The state’s largest health care system was also one of the biggest spenders on lobbyists trying to influence city government last year.
Northwell Health, a New Hyde Park-based provider network with 21 hospitals and over 800 clinics in the region, was the tenth biggest special interest trying to influence city officials in 2024, according to a new report from the City Clerk’s office. The megasystem paid close to half a million dollars on lobbyists trying to advance its city interests as it seeks to significantly expand its footprint on the Upper East Side.
Most of that money was spent trying to sway the Department of City Planning, community board members and a host of east side City Council members over a controversial rezoning proposal that would allow Northwell to build a new $2 billion medical tower next to Lenox Hill Hospital between E. 76th and 77th Sts., city records show.
Northwell paid New York consulting giant Kasirer $240,000 to lobby members of the City Council, Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine, and the mayor’s office on the land-use review process around Lenox Hill Hospital, which the property would have to go through to be rezoned. Northwell needs the rezoning to proceed with the project, a 436-foot facility that is expected to take nine years to build and has incurred some opposition from local residents. Lobbying can include meeting or calling officials or staff to push an agenda or even draft legislation or policy language.
As part of its campaign, the firm has lobbied Speaker Adrienne Adams, East Side Council Members Carlina Rivera, Kieth Powers and Diana Ayala, and Health Chair Lynn Schulman. Kasirer also targeted Councilwoman Selvena Brooks-Powers and Councilman Yusef Salaam on the issue, the record shows.
Northwell paid close to another $113,000 to the firm Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP to lobby City Planning staff and members of Community Board 8 on the Upper East Side on land use matters related to Lenox Hill.
While a small price for the hospital system, which brought in $13.6 billion in revenue in the first nine months of 2024, the stream contributes to the flow of huge sums swirling around City Hall to persuade policymakers. In total, clients paid city lobbyists $138 million last year, a record high, according to the City Clerk report.
The health system also hired former Council Speaker Corey Johnson’s firm, Cojo Strategies, to lobby Council staff on off-site treatment centers, according to the records. It and other providers are pushing the Council and city Health Department to permit the use of portable x-rays outside the hospital, which would allow primary and urgent care providers to use the equipment without having to construct dedicated rooms, said Northwell spokeswoman Barbara Osborne. Northwell paid $90,000 for Cojo’s expertise.
Northwell was part of list of big lobby spenders dominated by entities pushing to land a casino somewhere in the five boroughs with one of a handful of coveted commercial gambling licenses. Billionaire Steve Cohen, the owner of the New York Mets who is trying to put a casino on Citi Field’s parking lot, paid $1.4 million on city lobbyists in 2014. Genting New York, the entity behind Resorts World racetrack in Jamaica, and Bally’s Corporation, which wants to open a casino in the Bronx, each paid upwards of $900,000. Others in the top ten list included two more casino bidders, the Soloviev Group and Thor Equities, as well as the New York State Trial Lawyers Association and Charter Communications.
