Judge puts SUNY Downstate on hold: An analysis of Judge Baynes’ LICH decision
Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Johnny Lee Baynes has ordered that Long Island College Hospital remain open — for now –after a hotly contested attempt to close it. LICH, an affiliate of SUNY Downstate, was slated to close after the SUNY Board of Trustees determined that the hospital was losing too much money to remain functional.
Not making a decision about the validity of the need to shut down LICH, Baynes criticized the board’s violation of the Open Meetings Law that, he said, was “created to mandate transparency in the operation of government and its entities. In this way, the public is informed and decision-making cannot occur in secret.”
The board was not “unsophisticated,” Baynes noted. “They have acknowledged their obligations under the Open Meetings Law.”