Rockaway Successfully Rallies for Trauma Center Funding

By Katie McFadden

“Trauma center—we need it now!” “No more delays, no more excuses!” “Give us the money!” Those were among a few of the chants at a rally for a trauma center in the Rockaways, led by local elected officials, on Friday, June 27. The emergency rally was called in response to the mayoral administration allegedly reneging on a commitment for a city-owned plot of land on Beach 62nd Street and Arverne Blvd., to be used to build a trauma facility, by refusing to provide $300,000 in funding for the transfer of the property from the New York City Housing Authority to the Department of Citywide Administrative Services. But an announcement made after city budget negotiations were made official showed the mayor’s office and city council may have been listening after all.

Last year, Mayor Eric Adams committed to allowing the long-abandoned NYCHA lot to be used for a trauma facility. But it requires a transfer to DCAS, which comes at a price of $300K, something Adams was pushing back against funding. Friday’s rally was a last-ditch effort to plead with the city to include the $300K in funding for the land transfer in the whopping $115.9 billion budget for Fiscal Year 2026. The rally was called on by District 31 Councilwoman Selvena Brooks-Powers, who has been fighting for a trauma facility, even launching the Far Rockaway Trauma Healthcare Access Task Force in 2022. However, Assemblyman Khaleel Anderson, Councilwoman Joann Ariola and Senator James Sanders Jr. took the lead on the rally as Brooks-Powers was doing her part at City Hall, to make sure the funding was included in the budget.

“This is a unified effort,” Anderson said at the rally in front of the proposed site for a future trauma center. He was joined by elected officials, civic leaders, community board leaders, business owners, nonprofit leaders, religious leaders and community members from all over the peninsula. “It’s east, west, coming together to fight for an artery that this community lost 15 long years ago, for those who know how important Peninsula Hospital was to us. We’re standing here for symbolism. There’s a saying, ‘where this is no vision, the people perish.’ We’re tired of people perishing because we don’t have a trauma center here on the peninsula. The trauma center that we had before just a few short blocks to the east was stolen from us and we don’t have the resources and support now to take care of those who are experiencing trauma on the peninsula, so that’s why we’re standing here today. For a vision, for change, for a better tomorrow, so our families can have a fighting chance on this peninsula,” Anderson said.

“We’re at this lot because a commitment was made by the mayoral administration to support a land transfer to make the deal that would bring a trauma center to this part of the community more palatable for a developer,” Anderson explained. “Transferring that land from NYCHA, who presently owns this plot of land that has stood vacant for several decades, is the goal we’re trying to achieve. The mayoral administration made a commitment to make it happen and it seems the mayoral administration is reneging on that commitment. I’m calling on Mayor Adams to honor his promise and honor his commitment, to honor the Diller family, to honor those who are impacted by the high rate of trauma we have on this peninsula.”

Ariola acknowledged Brooks-­Powers’ efforts at City Hall and said, “The people on this peninsula have waited long enough. We’ve had situations where every second counts and Jamaica Hospital and Brookdale Hospital are just too far away. We saw what happens when seconds counted with Officer Diller and now there is a man whose family is broken. I don’t know if a trauma center would have saved his life, but I don’t know that it wouldn’t have either. That’s why I’m calling on the mayor to take the next step forward. Appropriate that $300,000 dollars that, in a budget that is so large, is miniscule. This is a drop in the bucket, and it isn’t about politics, this is a bipartisan coalition, it’s about saving lives. Let’s give Rockaway the care it needs.”

Sanders said, “We do need a trauma center because our community is going through such trauma,” speaking on things like shootings, drownings and even heart problems among residents and visitors to the peninsula. “Every second counts,” he said, speaking about worsening traffic and the distance it takes just to get from one end of Rockaway to the other.

Dolores Orr, chairwoman of Community Board 14 said, “I cannot believe we are standing here, being denied a transfer of city property from one agency to the other and our lives are not worth $300K. Shame on the mayor, shame on the agencies!  How dare you decide $300K is more important to your budget than the lives of people here in Rockaway.”

Felicia Johnson, District Manager of Community Board 14, said, “With over 10K units of housing coming to this peninsula, that means nothing more than an increase of population, which means that we need an increase of medical services.” She also questioned why the money was needed in the first place to transfer the property between city agencies. “I don’t know why it costs $300K to transfer some city land to an establishment that is going to benefit the city. I don’t know who gets that $300K or what they do with it, but what I can say is shame on Mayor Adams to renege on an agreement he had to turn this land over so we can fulfill our dream. You want to keep budling out here, giving us housing and you don’t want to give us infrastructure? We say no!” Johnson said.

The Rockaway Times followed up on Johnson’s point, asking Anderson why the funding for the transfer is even required. “It amounts to another bureaucratic process,” Anderson said, likening it to a deed transfer for a house. On the state side of things, Anderson said he and Sanders are trying to get a bill passed that would remove some of the bureaucratic process on the state side of things as this effort hopefully moves forward.

Others who made remarks included Michael Greco of Local 2507, which represents FDNY’s EMS, Gerry Romski of Arverne by the Sea, civic leaders from Edgemere and NYCHA, Pastor Rev. Cockfield of Battalion Pentecostal Church, Renee Hastick-Motes, the Chief Executive Officer at Addabbo Health Center, and more.

It seems the efforts worked. On Monday, June 30, City Council unanimously approved the massive city budget. And on Tuesday, July 1, Councilwoman Brooks-Powers announced the good news in her newsletter and on social media—Trauma Center Land Transfer Secured! “For too long, Far Rockaway has gone without access to trauma care. This year’s budget includes $300,000 to fund the land transfer needed to build a trauma center on the Rockaway peninsula — clearing a major hurdle and bringing us one step closer to life-saving emergency services right here in our community,” Brooks-Powers said.