St. Barnabas to Build Parking Garage With Stimulus $
February 19, 2010
IF ALL GOES ACCORDING TO PLAN, ST. BARNABAS HOSPITAL WILL BUILD A GARAGE ON THIS PARKING LOT AT 4422 THIRD AVE. (PHOTO: A. WATKINS)
By JAMES FERGUSSON
At St. Barnabas Hospital, parking spaces are hard to come by, much to the ongoing frustration of staff and patients.
The hospital’s administration long ago proposed building a multi-story garage to help alleviate the problem. But funds weren’t available – until now.
In December, the city agreed to finance the project using $20 million in tax-free bonds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, also known as the federal stimulus act.
The five-story garage will be built at 4422 Third Ave. on top of an existing parking lot, and accommodate 605 cars, according to Steven Clark, a hospital spokesman,
It will benefit the entire community – from staff and patients, to local residents and merchants – Clarke said, and help the hospital “recruit and retain employees” who might otherwise be scared off by the dearth in parking spaces.
Still, not everyone approves of the way the project was financed.
CIR/SEIU Healthcare, a union which represents resident doctors and interns, questioned the rational behind the city’s decision. “[I]s the creation of a new parking deck the best use of scarce public dollars?” the union asked on its blog, examinebarnabas.org.
Moreover, while scores of temporary construction jobs will be created, only six full-time employees will be needed to manage the garage when it’s open. At present, close to 30 people work as parking attendants and valets at the hospital; when the garage opens, all parking lots will close, and these posts will no longer exist.
The Recovery Act, critics charge, is supposed to create jobs, and this project does nothing of the sort. These critics include Good Jobs New York, a research group, and Teamsters Local 272, a union representing parking attendents.
According to Clark, most of these attendants and valets “will be retained in some capacity at the hospital.” Those who aren’t will be offered new jobs elsewhere in the city by the company that runs the current parking lot on Third Avenue.
“They’re not going to be thrown out on the street,” Clark said.
Construction is expected to start in the spring, and wrap up in early 2011.
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