Day: August 7, 2026

There is a lesson Scripture teaches over and over again: wisdom requires discernment before action.

Good stewards do not make permanent decisions in moments of fear. They seek counsel. They gather the facts. They ask difficult questions. And only then do they move forward.

That lesson has been on my heart as I watch Brooklyn face one of the most consequential health care decisions in generations.

As a pastor, I have prayed with mothers waiting outside operating rooms. I have stood beside families receiving devastating news from physicians. I have celebrated newborns entering the world and comforted loved ones saying their final goodbyes.

When you serve the people of Brooklyn long enough, you come to know Maimonides Medical Center not simply as a hospital, but as sacred ground.

For more than 100 years, it has been one of the institutions that has quietly held this borough together.

That is why the proposal to permanently transfer Maimonides from an independent nonprofit hospital into the NYC Health + Hospitals system deserves far more scrutiny than it has received.

Let me be clear.

This is not an argument against change.

Nor is it an argument against public hospitals, whose dedicated doctors, nurses, and staff provide extraordinary care every day.

It is an argument against making an irreversible decision before we know whether it is truly the only path available.

Brooklyn has learned the painful cost of that mistake before.

Many of us still remember Long Island College Hospital.

We were told the community would be protected. We were assured health care services would remain. Yet, after years of promises, Brooklyn lost one of its historic hospitals, and much of that property ultimately became luxury condominiums.

The hospital never came back.

The promises could not bring it back.

That experience changed how many Brooklynites hear assurances from government and institutional leaders. When people tell us today, “Trust us. This is the only way,” we remember what happened the last time we heard words like those.

This is not the time for blind faith.

And while history may not repeat itself exactly, wisdom demands that we learn from it.

No one disputes that Maimonides faces serious financial challenges. Those challenges are real.

But financial distress is not the same thing as financial impossibility.

Everything we have heard suggests there are legitimate questions about whether stronger management, operational modernization, improved billing systems, new leadership, strategic partnerships, or affiliation with another nonprofit health system could stabilize Maimonides while allowing it to remain an independent community institution.

But those possibilities have not all been carefully studied and ruled out — so why are we rushing toward a permanent transfer?

The answer to poor management should not automatically be surrendering a community asset.

Before Brooklyn gives away one of its most important charitable institutions, we deserve an independent review that honestly evaluates every realistic alternative.

That should not be controversial.

In fact, that is exactly what good stewardship requires.

The courts have already determined that this proposal cannot bypass the public review process required under New York law. State law also requires a Health Equity Impact Assessment because decisions like these affect medically underserved and culturally distinct communities in profound ways.

Those safeguards are not bureaucratic obstacles.

They are protections for the people.

They exist because hospitals are different from almost every other institution.

Once a hospital is gone — or fundamentally transformed — it is extraordinarily difficult to restore what was lost.

Maimonides serves one of the most beautifully diverse communities anywhere in America.

Every day, it cares for Orthodox Jewish families who have depended on its cultural understanding and religious accommodations for generations. It serves Muslim families, Latino communities, Caribbean Americans, Asian Americans, Russian-speaking residents, immigrants, and families from every corner of the world who have made Brooklyn their home.

It also serves thousands upon thousands of Black New Yorkers.

For generations, African American families have depended on Maimonides in moments that define a lifetime.

As pastors, we know its hallways well.

We have rushed there after late-night phone calls telling us that a church member had suffered a heart attack. We have prayed over victims of violence. We have sat with anxious families waiting for surgery to end. We have dedicated children who took their first breath there and comforted families whose last earthly moments with a loved one took place within those walls.

Our churches have long viewed Maimonides as more than a health care provider.

It has been a trusted partner in caring for our congregations.

That kind of trust cannot be recreated by a government resolution.

It is earned over generations.

And once it is broken, rebuilding it may take generations more.

No one should fear an independent audit.

No one should fear a transparent evaluation of every available option.

