One of the residential buildings that would be demolished to make way for the proposed facility.

Representatives from New York Presbyterian Hospital presented their preliminary plans for a new medical care facility to Community Board 8 (CB8) last week to request more space for the facility than the city’s limits allow for the area. The proposed facility would be constructed on York Avenue between East 68th and 69th streets, replacing two residential buildings that currently stand on the block.

The hospital wants to construct a 15-story, 341-foot building to house an ambulatory care center (344,412 square feet) and a maternity hospital (224,389 square feet). Present regulations would require the building to taper off at its higher floors to allow for more open air space, but the representatives claimed that these restrictions would compromise the quality of the care that the new facility is intended to provide.

On a diagram of a typical floor plan, the representatives showed that most floors would contain 12 operating rooms and 36 “prep and recovery” rooms—a design that fills the building’s entire footprint, with no space for reductions at upper levels. This 1:3 ratio, they said, is crucial to maintain a steady rotation and to allow patients to remain in the same room for the duration of their stay. They also said that the co-location of operating and recovery rooms on the same floor is necessary to minimize patient transportation.

The new ambulatory care center would house endoscopy procedures, ambulatory surgery, diagnostic imaging, gastroenterology and radiation oncology and infusion.

The new maternity hospital, which would contain all of New York Presbyterian’s maternity services, would provide neonatal care units and private rooms for expectant and recent mothers. According to the representatives, the building would free up space on the hospital’s main campus to accommodate more inpatients.

“It is all very linked,” said Sharon Greenberger, New York Presbyterian’s senior vice president for facilities development and engineering, on the new facility’s connection to the rest of the hospital’s facilities along York Avenue between East 68th and 71st streets. “We are a teaching hospital, and we are very interested in making sure that there is a relationship between our various academic buildings.”

CB8 approved the request, but had significant reservations. In a lengthy question-and-answer period, board members expressed concerns about traffic caused by the facility, its design and the loss of housing that residents of the location’s current 270 apartments would suffer.

Representatives stressed that the facility’s design, which appeared generic and gray in the presentation’s renderings, were preliminary, and that the final building would be aesthetically unique. They also said that the facility would enable cars to enter and exit on multiple streets, but many board members argued that there would still be congestion in the already-busy area, especially during construction.

Residentially, Greenberger said that the hospital was working with the displaced tenants to find housing at the hospital’s other properties. She noted that many of the current buildings’ tenants are staff and fellows of the hospital, and would not have difficulty finding new homes.

One resident in the audience, however, claimed that rent-regulated tenants were being cheated. “They’re not offering the equivalent of what people have,” said a woman who declined to give her first name to the press. She claimed that this is the second time she has been unwillingly relocated in the neighborhood in 10 years.

“Yes, it’s an institutional area, but some people have lived in that area for 45 years, and went to high school [in the area],” she said. “It has become an institutional area, which means that more and more people are being displaced, like myself—people who are seniors who are getting less. I’d like to feel like you are addressing this, because it is very disruptive to people.”

When Greenberg assured her that the hospital and its real-estate department would work with her to ensure that she is relocated to fair housing, she responded, “We have been working together. It’s not working very well.”

CB8’s approval of the request came on the condition that the hospital routinely check in with the board to report the project’s progress. The approval will help the hospital gain actual permission to proceed with the project when it applies to the Board of Standards for a variance on the city’s floor-area ratio limits.

The hospital hopes to start demolition for the new facility next summer. The 42-month construction process would begin in 2014.

Community-Minded Rhythm: Julie Rulyak, executive director of the Turtle Bay Music School, leads a music workshop during Kips Bay Day at the Plaza on July 21. The Plaza, located on the service road between 30th and 33rd Street on the east side of 2nd Ave., hosted various activities, including croquet, Citi Bike demonstrations, live music and pet adoption.

CB8 Slams 583 Park Application
In the latest development of the ongoing battle between the event venue 583 Park and some of its Upper East Side neighbors, Community Board 8 voted to disapprove the venue’s beer and wine license application last week.

