NYC NOW - July 12, 2024: Midday News

Episode Date: July 12, 2024

New city data shows New Yorkers are more likely to have been killed by a driver than a gunman this year, with 127 people killed by drivers since January. Also, New York Philharmonic President and CEO Gary Gintsling resigned on Thursday after just one year on the job. And in Queens, Rockaway Beach reopens Friday after shark sightings forced authorities to close a stretch on Thursday. Plus, Beth Israel Hospital in Downtown Manhattan is not closing this week despite initial plans to shut down by July 12. The hospital is serving a fraction of its former patient load, and officials say they still hope to close soon. WNYC’s Michael Hill speaks with health care reporter Caroline Lewis to explain the situation. Finally, as Democrats clash over President Biden’s candidacy, WNYC’s Brigid Bergin talks to retired New York Democrats about how they made the decision to relinquish power.

Welcome to NYC Now. Your source for local news in and around New York City from WNYC. It's Friday, July 12th. Here's the midday news from Veronica Deli. New Yorkers are more likely this year to have been killed by a driver than a gunman. That's according to new city data. From January to now, drivers killed 127 people. 82 people were shot and killed over the gunmen.

the same period. When Mayor Adams took office two years ago, he launched an aggressive crackdown on illegal guns. But street safety advocates say he hasn't made the same effort at reducing traffic deaths. Mike McGinn is the former mayor of Seattle and an advocate for pedestrian safety. Politicians respond to when there's a media storm around gun violence. And I'll tell you, they'd respond to a media storm around traffic violence. A spokesperson for Adams says he plans to reduce the speed limit to 20 mire per hour and 250 locations around the city. But that will happen at the end of next year. The head of the New York Philharmonic has resigned. President's CEO Gary Gintzling abruptly stepped down yesterday after just one year on the job. In a statement published by the

Philharmonic, Gintzling says, quote, it has become clear to me that the institution needs a different kind of leadership. The resignation comes as the institution faces an investigation into misconduct by musicians and prepares to be without a musical director for a time. Meestro Yop von Sveden steps down at the end of the current season. Incoming director Gustavo Dutamel isn't scheduled to take the baton until 2026. And beachgoers beware, Rockaway Beach is open today after shark sightings yesterday. Stay close. There's more after the break. On WNYC, I'm Michael Hill. That the Israel Hospital in downtown Manhattan is not closing its doors this week,

despite hospital officials saying for months that they planned to shut the medical center down by July 12th, but the Mount Sinai-run hospital is serving a fraction of the patients at once did, and hospital officials say they still hope to close as soon as possible. WNIC health care reporter Caroline Lewis is here to explain what's going on at the beleaguered hospital. Caroline, let's set the stage a little bit here. Why is Beth Israel looking to shut down at all? So Beth Israel first submitted a closure plan to the state health department last October, and they said at the time they had no choice but to close down because fewer patients were coming in than they had in the past, and the hospital was losing so much money that it was threatening the financial health of the Mount Sinai health system overall.

But since then, it's become kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy. patient visits plummeted as soon as the hospital announced the closure. And then by November, Beth Israel said so many staff had left that they had to start shutting down services right away as a matter of patient safety, even though they still hadn't gotten any state approval to do that. And today, they're still arguing that patient safety is at risk because of how many employees have left. Okay, but now they're not closing as planned. Why is that? So hospital officials have really tried to project confidence in this closure plan, but it's still, being blocked by both the state health department and the courts. In April, the health department

rejected the first version of the closure plan, and a new one is still under review. And meanwhile, a coalition of community members sued Beth Israel to stop it from closing, and the judge in that case issued a temporary restraining order that blocked the hospital from cutting any more services. And despite these obstacles, hospital reps really waited until the last minute to officially say they aren't closing tomorrow as planned. You know, they didn't send a memo to staffers until yesterday. You mentioned that early on the hospital started closing services prematurely. How did state officials and community members react to that?

So the state health department reacted by sending Beth Israel a cease and desist letter back in December. But that didn't have the intended effect right away. When state officials visited the hospital the next month, they said they found that patients were still being sent to other hospitals because of, reduced capacity, and that was delaying care in a way that was actually putting some people's lives at risk. And then there are the community members who are suing, and they've argued that Mount Sinai has really been disinvesting from Beth Israel since taking over the hospital in 2013. You know,

they say in recent months, the health system has basically manufactured this crisis to justify closing the hospital. And the judge seems to be sympathetic. In his restraining order, he not only ordered Beth Israel to stop cutting services, but also to restore some of the services they had already cut. That said, even after that order was issued, it came out that ambulances carrying stroke and heart attack patients were being diverted away from the hospital. For its part, Beth Israel says it's complying with the court's order. So where do things stand now in terms of hospital services? Well, patient volume is currently very low, suggesting that either people don't want to go to the hospital because of all the uncertainty or ambulances still aren't taking them there regularly.

