The main buildings are wrapped in scaffolding and shrouded. Entire floors of brick have been stripped, rooms empty and exposed to the streets.
The western wall of the stately old building on W. 11th has been almost completely sheared off. Is the building being demolished, or readied for attachment to the new condo tower to come?
People suffered and died here. Many had their lives saved here. They left their notes and names on plywood after St. Vincent's closed, begging for a new hospital to open here, or anywhere in Greenwich Village. But the luxury machine has to eat. And eat, and eat...
Both of my kids were born there. I was born there. My grandfather practiced there. Very sad.
ReplyDeleteMy appendix was taken out there. Sad to see it being torn down.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the update. I've shared it with my St. Vincent's Nursing School alum. Years ago I believe some of the those rooms minus a wall were dorm rooms. Such a shame.
ReplyDeleteHeard ICD is being torn down for condos 24th and 1St Ave.
That new building is going to be cursed.
ReplyDelete160 years of death will haunt all who occupy it
Worked there for many years and I wish the best of luck to those who purchase apartments there. Trust me, those walls have ears! Anyone who ever worked the overnight there can tell you that!
ReplyDeleteHey Marty-
ReplyDeleteMaybe your appendix is still there among all that rubble and they'll send it back to you in Peoria.
Current cultural priorities make it clear that the 'common human being' is last on the list.
ReplyDeleteWho needs hospitals when Emperor Bloom-borg is making the city for the automatons, cyborgs, replicants, and androids who think they are healthy and immune from diseases and sickness, just because they don't smoke or drink more than 16 ozs. of soda. Does Mayor Bloom-borg dream of electric sheep?
ReplyDeleteAs the luxury machine moves on and on, the question arises: when the super wealthy become ill, where will they go for treatment and care? Will doctors and nurses abandon the city?
ReplyDeleteI spent a week in the CCU there almost exactly four years ago. The doctors, nurses and staff of 10-West saved my life. It really saddens me to know how they all lost their jobs. It's sickening how this city is being devoured by greed.
ReplyDelete@randall: Ha ha ha! They can keep it, ti was no good anyway!
ReplyDeleteNothing short of a tragedy. It's like the ribs of NYC are being cracked open to reveal a dead heart and no soul.
ReplyDeleteIt fascinates me that I have not heard a single word about one very critical fact: during the recent storms there was only one acute care facility operating in Manhattan below 59th Street. NYU Downtown (the former Beekman Downtown), the VA on East 23rd Street, Bellevue and NYU Langone were all forced to evacuate and anyone left in the affected area and in need of emergency care was transported to either the grossly over-loaded Beth Israel or uptown to Roosevelt or one of the Upper East Side Bed Pan Alley facilities which were also stretched beyond capacity when they were forced to accept the evacuated patients . The city has taken many important steps in terms of emergency preparedness since 9/11 but has opted to allow developers’ interests to trump the public good by allowing the hugely important piece of critical infrastructure on Seventh Avenue and 12th Street to be sacrificed to the concept of “Greed is Good.”
ReplyDeleteThere is no other jurisdiction with a permanent population of over one million (and a daily transient population that doubles that number) that has no hospital as is the case on the West Side below 59th Street.
Frank M
St. Vincent's wasn't killed by real estate development but by destructive changes in the American healthcare industry.
ReplyDeleteThe real estate developers are only the vultures.
Makes no sense- population is rising due to all these new luxury condos everywhere but NYC downtown does not need a hospital? Bloomberg is short sighted and always kissing the asses of his rich developer friends giving sweetheart deals to them. I guess if rich people get sick they'll just heliport over to a hospital and let the rest of us rot.
ReplyDelete@Frank M.Forget greed is good.It's more like greed is god.
ReplyDeleteI should take a look myself, but I will almost surely cry. Memories of all the relatives and friends who spent time there -- some emerging alive, some not -- may come crashing down on me.
ReplyDeleteVery sad.
ReplyDeleteSt. Vincent's was a LEVEL 1 TRAUMA Center. Replacing it with luxury condos is just wrong, naïve and will surely cost lives. This wasn't merely another hospital or ER. This is sickening!
ReplyDelete