St. Mary’s expansion draws ire

A plan to expand a non-profit children’s hospital in Bayside has sparked a verbal firestorm, with state legislators branded “knuckleheads” and one Community Board member branding a hospital administrator as a “liar.”
The controversy pits St. Mary’s Children’s Hospital against two civic groups - the John Golden Park Block Association and the East Bayside Homeowner’s Association (EBHA). These groups claim that the $105 million project is a “misuse of taxpayer funds.”
The hospital counters that the funds are not taxpayers’ funds and “will be raised through philanthropic support with the balance financed through standard bank financing or tax exempt bonds.”
The problems between the hospital and the groups came to the forefront recently when St. Mary’s filed an application with the state for a “Certificate of Need” (C.O.N.), which was approved on Thursday, February 7.
When word of the application spread, seven local residents signed up to speak about the topic at the February 4 meeting of Community Board 11 (CB11), which covers the area. All were opposed to the project and upset with the administration of the facility.
CB11 chair Steve Newman invited Dr. Edwin Simpser, COO of St. Mary’s Hospital, to present the facility’s case before the board “in the interest of clarity and fairness.”
As Simpser began his presentation, the meeting dissolved into a shouting match, as he was severely heckled. One CB11 member, Frank Skala, who is also president of the EBHA, called Simpser a liar at the top of his lungs.
The outburst prompted Newman to write a letter to Borough President Helen Marshall, who appoints board members, and City Councilmember Tony Avella, who first nominated Skala, asking them to “meet with and hopefully influence him as to what is appropriate behavior.”
Newman was roundly criticized by some CB11 members for writing a letter to State Health Commissioner Richard Daines the day after the meeting, which made it sound as if the board endorsed the application. No vote on the issue was taken.
The State Department of Health confirmed that they received the letter, but said that the vote to approve the application was not influenced by it.
Critics of the project enlisted the support of Daily News columnist Denis Hamill, who painted a harsh if not erroneous portrait of the facts. He claimed the four-story expansion would be funded with taxpayer money and the construction would “obliterate air flow and scenic views,” as well as bringing in construction noise and additional traffic to the neighborhood.
Six days after Hamill’s indictment of the St. Mary’s expansion, The Daily News lambasted State Senator Frank Padavan and Assemblymember Ann-Margaret Carrozza in their lead editorial, called “Pols’ sick ploy,” and gave each a “Knucklehead Award,” for their having expressed reservations about the project.
Padavan was bemused. “I have been very helpful to St. Mary’s,” he said, adding, “I helped them get their first capital allocation. The community has objections they feel are valid, so I asked for a delay until they could be heard.”
He expressed satisfaction with the hospital’s assurance that they will fully comply with the process going forward.
Carrozza did not return repeated calls to her office by press time.
Simpser is committed to making the project a reality.
“We’ve addressed every neighborhood concern, except the ones who want us to do nothing,” he told The Queens Courier during an extended meeting at which he presented renderings of the proposed construction and answered questions about the finances. “There’s just no pleasing some people,” he said.
Simpser admitted that meetings with the community have dwindled “as there’s little more to say until we have final plans to show.” He also admitted that the communication process broke down when they relied “on a single contact person.”
Simpser said, “We’re building in the back where almost no one can see, putting a road on the property to limit construction vehicle traffic, getting rid of the temporary structures that annoyed some people and we’re going to extensively replant with trees and shrubs to give the neighbors a better view.”
“Our kids need a school inside the building, a room to be with their families and treatment areas that aren’t in hallways,” he declared. “They’re our primary concern.”