RFP and the Community

The Greenpoint Hospital Debacle

Deep in the heart of Greenpoint/Williamsburg, there stands an abandoned hospital, massive in size. Three decades ago, the buildings were bustling—doctors treating injured neighbors and stitching up the chins of children who had fallen off swing sets and monkey bars in surrounding playgrounds while nurses delivered brand new Brooklynites into the world, and into the neighborhood. But in 1982, due to financial struggle, the hospital closed its doors to the community and, for a time, was left empty—and there it stood, and stood and stood. However, though the old hospital may have been neglected, it was never forgotten by the community that frequented it. Shortly after its closing, a coalition calling itself GREC—Greenpoint Renaissance Enterprise Corporation—was formed in an attempt to take hold of the seven towers that comprise the Greenpoint Hospital and turn it into housing for senior citizens, and now, 27 years later, the fight continues.

Last Wednesday evening, concerned community members new and old gathered at Swingin’ Sixties Senior Center to discuss the fate of the old hospital, and demand some answers as to why it has taken nearly three decades to successfully turn it into something the community can use—affordable housing, senior services and the preservation of a neighborhood staple. But just as much as the Greenpoint Hospital represents an ongoing fight for control over physical space in the neighborhood, it is also demonstrative of the determination of the members of the Greenpoint/Williamsburg community to have a say over the destiny of their own land. Two years ago the Department of Housing Preservation and Development put out an RFP—Request for Proposals—with reference to the Greenpoint Hospital. After the RFP was issued, GREC—which is comprised of St. Nick’s, Neighborhood Women, the Conselyea Block Association, the Withers Street Block Association and the Cooper Park Tenant Association—submitted a plan. However, after two years of waiting for approval, still no word from HPD.

“This is all about community participation, transparency and democratic practice,” said Jan Peterson, founder of GREC. “For 27 years, this neighborhood has marched and demonstrated and come out to meetings. It really is a community control issue. Is the community finally going to have a say in an area where so many things are happening that we don’t have a say in? We don’t know what the proposals are, we don’t know where they are coming from and we don’t know who is making decisions and we’re tired of politicians making choices behind closed doors.”

According to several members of GREC, Thursday’s meeting was a direct result of a rumor that, in fact, HPD has recently received proposals from organizations outside of the community—and is taking them into serious consideration rather than earmarking the site for neighborhood organizations that have already demonstrated their desire and ability to handle large-scale developing projects. St. Nick’s—which already has site control over one of the seven buildings, and North Brooklyn Development Corporation—are two of the central organizations involved with the GREC Greenpoint Hospital plan.
“It has been two years and we haven’t heard who has been awarded the proposal,” said Diane Jackson, President of the Cooper Park Tenant Association and an integral part of GREC. “There is politics at play here. HPD agreed that it would be a community proposal and they aren’t keeping the promise.”

The GREC plan—also known as the Greenpoint Renaissance Housing and Senior Health Care Center—includes 90 units of housing for senior citizens and 175-200 units of mixed-income housing, as well as the preservation of the former nurses’ residential units. In addition, the plan establishes a center for senior services—a “nursing home without walls”—offering the elderly comprehensive inpatient and outpatient medical care. The original proposal included the creation of a new nursing home equipped primarily with units of housing earmarked for senior citizens—though the plan was derailed when the city issued a moratorium on the construction of any new nursing homes.

While waiting on the results of an RFP for two years may seem like a long time—try 27 years. The fight for community control of Greenpoint Hospital began shortly after its closing when—just five months after it was shuttered—the city began shuttling homeless men onto the premises in the middle of the night, creating a makeshift homeless shelter without community consent.

“The came in under darkness,” Jackson said in reference to the homeless who were essentially snuck into the hospital buildings, located just across the road from her home in Cooper Park. “It was a nightmarish place to be. There were prostitutes populating the neighborhood, and men wandering around after hours, sneaking into our houses.”

At one point, the shelter housed more than 1,200 homeless men, at which point the community decided it had had enough, and sought help from Brooklyn Legal Services, who brought the case to court and won.

“In this neighborhood, we weren’t NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard), but we were clearly overburdened,” said Withers Street Block Association member Tish Cianciotta. “At first there were 40 men, then it escalated to 1,200. All we wanted was community control over the site, and the city wouldn’t give it to us.”

After most of the men were cleared out of Greenpoint Hospital, GREC was faced with yet another obstacle—this time, from a local religious institution. In 1984, the Assembly of God Church petitioned for site control of the Greenpoint Hospital in an attempt to build a religious center—an idea that was met with fierce community opposition and ultimately defeated.

Since then, certain strides have been made in terms of community control over the Greenpoint Hospital site. Of the seven buildings, one is now controlled by St. Nick’s—notorious champions for affordable housing who are, to date, responsible for the creation of roughly 1,800 units in and around the neighborhood—while three were given to Neighborhood Women, where Jan Peterson created 34 units of affordable housing on the premises. In addition, one building still serves as a homeless shelter, housing roughly 200 men. But there is still much work to be done.

“I cannot remain silent. We must demand answers because this is an outrage,” said Councilmember Diana Reyna, who was in attendance at Thursday’s meeting. “Whether in this room or at City Hall, we cannot accept no answers anymore. We cannot delay. I am standing there fighting with you when you least expect it, because this battle is far from over.”

Despite waves of anger rippling through the room, HPD representative Jack Hammer braved the crowd, standing tall and, while remaining relatively tight-lipped, assured everyone that, like so many issues of land and politics in Greenpoint/Williamsburg, “this too shall pass.”