proximity to (continued on page 18)