The WIRE's 20th year

November 21, 1998

RIOC Board Moving To Curb Jerry Blue

News Analysis by Dick Lutz

The Board of Directors of the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation (RIOC) appears to be assuming a stronger and more direct role in management of Roosevelt Island.

Perhaps responding to the wake-up call of a resident vote November 3, the Board took two key actions at its meeting last week to rein in Dr. Jerome Blue, the President of the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation (RIOC):
  • Residents Association President Patrick Stewart and Susan Whitaker, Chair of the Roosevelt Island Council of Organizations (RICO), will join the RIOC Board of Directors. They were nominated to the RIOC Board in February - over nine months ago - by New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, but their names have not yet been sent to the State Senate by Governor George Pataki. While this means they will be non-voting observers, it puts both in a position to be the community's watchdogs in RIOC affairs. RIOC Board Chair Joe Lynch took the step over Blue's objections.

  • Lynch also announced two RIOC committees to consist of members of the community and RIOC Board members. That specifically excludes Blue, who also objected to this action in private. Lynch asked that members of the community interested in serving on these committees provide him with a letter describing their qualifications and interest.
Other handwriting on Blue's office wall: A month ago in a minor power struggle of sorts, Lynch rolled over Blue objections to funding voting machines for the RIRA election by lining up the necessary Board votes when Blue tried repeatedly to raise impediments to providing the money. It was that power struggle, in fact, that moved the RIOC Board from nearly passive observers of Blue's management at RIOC to acting on a newly-realized belief that the style and substance of his management bears closer observation.

The two new Board committees are in Planning and in Capital Investment, two missions that center on the very areas Blue has taken as his primary focus on Roosevelt Island - development.