From the Queens Chronicle:The effort to reopen the old Parkway Hospital property has stalled at administrative levels while supporters of the plan are trying to move it along in the courts.
The state ordered the hospital closed in 2008. It also was connected to an alleged bribery scandal that has five people, including a state senator and an assemblyman from Brooklyn, facing federal criminal charges.
Also preparing to stand trial is Dr. Robert Aquino, who formerly ran the hospital.
John Krall of Queens is heading the effort to reopen the building as the Gloria D’Amico Medical Center, named for the late Queens County clerk.
But the state said this week that the group, Parkview, has not filed the necessary paperwork for review.
“In discussions for any reopening, the applicants must go through a certificate of need process,” said Peter Costantakes, a spokesman for the state Department of Health. “That applies to every hospital, every nursing home, and other facilities.”
Costantakes said the process allows the state to review the integrity of the applicants, their financing and other things to prove the proposal is feasible, They also must demonstrate a need within the community.
“Parkview is seeking to use a license that has expired,” he said. “They want to reopen under different leadership but haven’t done anything for a new application.”
Krall said the former license should have been considered suspended based on a state report which recommended keeping the hospital open — and the fact that Aquino has severed all ties to the operation and the property.
“He is gone,” Krall said. “We have private financing, and we are not asking for city, state or federal money.”
