Opinion: Lenox Hill Hospital Expansion is About Profits, Not Care

Let s be clear a -foot healthcare tower has no place in Lenox Hill or any residential neighborhood This is a locality defined by its human-scale architecture its walkability and its residential character An illustration of the proposed redevelopment Image via Northwell Healthcare As a long-time resident of the Upper East Side I ve watched with growing concern as Northwell Vitality pushes forward a controversial proposal to redevelop Lenox Hill Hospital into a monstrous -foot tower in a residential neighborhood a Midtown office building on a residential block While the hospital markets this as a much-needed modernization effort the reality is starkly different This project is not about better individual care it s about maximizing profits at the expense of a district s quality of life It is a corporate ego trip and a realm share move that is overwhelmingly opposed by our society I am a member of the Committee to Protect Our Lenox Hill Neighborhood a group formed to stand against this outsized and inappropriate advancement Our concerns aren t abstract they are immediate and real Northwell s proposal would lead to a decade of heavy construction in a densely populated residential neighborhood Families toddlers students seniors in wheelchairs and walkers will face constant noise dust corruption traffic chaos and pose serious safety concerns The livability of Lenox Hill would be irreparably damaged by a massive tower forever Our opposition isn t isolated Manhattan Group Board has voted no to Northwell s proposal by a margin of rejecting the zoning changes that call for to percent zoning increases in what is allowed nowadays by methodically thought out and long standing zoning laws The precedent Northwell wants to establish would allow Floor Area Ratio FAR zoning that is only ascertained in Midtown and Hudson Yard office areas never in residential neighborhoods What does that mean for your neighborhood Another Perspective Investing in New York s Healthcare Future is a Sacred Duty Opinion Now we re asking for broader masses patronage to ensure that the City Planning Commission and the City Council listen to the people the greater part directly affected and consider the larger healthcare equity requirements across the entire city Over people have signed our petition against this project and more than people turn out for every local meeting on it a huge show of anger frustration and fear of what we are facing Let s be clear a -foot clinical tower has no place in Lenox Hill or any residential neighborhood This is a population defined by its human-scale architecture its walkability and its residential character Allowing a structure of this magnitude would not only overwhelm the area but it would set a dangerous precedent for overdevelopment across the city It threatens to turn our society and possibly yours next into a corridor of corporate campuses And here s the irony Lenox Hill doesn t need this kind of expansion The East Side is already surrounded by world-class institutions New York-Presbyterian Weill Cornell Memorial Sloan Kettering HSS and Mount Sinai What the city necessities is smarter more equitable healthcare planning Why not consider areas that are certainly underserved The Upper East Side or Bedpan Alley has beds per every residents while the Lower East Side has beds Does that make sense to you We read daily about hospital closings and therapeutic deserts throughout our city yet Northwell wants to spend billion to create just more beds in one of the largest part concentrated hospital areas That is madness Ultimately this is about priorities New York s healthcare system should be shaped by society need not developer ambition City bureaucrats must stop rubber-stamping glossy proposals They must ask harder questions Who benefits Who is burdened And what kind of city are we building No one should be steamrolled by huge corporations for their profit at our expense Andrew Gaspar is an Upper East Side resident and a member of the Committee to Protect Our Lenox Hill Neighborhood The post Opinion Lenox Hill Hospital Expansion is About Profits Not Care appeared first on City Limits