Health

When Mayor Michael Bloomberg put together PlaNYC in 2007, he made brownfields – abandoned or underused, and often contaminated industrial sites – one of the three overarching themes of his land use initiatives.

Among the city’s brownfields is a Brooklyn parcel that long was a favorite spot for graffiti writers and squatters, who dubbed it “the Bat Cave.” The property, now called “Gowanus Village,” is a 2.4 acre site along the notorious Gowanus Canal. The towering brick building on the property was once a power plant owned by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

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Economists say the recession is over, but with the unemployment near 10 percent, it sure doesn’t feel like it. So some New Yorkers may have to stay local this summer.

But for some poorer residents, every summer means a staycation. Many take advantage of the city’s open spaces – like the Bronx’s Soundview Park, which just got rehabilitated as part of PlaNYC.

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St. Vincent’s Hospital, a Greenwich Village mainstay for 160 years, is coming off life support, unable to survive $700 million in debt. The hospital is phasing out operations, though Lenox Hill Hospital will at least temporarily run a so-called urgent care operation out of the storied Village medical center.

Meanwhile, some 3,500 St. Vincent’s employees are spending the hospital’s final days saying their final farewells – and looking for work.

Laudelina Velasquez likes to be prepared for her grandchildren’s weekend visits.

“I like to have food to give them,” she said in Spanish.

To get the corn flakes and other foods her grandchildren enjoy, Velasquez, 64, travels from the Bronx to a food pantry on the upper West Side once a month.