The character of Roosevelt Island is under threat.

This Island home of ours, conceived as a beautiful, pragmatic experiment in which all kinds of people would live together, and populated by families and individuals who believe in its dream and live it every day - today, this Island home of ours, and the dream that created it, are threatened.

Its very soul is at stake.

First, the Mitchell-Lama threat: Legislation extending the Mitchell-Lama law is stalled in the State Senate. If it is not enacted, and you live in Westview, Island House, or Eastwood, your rent could one day triple, as it already has at similar Mitchell-Lama residences in Manhattan. The facts underlying this threat are complex and present a wide range of possibilities, but there is a real threat. RIOC has power to help, but could easily choose not to protect us.

Second, haphazard development: RIOC is pushing hard for four projects:

• Southtown. It is sure to be built, but it should be an extension of the Island's character, not a departure from it.
• Eldercare. It's clumsily sited as a 31-story tower looming over the noise and poor air of the Queensboro Bridge. It would destroy part of Sportspark, which could become a valuable facility when Southtown is built.
• The minicondos. RIOC wants to trade your neighbors' views and property rights for an insignificant pittance of annual return.
• Twin-tower hotels on Southpoint, built on the City's last ten acres of great parkland, which RIOC proposes to sacrifice for all the wrong reasons. It would mean three shift-changes of hotel workers straining Main Street, trucks delivering supplies, garbage trucks, private cars and taxis coming and going with guests. It's a strain our residential Main Street can't take - unless its residential nature is sacrificed, too.

Twin-tower hotels could turn Roosevelt Island into a commercial free-for-all. Imagine it: Selling off the last ten acres of great parkland for a hotel.

The minicondos are a slap in the face to residents. They are a theft of view that disregards the careful design of three well-conceived building complexes, plus a threat to the character of the existing town - a callous taking, just for a tiny plug for RIOC's unsound budget.

If they are built, the minicondos could be the dam breaking. After allowing RIOC to disregard existing residents so undemocratically - all bets are off.

Eldercare represents failure, on RIOC's part, to work skillfully with the developer awarded the Southtown site. That developer should include Eldercare within the South-town area, but hasn't - and RIOC has done nothing to urge greater flexibility. Once again, RIOC is backing haphazard development at any cost.

What is it worth to you to gain a resident voice?

While the self-governance legislation Pete Grannis has put before the State Legislature could eventually give residents the democratic power that is their birthright, it won't work its way through the system for several months - perhaps years. And there's no guarantee it will become law. In the meantime, RIOC races to turn the Island's resources into cold cash.

There is only one credible way residents can assert themselves. That is the threat of legal action. That is why a litigationfund is necessary.

Thus, the question:

What is the soul of Roosevelt Islandworth to you?

We suggest it is worth the equivalent of one month's rent or maintenance, not all in cash, but as a pledge - as your promise to back the effort over the next six months or year.

When you do the math, that's what's needed to defend Roosevelt Island against the greed in RIOC's proposals.

When you do the math, and think ahead ten years, it's pennies a day. Pennies a day, to...

• Save Southpoint as parkland.
• Stop the minischool minicondos.
• Act to keep the Island's apartments affordable.