EDITORIAL

The New Nature of Unity

It’s far easier to unite against something than it is to unite for something. Uniting isn’t the problem. The problem is finding the something that’s an attractive centerpiece for a strong majority to be for.

Just over two years ago, a few months into Jerome Blue’s tenure as President of the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation, there was a Residents Association election and near-immediate, near-complete unity against a ludicrous series of decisions that demonstrated Blue’s complete inability and unwillngness to work with residents to fashion a future for the Island.

Blue was easy to be against, and there was no shortage of leadership – or followers – in denouncing his high-handed methods and bankrupt anti-resident moves.

But back then, the Common Council of the Roosevelt Island Residents Association was caught a bit flat-footed. As easy as it was to oppose Blue, there was nothing on the flip side of that card – no affirmative program. Busy reacting to Blue and heading him off at the pass, RIRA’s volunteer resources were severely stretched, and the Common Council had almost no working time to fashion a program based on something more than reactive opposition.

By the end of those two years, RIRA was looking worn and weary. Some Council members were discouraged to the point of being tempted to concede a victory to their frustration over their determination, and just give up. But with the anti-Blue sentiment as glue and a series of hold-the-line victories, Patrick Stewart kept it all together through last November’s election. After November, new blood came aboard and the Common Council as a whole was re-energized.

The election was a great boost for RIRA, and for centering on an affirmative program crafted from the remnants of dismay over Blue’s continued presence. Not only was Patrick Stewart re-elected in a firm community repudiation of Blue, but his personal victory went fist-in-glove with a triumph of avalanche proportions for RIRA’s resolution calling for self-governance for Roosevelt Island: In an election that drew more voters than the average U.S. Presidential election, 92 percent of those casting ballots endorsed the idea of self-governance.

In one stroke, the Island’s residents had a double-dose of unity: Patrick Stewart as the symbol of opposition to Blue, and self-governance as the constructive program for replacing Blue-style political appointees with professional management. At last, there was some reasonable prospect for replacing a politically-appointed RIOC Board with an elected Board of Residents.

There was, at last, a constructive program.

Last month, both the re-elected members of the RIRA Common Council and its newly-elected members demonstrated their affinity for such a positive program by voting with near-unanimity to back the Pete Grannis legislation that offers a clear route to resident control of this Island’s future. Not one delegate voted against the concept, or the specifics, as the Council approved a resolution to apply full RIRA effort on behalf of the Grannis bill’s conception of self-governance. No wonder – the residents who had elected Patrick Stewart and the Common Council delegates had made known the depth of their desire to take a hand in Island governance with that 92% mandate.

So now there is a plan, positive prospects, and a program in place.

As RIRA and the Maple Tree Group put their efforts behind the drive for democratic rule of Roosevelt Island, residents will be offered the opportunity to help in various ways, and we can anticipate that many will step forward, get in common harness, and pull together for a better future for Roosevelt Island.

There was a grand start last weekend, for example, when nearly 100 residents attended the Maple Tree Group’s stirring concert to raise funds for a coming mail campaign to make the Island’s needs known State-wide, and to press for helping hands in the Legislature. Both artists and residents were generous, as were RIRA First VP Joan Christianson and many other volunteers, and over $1,500 was raised.

There will be further efforts, and with good reason:

Here on Roosevelt Island, we’ve achieved something uncommon in a community’s political life: Unity behind a positive program.

The program has open arms for all, and great hope for the Island’s future riding on it.