If an independent analysis ultimately concludes that joining NYC Health + Hospitals is the only realistic path to preserving health care in this community, then I will accept that conclusion because it will have been reached honestly, transparently, and with the public fully informed.

But if another path exists — one that preserves both the hospital and its independence — we owe it to every family in Brooklyn to discover that before we make a decision that cannot be undone.

The question before us is not simply who owns a hospital.

The question is whether Brooklyn has learned from its own history.

Long Island College Hospital taught us that once a community institution disappears, regret cannot rebuild it.

Let us not wait until years from now to wonder whether we asked enough questions.

Let us seek the truth now.

Let us examine every alternative.

And let us leave our children a stronger Maimonides than the one we inherited — not another story about the hospital Brooklyn once had.

Before we permanently change the future of Maimonides, let us do what every good physician does: slow down, gather all the facts, seek a second opinion, and make the right diagnosis before prescribing a treatment that cannot be undone.

A group of New York City Ferry workers on Thursday evening voted unanimously to join the Transport Workers Union (TWU).

The unit consists of 65 NYC Ferry technicians and welders, 61 of whom voted to unionize, with zero votes against. The workers are fighting for higher pay and stronger benefits, according to TWU.

TWU represents 160,000 workers across several modes of transportation. That includes roughly 40,000 New York City Transit workers who are members of the union’s Local 100. Those transit workers are currently engaged in tense negotiations with the MTA over a new contract after their last one expired in May.

“We are growing our ranks at the New York City Ferry with this latest organizing victory, as technicians and welders can see the day-in-day-out fight we bring on all fronts and want to be a part of it,” TWU President John Samuelsen said in a statement. “We will now begin work on a critical first contract to bring big gains for NYC Ferry workers, just like we have for decades with NYC Subways, trains, buses, planes, and bikes.”

The union has not yet determined whether the ferry workers would be part of Local 100 or another chapter.

The newly unionized workers mostly operate out of the Brooklyn Navy Yard. They are employed by Hornblower Group, the company that the city’s Economic Development Corporation (EDC) has contracted to run the NYC Ferry system since its 2017 launch.

“NYCEDC supports the decision by NYC Ferry engineering employees to elect representation by the Transport Workers Union (TWU),” EDC spokesperson Seth Schuster said in a statement. “NYCEDC is committed to supporting the workers who deliver safe and reliable NYC Ferry service for millions of riders each year, and will ensure that our operator, Hornblower Group, delivers on that commitment.”

The ferry system mostly operates along the East River, moving New Yorkers between Manhattan, Brooklyn, and the Bronx. It also has routes connecting to Manhattan’s west side, Staten Island, and the Rockaway peninsula.

Hornblower Group, in a statement sent by its attorneys, said that it “recognize[s] and respect[s] the right of our New York City crew to organize.”

“Based on the results of this week’s election, we will work with all relevant parties to reach a fair collective bargaining agreement that best serves all parties and ensures we continue to provide New Yorkers with safe, reliable, affordable, and efficient public transportation,” it said.

However, Samuelsen said the TWU is not stopping with the ferry technicians and welders.

“This is a blockbuster development for us,” he said. “We have our foot in the door and plan on organizing the rest of the ferry workers and will work with our union allies to ensure all are represented.”

A pair of new court challenges are widening scrutiny of the New York City Department of Probation (DOP).

Two former IT employees with the agency responsible for supervising parolees in the city allege that they were fired or effectively forced out after Commissioner Sharun Goodwin took office, before the agency advertised jobs tied to their work, while a separate whistleblower-retaliation suit against department leaders remains pending.

Jenette Cummings and Demmi Slaughter filed separate Article 78 petitions in New York County (Manhattan) Supreme Court late last month, each seeking reinstatement, back pay and other relief. Their cases involve different employment circumstances but overlap inside DOP’s information technology unit, where both say employees abruptly lost access to systems needed to perform their jobs.

A DOP spokesperson said the department is “committed to serving New Yorkers with fairness, integrity, and professionalism.”

