"If you do not forward the information requested... by May 16, we will... compel you... to answer questions under oath at an open legislative forum on the Island."

So reads the ultimatum in a letter faxed Tuesday to Dr. Jerome Blue, President of the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation, by State Assemblyman Pete Grannis, State Senator Olga Mendez, Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, and City Councilman Gifford Miller.

The legislators' letter goes on to say "We hope, of course, that your cooperation will make this unnecessary."

The four Democrats are incensed that Blue has responded to their questions with what they consider inadequate answers.  "Your April 16 response to... Assemblyman Grannis is not acceptable," says Tuesday's letter, "and in our opinion reflects very poorly on your position as RIOC's COO (chief operating officer).

"Instead of detailing the funding sources and work schedules for crucial capital projects on Roosevelt Island... as requested," the letter says, "you seek to pass off the need for... specific information with the bland and undocumented assertion that, þ...the items that you mention in your letter are either funded, have been completed, are near completion, or will be examined during this year's budgetary process by the agency.'"

The letter continues, "We are left with two possible explanations, neither of which is comforting: 1) you are not sufficiently informed about the Island's infrastructure conditions and needs; or 2) you haven't any idea about how you are going to come up with the funds to address the Island's pressing capital needs in light of the Governor's abandonment of this community."

This week's letter is the latest pressure placed on Blue to re-orient his RIOC administration to the needs of Roosevelt Island and away from what is seen by his critics as a destructive devotion to the Govenor's budget goals.  Over the past two budgets, Pataki has reduced the overall yearly subsidy for the Island from $6.5 million to zero.  Blue has insisted that the Island can now be self-sufficient, even though long-established plans for the Island envisioned that the Island's population would have to be more than double the present level to attain budgetary independence.

While Blue has said that all services remain intact, and that the Island's infrastructure is being maintained adequately, some residents are creating a catalog of what they consider deficiencies and decay.  A Residents Association group is mounting a broad-based drive against RIOC in an effort to make it more responsive to Islanders' concerns.  (Click for story.)

Late in March, a Town Hall Meeting sponsored by Councilman Miller put Blue on the spot (Click for story) as residents loudly denounced him for an attempt to raise fees for Little League use of Island playing fields and characterized his answers to their questions as "devoid of content."

The threat of a legislative inquiry escalates the drive to adjust RIOC's attitude to a new level.