Daily News Reports $7M Needed to Stabilize Smallpox Hospital

The NY Daily News ran an article in today's paper, February 12, 2008 which focuses on the funding needed to stabilize the former smallpox hospital on Roosevelt Island. Double click the article at left to see the entire article.

From the article:

"We've been told by the engineers that to really do an adequate job, we need somewhere around $7 million," said Steve Shane, chief executive officer of the Roosevelt Island Operating Corp. "We have $4.5 million to spend on preservation. The rest of the money is slated for the parks, and I don't want to pit the preservation people versus the parks people."

"We're starting a campaign for another $3 million to make the stabilization better," said [Judy] Berdy [of the Historical Society]. "Four and a half million is not enough to make it stable."

It just seems crazy to me that the public must directly raise funds to support this stabilization when the state has years to ensure the collapse would not happen while the hospital was under its stewardship.