Community activists, egged on by then-candidate Bill de Blasio, have never been willing to accept realities at Brooklyn’s Long Island College Hospital. Now, they’re again seeing their dreams for the site thrown into chaos. If they don’t face facts soon, they may wind up with nothing.
Their latest troubles spring from news that L+M Development Partners is no longer interested in building affordable housing that was part of a deal to replace LICH.
Apparently, the project isn’t financially viable unless it includes taller buildings with more market-rate units to cover costs.
Yet some in the community reject taller towers. LICH is “our hospital,” says Jeff Starbone of the Cobble Hill Association. “Now we’re told that we have to lose [LICH] to make way for housing. It should be the least intrusive housing possible.”
Denials of reality aren’t surprising here. LICH had to be closed because it couldn’t pay its bills. Yet even as it was hemorrhaging red ink, de Blasio & Co. insisted it stay open as a full-service hospital.
So now the community is faced with a choice: Accept the taller, more “intrusive” buildings, or risk seeing the project fall apart — and no affordable housing built.
The good news is that the mayor may accept taller towers to help him reach his goal of building or preserving 200,000 affordable units citywide. So maybe a new deal will be reached. If so, the city would see vitally needed new housing to expand its supply and help stem apartment costs.
Whatever happens, though, the activists are getting a useful message: Even for progressives, economic realities generally win out in the end, one way or another.