583 Park is located in the Third Church of Christ Scientist’s historic building on Park Avenue and East 63rd Street, part of the reason neighbors contend it doesn’t belong in their residential community. They say that the church, which still holds services there and leases the space to 583 Park, using the money to fund its $400,000 operating budget plus costly repairs, is overshadowed by the lavish and loud events held by clients of 583 Park.

The venue’s operators, the Rose Group, downgraded their hopes of obtaining a permanent liquor license after the State Liquor Authority (SLA) rejected their application. Complicated litigation surrounding the liquor license and intense community opposition led the SLA to also stop issuing one-time permits to outside caterers, a common practice in the event industry, for events at 583 Park.

The Rose Group has stated that they will likely take a financial hit by sticking to beer and wine and skipping the booze, but that they could still get by, accommodating more charity events and fewer weddings. They also made it clear that if they’re not able to serve alcohol of any kind, they’ll have to pull out of their lease.

While that’s exactly the outcome some residents are rooting for, the Community Board and the people it serves have little sway over the granting of a beer and wine license, a fact that was barely addressed at the hours-long meeting. A beer and wine license application is not subject to the 200-foot rule, which prohibits a full liquor license at an establishment within 200 feet of a church or school, or the 500-foot rule, which assumes that an application will not be granted if there is another establishment with an on-premises liquor license within 500 feet unless it is in the public interest. In fact, the SLA states that community opposition is not grounds for denying a beer and wine license.

Board member and Street Life Committee co-chair Cos Spagnoletti likened it to a driver’s license, presumed issued unless something egregious, like a felony record, prevents it. But that fact didn’t diminish some residents’ and board members’ fervor in calling for the demise of 583 Park.

The previous week, the Street Life Committee rejected the application and, despite a substitute motion offered by board member Jonathan Horn to approve it with caveats (restricting loading and unloading times, not allowing limos and black cars to idle outside, nixing flashy exterior lighting, limiting the capacity for events, among a long list of other stipulations the Rose Group had agreed to), the Board still voted to reject the application.

Some neighbors appeared to be feeling victorious when the vote count was tallied, but it remains to be seen if the SLA will follow suit with the Board’s rejection or follow the law and let 583 Park continue hosting and pouring for their paying customers.

Garbage Dump Gets Go-Ahead
Earlier this week, the mayor’s office confirmed that the city had received the permits from the Army Corps of Engineers allowing the construction of the East 91st Street Marine Transfer Station (MTS) to start. The Upper East Side waste transfer site has been defunct for years, but was resurrected by Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s Solid Waste Management Plan and could be operational again, with major renovations, by 2015, according to the city, now that they have obtained the requisite federal permits.

But local opponents, residents as well as politicians, say that they won’t stop fighting the MTS.

“I am disappointed by the [Army Corps’] decision to grant a permit for a project that will harm the habitat for East River fish, have a significant negative impact on the health and quality of life in a densely residential neighborhood and make the waterfront much less accessible in the East 90s,” said Rep. Carolyn Maloney in a statement, citing the Environmental Protection Agency’s concerns that the city’s mitigation plan doesn’t do enough to protect fish and wildlife.

Assembly Member Micah Kellner, who launched a lawsuit against the city several weeks ago to stop the MTS, also said he was disappointed, but vowed to continue pushing back through the courts.

“[The decision] was not unexpected and is far from the final word on the matter,” said Kellner in an email. “Nothing has changed as far as I am concerned. My lawsuit is proceeding and I am confident that when we have our day in court on Aug. 17, we will finally put this ill-conceived Marine Transfer Station to rest.”

The lawsuit alleges that the city hasn’t properly amended its environmental impact statement for the project to reflect the increased daily intake of trash that the facility would process.

While the lawsuit proceeds—and others may crop up, sources say—the city may continue with its plan to start construction but will also have to worry about funding a project that is expected to cost $245 million.

