UPDATE: Judge Rules SUNY Violated Open Meetings Law, Report

UPDATE March 15 at 6:38 pm: Friday evening Sen. Daniel Squadron released a statement in response to SUNY's decision to host its next public meeting 40 miles away from Long Island College Hospital, calling the Westchester hearing a "slap in the face."

"It's absurd that SUNY is responding to its unlawful lack of transparency with a shocking lack of transparency," stated Squadron in the prepared statement. "To hold a hearing nearly 40 miles away, without a reasonable opportunity for those most affected to testify, is simply a slap in the face to all those impacted.

It continues to be clear that closing LICH makes no sense. SUNY is only confirming that fact with its unwillingness to have an honest and open conversation. I call on the SUNY Board of Trustees to hold a meeting in New York City that complies with the Open Meetings Law and allows those impacted a chance to be heard."

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UPDATE March 15 at 2:53 pm: SUNY trustees have announced they will convene in Westchester on Tuesday, March 19 for a new public vote on the future of Long Island College Hospital in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn.

"The public is supposed to have the opportunity to be present and participate in the public hearing," registered nurse Julie Semente told Patch in reaction to the news.

"Our community consists of neighborhoods from Red Hook to DUMBO across this end of Brooklyn—not Westchester. SUNY should schedule a special public session to discuss LICH, just like they scheduled the special hearing last February. And it should be held at or near LICH to give all members of our community the opportunity to attend and be heard."

Other members of the New York State Nurses Association also cried foul, vowing to send buses of members in the middle of the workday to the "remote Westchester location" at the State College at Purchase, reported the New York Daily News.

Stay with Patch for updates.

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On Thursday, LICH activists scored another victory in the battle to keep the doors of their struggling Cobble Hill medical center open.

Brooklyn Supreme Court Judge Johnny Lee Baynes ordered trustees of the State University of New York (SUNY) not to move forward with its plans for closure until  a new vote that complies with the Open Meetings Law is held, according to a report in the New York Post.

“It is this Court’s determination that [trustees’] notice was so intentionally vague as to shield the public from the true purpose of the meetings ... and failed to meet the standard for transparency required by the Open Meetings Law," wrote Baynes in a public decision released in the afternoon.

The hospital, which was purchased by SUNY in 2011 and since blamed for the medical network's financial troubles, cannot be closed without the approval of the state Department of Health.

After the board voted to shut LICH down, members of the NYSNA, union leaders, local officials and other supporters brought a lawsuit against SUNY Downstate alleging that real estate was a key factor in limiting the public's knowledge of trustees' plans to close the hospital.

The activists have since staged multiple rallies outside of the hospital, on the steps of Borough Hall, in Manhattan, in Albany and in support of keeping doors open as recently as Tuesday.

No word yet on when a new vote will be held. SUNY officials did not immediately offer comment on the decision.

Stay with Patch for updates.