NYC mayor eyes Governors Island for health research

By Joan Gralla

NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York City's 172-acre Governors Island is one of about three locations Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Friday said he was considering for a public health program that the billionaire philanthropist said he may create.

The federal government in 2003 sold the historic island, a former Coast Guard base just some 800 yards off Manhattan's southern tip, to the city and state for a $1.

Though entertainment companies, real estate developers and universities over the years all have offered competing plans, the city got no acceptable responses when it formally sought proposals, the mayor said on his weekly radio show.

One plan, for a gambling casino, would simply take much too long to win approval, he said, noting: "Forget about those kinds of things."

Bloomberg said his foundation might launch a public health think tank, drawing scientists and pharmaceutical companies from around the world, though he said he wished to avoid competing with existing programs.

"One of the things that occurred to me was if I was going to fund a big public health institution where people from around the world would come. You'd have a small staff and people would come and study for a while there," said the mayor, now in his second and last four-year term.

This sort of endeavor, which would include conferences, would make good use of Governors Island's landmarked buildings.

Bloomberg said such a visible project could also lure "other enterprises," though he offered no specifics.