On January 17, NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio attended a Town Hall Meeting hosted by NYC Council Member Ben Kallos to answer questions from residents of Roosevelt Island, Yorkville, Lenox Hill, Carnegie Hill, Sutton Place, and El Barrio in East Harlem.

Resident Lynn Strong-Shinozaki asked the only Roosevelt Island question during the 1 1/2 hour Town Hall meeting. Ms Strong Shinozaki asked about the future of
NYC Health & Hospital Corp’s Coler Hospital, the patients and:

…. it looks like they are moving towards closing that Hospital and where will those people go ….

Mayor de Blasio did not answer the specific question of whether or not Color Hospital is closing. Mayor de Blasio told Ms. Shinozaki:

… We have to figure out what we are going to do with the future of our public health system. Some of our premier facilities, we are going to in many cases re-purpose, but we have alot of different uses for them….

…. Whatever we do in any case, we do protect the interests of the patient. That’s the whole reason it’s there….

I asked Council Member Kallos today:

During the January 17 Town Hall meeting, Lynn Strong-Shinozaki asked Mayor de Blasio if there were any plans to shut down Coler Hospital on Roosevelt Island.

The Mayor did not give any specific answer to that question.

Are there any plans to shut down Coler Hospital or make any changes to it’s current service?

Council Member Kallos replied:

I have ongoing concerns that under utilization of space, a failure to invest in maintaining key infrastructure, laying off of doctors and key staff, and empty wings, is setting Coler Hospital up for failure and a self imposed financial crisis that will result in its closure and sale.

I also asked Mayor de Blasio’s office for comment. Have not heard back yet but will update with more info. A second Roosevelt Island resident asked the Mayor a question, but not specifically about Roosevelt Island, Frank Farance asked Mayor de Blasio about corruption in the NYC Department of Investigation. Most of the questions asked did not concern Roosevelt Island but other areas of Council Member Kallos’ district. Here’s video of the entire Town Hall Meeting.

Roosevelt Islander