Showing posts with label Greenwich Village. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Greenwich Village. Show all posts

Saturday, July 28, 2012

Fran Lebowitz Criticises Mike Bloomberg Over Hospital Closings

Read Also : Fran Lebowitz And Frank Rich At The Town Hall : A Review Of The State Of The Union Conversation


At NYUFASP book launch, Fran Lebowitz slammed New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Bill Rudin.

Fran Lebowitz denounced New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's record on hospital closings in a speech about the larger issues of mega, zone-busting real estate development deals that are destroying the social fabric of New York City

At 10:53, Ms. Lebowitz begins to speak about the closing of St. Vincent's Hospital. She describes Bill Rudin as one of the mayor's best friends.

When St. Vincent's Hospital closed, I said, "Where is that mayor ? Where's that health conscious mayor -- that mayor, who doesn't let Fran smoke a cigarette in a restaurant ? Where is that mayor ? Not a sound out of that mayor, when they closed the only hospital in the entire neighborhood. And I said, "Wait until you see, who ends up with that property, which is now way too valuable to use as a hospital. Billy Rudin is going to end up with that property," and he did. And he is one of the mayor's best friends. Okay, how many hospitals did this mayor close ? How many hospitals closed under him ? Public health is what the mayor is in charge of.

The purpose of her speech was the book launch of 'While We Were Sleeping : NYU and the Destruction of New York' at McNally Jackson bookstore in SoHo.

Make a pledge today to support Roots of Betrayal : The Ethics of Christine Quinn on Kickstarter.