“The City will review the cases when served,” the spokesperson said.

John Scola, Slaughter’s attorney, told amNewYork that agency turnover is common under new administrations and commissioners, but that the lawfulness of any personnel action must be assessed on a case-by-case basis. He said employees from numerous city agencies had contacted him about personnel changes after the Mamdani administration took office.

Cummings, who is representing herself, began working at DOP on Jan. 12 as an IT project specialist with the business title IT asset management associate. She was dismissed on March 27, roughly two months into a six-month probationary period.

Cummings clarified that she was not assigned any tasks after the new commissioner took office. Her offer letter identified Slaughter as her supervisor, but Cummings said that after Slaughter was no longer in the office, no one could tell to whom she reported.

“No one had an answer for me as far as what tasks I had to do for my day-to-day,” Cummings told amNewYork. “No one gave any direction.”

Cummings said she and other workers lost email, ticketing-system and data-center access, preventing them from resolving support requests or troubleshooting technical problems.

Cummings said Assistant Commissioner of Human Resources Zenia Melendez called her March 27 and directed her to a meeting where she was told only that DOP was “going in a different direction.” After she sought an explanation for unemployment purposes, Human Resources Director Keven Lee emailed her April 14 that she “didn’t pass probation.”

“They told me that I didn’t pass probation, but they didn’t tell me the reason why I didn’t pass probation,” Cummings said. “I was never given an evaluation.”

She said she received no written or verbal warning before her dismissal.

On April 22, 26 days after Cummings was dismissed, DOP advertised two openings carrying the same IT Project Specialist civil-service title and IT Asset Management Associate business title she had held. Cummings said she reapplied but received no response.

Dismissed Probation workers question agency’s motives

Slaughter’s petition describes a separate but related dispute. Slaughter, a nearly nine-year city employee, held the permanent civil-service title Certified IT Administrator and was serving as acting second-in-command of DOP’s IT unit.

Her petition alleges DOP revoked access needed by roughly 12 IT employees on Jan. 27 without notice or explanation and, based on information from a colleague, attributes the decision to Chief Information Officer Razwan Mirza.

In an email to her union, Slaughter said the disruption temporarily halted DOP’s IT operations and that the employee who disabled her access claimed he had been instructed by the “new DOP commissioner.”

Slaughter resigned Feb. 17, effective April 17, alleging the restrictions and lack of explanation had made her position untenable. She withdrew the resignation on April 13 while still on the payroll, but DOP processed her separation four days later, according to the petition.

Lee told her the withdrawal could not be accepted because her position had been filled. Slaughter alleges DOP also proposed placing her on unpaid leave until the NYPD took her back, although she says she was not on loan from the Police Department.

DOP later told her it had no vacancies consistent with her permanent title. Her petition points to the April 22 IT openings, although they carried a different civil-service title, and to a later posting for an IT Service Management Specialist position that she identifies as her former job.

Scola said Slaughter told him DOP would not identify who had filled her former position and rejected her request to be considered for another vacancy.

Scola also represents Ebony Huntley, DOP’s former chief investigator, whose April lawsuit alleges she was fired after forwarding an anonymous employee complaint about department leadership to the Department of Investigation.

The complaint raised concerns about potential conflicts of interest and favoritism, including an alleged prior relationship between Goodwin and DOP General Counsel Wayne McKenzie. It also alleged that Goodwin had expressed an intention to remove or marginalize employees associated with the previous administration. The allegations have not been proven in court.

Huntley has since met with DOI, Scola said. He said the city has been served in her case but had not yet filed a response.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani said in April that he took the allegations “incredibly seriously” but would not weigh in on an ongoing investigation.

“New Yorkers should rest assured that there is an investigation,” he said.

The Department of Investigation declined to comment on whether that investigation remains ongoing or, if it has concluded, whether it would release any findings. City Hall declined to comment on a separate request for comment on the investigation’s status.