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March to protest sale of LICH set for Sunday in Brooklyn

A march and rally to protest the sale of Long Island College Hospital (LICH) in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn to developer Fortis Property Group is planned for Sunday, Oct. 26 at 1 p.m.

City Councilmember Brad Lander will kick off the march, which will start at Nevins Street and Atlantic Avenue and proceed down Atlantic to a rally at roughly 2 p.m. at Hicks Street and Atlantic Avenue. The rally features speakers including City Councilmember Steve Levin and Jo Anne Simon, Democratic candidate for the 52nd Assembly District.

“The goal is to put pressure on Governor Cuomo, the NY State Comptroller, and the NY State Attorney General to reverse this decision and to save our hospital,” the advocacy group Patients for LICH said in a statement. Representatives of community groups including the Cobble Hill Association plan to march.

Members of the community, officialss and staff have beeen fighting for almost two years to save the hospital.

As part of the sale, Fortis agreed to have a medical facility on the premises for neighborhood use, to be run by NYU-Langone.

"Without a hospital on the same premises, the facility is an ‘urgicare’ center that might actually be detrimental in a life threatening situation where seconds would count in saving a life,” Patients for LICH said in a statement.

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October 24, 2014
http://www.brooklyneagle.com//articl...unday-brooklyn