MELISSA MARK- COMMITTEES

VIVERITO
COUNCIL MEMBER, 8TH DISTRICT PARKS & RECREATION, CHAIR

DISTRICT OFFICE AGING

105 EAST 116TH STREET
NEW YORK, NY 10029 CIVIL SERVICE & LABOR
(212) 828-9800 THE COUNCIL
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
FAX: (212) 722-6378
OF
CONTRACTS
CITY HALL OFFICE
250 BROADWAY, ROOM 1882
THE CITY OF NEW YORK
HOUSING & BUILDINGS
NEW YORK, NY 10007
(212) 788-6960 PUBLIC HOUSING
FAX: (212) 442-1564
YOUTH SERVICES
mviverito@council.nyc.gov

August 19, 2010

Jeffrey Kraut, Chair

State Hospital Review and Planning Council
Senior Vice President, North Shore Long Island Jewish Health System
145 Community Drive
Great Neck, New York 11021

Dear Mr. Kraut:

I am writing to express my strong support for a request made to the State Hospital
Review and Planning Council (SHRPC), in a letter sent to you by Mr. Hillel Hoffman,
Vice President of Westsiders for Public Participation, on July 29, 2010. As you may
recall, Mr. Hoffman’s letter was sent in reference to a recent decision by the New York
State Department of Health to grant conditional approval to Jewish Home and Hospital
for a replacement facility, which would enable them to move from their current W. 106 th
Street location to a new parcel on W. 100th Street, both of which are in my City Council
district. I share the serious concerns outlined in Mr. Hoffman’s letter about the lack of
public process and community consultation behind this approval, and urge the SHRPC to
recommend that the Department set aside their decision until a public hearing can be held
so that the feedback and concerns of local residents can help inform the Department’s
decision making on this matter.

The subject of Jewish Home’s proposed move to W. 100th Street from their original
location has been a controversial one in the Upper West Side/Manhattan Valley
neighborhoods. There is a great deal of concern among my constituents about the
expected impacts of this new facility not only on their own quality of life but also on the
quality of care that Jewish Home will provide in their new facility. There is also a
complex history in both the Park West Village (PWV) community where they are
planning to build, and on the W. 106th Street parcel, which they are planning to sell to a
developer. Given the unique circumstances surrounding this new facility, which are best
understood by consulting with local residents, a period of public review is especially
important in the case of Jewish Home’s proposal.

As extensively outlined in Mr. Hoffman’s letter, an investigation by local community

members has revealed a number of deficiencies in the way in which the State Health
Department handled Jewish Home’s application when it was re-submitted to include
more updated information that reflected their plans to move the proposed facility to a new
parcel. Such significant changes should have triggered a public review process, but

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unfortunately, this did not take place. The residents in the area immediately surrounding
the proposed W. 100th Street site deserve the same opportunities to offer feedback and
testimony that were afforded to the local residents on W.106th Street. After all, the
building proposed by Jewish Home at W. 100th Street is significantly different from their
previous proposal, not only in terms of physical location, but size, design and layout.

Based on this information, it is my hope that the SHRPC will make a recommendation to
the State Commissioner of Health that he set aside the Department’s previously granted
conditional approval to Jewish Home and Hospital and that he conduct a public hearing
on Jewish Home’s application. Alternatively, I would ask that the SHRPC hold its own
hearing on the application to begin to examine the important concerns that local residents
are raising about the new facility.

Thank you in advance for your consideration of this request.

Sincerely,

Melissa Mark-Viverito
Council Member, District 8

Cc: Commissioner Richard F. Daines, M.D.

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