The hospital emergency department had more than 4,000 patients each month before the closure plan was announced last October, and it now sees about 200 patients a month. But I spoke to some employees this week who said that, you know, partly because of reduced patient volume and partly because of recent hiring efforts, the staffing does seem adequate right now. At this point, I think it depends on what services people are looking for. So what comes next? When will we know for sure if the hospital is staying open, whether it's going to shut its doors? Well, I think we have to wait on the final decision from the state health department and also on the litigation to play out. Beth Israel now says it's not going to close while these legal hurdles are still in place.

And the judges currently deciding whether to order the state health department to reject Beth Israel's closure plan, which both the hospital and the health department say is just, you know, should not be under the judge's purview. You know, they say that should be up to regulators. But there's a court date coming up on August 8th. Caroline, what will happen to the patients that Israel serves if it does, in fact, close? Well, community members are, you know, really worried about that. I think in general, there's a big outcry whenever a hospital closes. You know, community members say they're worried. It will mean patients who live downtown will have to travel farther to get to the closest

hospital. And they're concerned it will make emergency rooms at other Manhattan hospitals like Bellevue, which is nearby, more crowded. But Beth Israel said in its latest closure plan that it wants to work with Bellevue to update its emergency department and help it absorb any additional patients. That's WNIC's Caroline Lewis

on the latest on Beth Israel Hospital and whether it's going to close or whether it's going to stay open. Thanks, Caroline. Thanks, Michael. As Democrats continue to clash over President Biden's candidacy, WNIC's Bridget Bergen reached out

to some retired New York Dems about how they made the decision to relinquish power. While none gave up a post as high as the presidency, they each faced a deeply personal decision with huge impacts for their constituents. For politicians, it's not always easy to know when or how to say goodbye. Thank you. Losing an election is one thing, but there are other moments when the circumstances demand self-reflection. There are times in politics when you have to know not to, to strive for service, but to step back.

And that moment has come for me. That's former Governor David Patterson back in 2010, ending his run for a full term in office less than a week after he launched it. New York's first black and legally blind governor was elevated to the top job after a sex scandal forced out his predecessor, Elliot Spitzer. But Patterson faced his own challenges, a yawning, multi-billion-dollar budget gap, and charges that he interfered in a domestic abuse case involving an aid. I realized that it would be very difficult for me to defend myself and run the state at the same time.

The former governor says arriving at the decision not to run for a full term at the age of 55 than enduring a pylon of doubts from former allies and friends, like a private call he got from then-congresman Steve Israel that was later reported in the press. This was Israel's take on that exchange. I was rather clear with him in suggesting that it was going to be a very steep path to re-election and did he want to consider other things. Six years later, Israel announced his retirement from politics. After 16 years in the House, he'd had enough of the constant fundraising. I made the decision that it was time to pass the torch.

He now runs an independent bookstore called Theodores in Oyster Bay on Long Island. George Arts has seen the decision-making process from the other side as a political consultant and one-time press secretary for Mayor Ed Koch. He advised Koch in 1989 when the mayor ran for a fourth term and lost the Democratic primary to then Manhattan Borough President David Dinkins. Things were up in the air, and we sort of rode it out along with my blood pressure. It tends to go up in those situations. And as each of these Democrats consider the decision facing President Biden,

they view it through the lens of their own experiences. Israel says he thinks this is an emotional and conflicting time for Biden. At the end of the day, this decision will be left to the president. And he's going to have to make it based on his own sense of what's best not only for himself, but for his party and for democracy in America. Art says if he was working on the Biden campaign now, he would offer this warning to the president. What do you want to embarrass yourself?

You're going to lose and you're going to bring down the Democratic ticket with you. And your legacy will all be trashed after that. Patterson says, stepping aside is a chance for history to remember you fondly. If you move forward and get beaten by 10 points in a general election, history looks at you as someone that didn't know. when to say goodbye. And like countless office holders before him,

Biden must weigh whether he wants to write the end of his story on his terms or leave it up to others to do it for him. Brigid Bergen, WNYC News. Thanks for listening. This is NYC now from WMYC. Catch us every weekday three times a day for your top news headlines and occasional deep dives and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. more soon