The criticism of St. Mary’s Hospital for Children in Bayside has gotten to the point where it is ridiculous.
A handful of residents in East Bayside, led by Frank Skala, are complaining the new entrance to the hospital is dangerous. The entrance was moved over a few feet to make it easier for cars carrying seriously ill children to access the hospital driveway.
This should make it safer, right? The people who complained that expansion of this hospital, famous for delivering care to some of the area’s sickest children, would create a traffic problem for the neighborhood should be happy, right?
But it seems the East Bayside Homeowners Association is never happy.
“The driveway itself should supposedly make it safer after it was straightened, but that might not be the case,” said Skala, the group’s president. “People might end up driving faster, which isn’t safe in a residential area surrounded by family homes.”
Leslie Johnson, director of St. Mary’s communications and marketing, explained that since the minor change made entering the hospital easier, it follows that it will also be safer.
“Now we have a much cleaner means to drive in and out …. The old entrance wasn’t the best for traffic flow,” Johnson said.
Makes sense to us.
She added that the change was made because of community complaints.
We wish she had said, “St. Mary’s delivers extraordinary care to the sickest children. The people of Bayside should be proud that St. Mary’s calls Bayside home. If they care about children, they should do everything possible to support the work we do and stop the complaining.”
Johnson said the hospital is working with Community Board 11 and Bayside neighbors to get a four-way stop at the new intersection.
Skala was not finished. He also complained the hospital removed a tree to improve the entrance. The hospital said it will plant shrubbery to keep up the appearance of the area.
Save a tree or save a child. You decide.
We think this might be a good time for the sake of Bayside and the association that he represents for Skala to take a vow of silence.