Fire Injures Firefighters and UES Woman
A fire rampaged through an Upper East Side building on Saturday night, injuring six firefighters and one resident, NY1 reported. The fire started around 10:45 p.m. in a grocery store at East 88th Street and Third Avenue. One woman found collapsed on the stairs was taken to the hospital for treatment. Fire officials told NY1 that the fire was in the walls of the building and was difficult to contain. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

New York-Presbyterian Hospital Plans Expansion
The Upper East Side hospital brought plans to build a new facility to the Community Board last week. The hospital will turn two older residential buildings it owns on York Avenue between East 68th and 69th streets into a 15-story facility.

Sharon Greenberg, vice president for facility development and management, explained to the Board and the public in attendance that the plans are preliminary, but that they have an idea of what the building will look like and what functions it will serve. There will be an ambulatory care center as well as maternity care at the new building. It is planned to increase capacity for New York-Presbyterian as well as reduce wait times for procedures by utilizing more high-tech, less invasive outpatient procedures. Greenberg assured the Board that the hospital will provide alternative housing to the residents of the current building, including equivalent rent-regulated units for those tenants who are now under rent regulation, well before construction is slated to begin in 2014.

Constance Peterson, director of patient services for the emergency department at New York Presbyterian. Photo by Andrew Schwartz.

By Sarah Amandolare

Constance Peterson admits her job is intense. As director of patient services for the emergency department at New York Presbyterian Hospital, Peterson encounters pain and suffering on a daily basis.
“Short of on the battlefield,” she said, “most people in their work life don’t experience this.”
Peterson, 58, has directed what’s called “comfort care” since 1995. She and her staff of 20 employees and 80 volunteers ensure that ER patients and their families are taken care of from the moment they walk though the doors. She is also the liaison between patients and other clinical departments in the hospital.
In the ER, where people are often frightened and overwhelmed, Peterson and her staff try to instill calm. They make rounds every 30 minutes, offering warm blankets, delivering cups of hot chocolate, providing bedside phones and updating patients’ families as often as possible, all in an effort to assuage anxiety.
“It’s like entering a foreign country,” Peterson said. “The ER has its own language and its own rules. There’s a lot of fear.”
She created the volunteer program in 1995 with just one person; she was the only staff member. Now she leads a team of volunteer medical students and staffers are nurses and clinicians. Collectively, they bring a level of knowledge and expertise to the program, which, Peterson said, sets New York Presbyterian’s ER apart from others in New York and throughout the country.
“I look for a certain personality that can withstand the pressure and the very strong emotions that come up here,” she said. “I tell my staff that they must be the calm presence.”
Peterson studied cultural anthropology and sociology in her native Missouri, which could account for her skill with people. When she moved to New York to pursue graduate studies in health administration at Sarah Lawrence College, she fell for the city’s diversity. Working in health care gives her constant access to the melting pot.
“Our patients come from all over the country and the world,” she said. “In the ER, it’s egalitarian.”
It’s also crowded. Hundreds of patients enter the ER on a daily basis, and because the hospital has programs devoted to burns, pediatrics and psychiatry, they present an extraordinary range of conditions. Peterson doesn’t deal with thorny issues like diagnoses, insurance or immigration status, which allows her to focus on the patient.
“While they’re here, they have questions. We can connect them with resources,” she said.
Peterson lives on the Upper East Side in the same neighborhood where she works, affording her an intimate knowledge of the concerns and conditions facing locals. It’s an aging population, which presents distinct challenges. If an elderly spouse is brought into the ER, Peterson and her staff look out for his or her other half.
“Maybe they need a reminder to take their meds,” she said. “It’s the small acts of kindness.”
Focusing on the little things keeps Peterson going without getting bogged down by the unpredictable nature of health care. Her industry may be in flux, but she embraces it.
“We don’t know the direction health care will go in the next decade, but the ER always has to be prepared for changes,” she said. “I think we’ll be prepared.”