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De Blasio Calls On Governor, Mayor To Step Up On Possible Closure Of Brooklyn Hospital

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- New York City Public Advocate and mayoral hopeful Bill de Blasio spent some time in jail on Wednesday for doing what he says is his job: advocating for the public.

But now he said it's time for others with the power to act to help save a hospital in Brooklyn.

As WCBS 880's Alex Silverman reported Thursday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo's office called de Blasio's disorderly conduct arrest a political gimmick.

De Blasio Calls On Governor, Mayor To Step Up On Possible Closure Of Brooklyn Hospital

"It's very easy for folks in Albany to call names, but I'd like to ask them what their plan is," de Blasio told Silverman.

The public advocate, nurses and others rallied outside the State University of New York's Midtown offices on Wednesday to save Long Island College Hospital in Brooklyn from what de Blasio calls an imminent demise.

"We know the ICU is being cleared out. We know no maternity cases are being accepted. Long Island College Hospital is being starved to death by SUNY," he told Silverman.

De Blasio has called on the governor and the mayor to get the parties together and find out who has proposed taking the hospital over.

"If we had leaders at the three levels of government giving us a plan for saving our hospitals, I wouldn't have had to go and perform an act of civil disobedience and the other 14 people [who got arrested] wouldn't have either," said the Democrat.

Asked why the public advocate can't do that, de Blasio responded, "I would love nothing more but to play that role effectively. It helps to have some of the executive tools, obviously."

SUNY is considering selling Long Island College Hospital and has claimed that the institution loses about $1 million a week.

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