on self-governance

To Assemblyman Pete Grannis
Dear Pete:

You have been so good representing our views over the years, I hate to raise a problem, any problem, but this is most important. Somewhere along the line the legislation to give Roosevelt Island a larger measure of self government has turned into something else altogether.

I gather that you have been dealing with David Bauer on alterations on the document. The trouble is, he has not been informing the residents. The Wire published the current version that wanders far from my understanding of our purpose. I, to say nothing of my neighbors, was unaware that David was dealing in substance rather than in legislative technicalities.

The changes comprise items that Islanders would never accept. No one ever dreamed of cutting the umbilical cord with the State. It has not acted well in the past three years, but it was always a safety net in case of emergencies. Now the State would be relieved of all obligations and responsibilities. The City has not agreed to pick them up. From a somewhat testy child, we will have become an orphan. Few people I know want that.

And our immediate prospects are frightening. Within 30 days - during vacation time - we are to hold an election and elect a Board. By September, we have the responsibility of running the whole place. No one on the Island has the faintest notion of the present state of our finances; no clear view of our assets, our long-term liabilities. What is needed is a reform of the State's processes, and half of the Directors elected by residents. A strong RIRA, which already got rid of Dr. Jerome Blue, is the best instrument to protect the Island's interests in cooperation with a more alert Albany. RIRA represents the overwhelming majority of the residents - and recognizes the concerns of all. Its growth and present work is, by far, the best grass roots community involvement and influence I have ever known.

Pete, you know that I would never bother you with a small problem. But this is serious. As an historian, I have heard a lot about "chaos theory", but I had rather hoped it could be tested elsewhere.

Richard Wade

To Prof. Richard C. Wade
Dear Dick,

I'm glad we had a chance to air our disagreements at lunch the other day. Let me reconfirm what I stated to you then: that no Maple Tree Group meeting has ever been held in secret. The public has always been invited to join us for our meetings which have been held every Monday evening at 7:30 in IS/PS 217 and previously at the Chapel on this island.

Let me refer you to The Main Street WIRE issue as recently as May 22, 1999, page 6, which announced our meeting time and place. And as far back as the September 12, 1998 issue, page 3, which had a full-page explanation titled What the Grannis Bill Will Do, and ended with the announcement of our meeting in the Chapel on the forthcoming Monday evening. Nearly every issue of The WIRE announced our next meeting. We did have a solid working group of 80 persons who participated for the last two years in the work of drafting the Grannis bill so, obviously, there were quite a few people who did not require personal invitations to our meetings, but came to lend a hand.

I really get very upset when people who did not lift a finger to help in this effort turn on us with criticism and recrimination. We kew we could not expect all of the 92% of the 1,566 residents who supported self-governance in the form of the Grannis bill, to come to our meetings and share the work involved. We had to assume that those who did not come were too busy or did not care to be involved. Your suggestion that they "didn't trust" us, "an unelected group," fails the test of logic when they could easily have attended and checked us out. Is it your contention that only elected individuals should be permitted to work on legislation? Many persons who are not elected are involved in the bill-drafting process in Albany, as well as here. In the end, however, all those who make a law of a bill are elected representatives, including Assemblymember Grannis and Senator Mendez, who spent many hard hours working on it on our behalf.

If you endorse the time-honored American tradition of the right of free assembly and redress of grievances, you were free to accept or ignore the Maple Tree Group's community-wide invitation to participate. You chose to ignore it. You are also free to exercise your right of free speech by carping at those who have, at least, made an effort to achieve self-governance for our community. But I see no other group publicly putting in the time and effort to investigate how that goal might be achieved. Where are those residents who were elected to look out for the welfare of this community? Let's see them do the work involved in getting self-government for us!

Mary Camper-Titsingh

Dear Mary:

Thanks for your thoughtful letter though I confess that I am not used to receiving a personal letter via The Wire. Especially since we also had a long talk about the bill just before I sent the letter (printed above) to Pete Grannis. I explained my objections to the bill. I also said that the processes of the Maple Tree Group were both unrepresentative and self-defeating. It assumed that a 92% vote for more self-government on the Island justified any group to solo into specifics. Very few voters had that in mind.

Hence, your group decided to convince residents that the MTG had a viable alternative to the present system. Instead of reaching out to the residents, it simply announced public meetings to join MTG's effort. Historically, any successful reform movement not only invited citizens to meetings but reached out to the affected constituency - building committees, Island associations and institutions, such as libraries, schools, hospitals, and merchants, who, after all, were slated to be the major source of revenue under the new charter. Whether left or right, effective organizations earned victory through aggressive recruiting, general mailings, and fund raisers. An important cause is not a "Field of Dreams" where announcements are made and people come.

At lunch you said that over two years about 10 to 15 residents came to monthly open meetings, creating a "solid working group of 80." There are 1,600 voters on the Island, yet hard work and the active support of The WIRE produced only a handful of supporters. It is no wonder there is some "distrust" from people who are not privy to MTG's activity. Its third meeting drew 33 people who were asked to fill out an "Opinion Index" consisting of 56 questions about Island conditions. These were the basis of its first lengthy report. MTG admitted that the 33 did not represent "a statistically accurate sample of the Island population." But they did include "concerned people willing to take the time" to consider the neighborhood's problems. In all of the report there is no mention of Dr. Jerome Blue, but only the "system." What was needed was a fusillade against the autocrat, not a civics lesson. And self-selected participants scarcely indicate an Island consensus.

At their founding, MTG described its "intention to look forward instead of focusing on the present Island administration or present-day problems." I didn'tjoin because I thought it had inverted priorities. I was working to get Dr. Jerome Blue ousted as head of RIOC and felt the Island's energy should concentrate on that difficult task. After all, the Founding Fathers made the judgement to get rid of the King before creating a new governance. Thus I thought RIRA with its new leadership and elected representation was the proper instrument for attacking Dr. Blue, and not be distracted by institutional reform. I see no reason now to doubt that judgment.

I know many of the people in MTG and like them and respect their goals. But during the last two years I never knew what it was drafting, indeed, at the end the document was altered almost every hour on the hour. The safety of our Island lies in a strong RIRA and elected representation on RIOC, lest a Blue cloud descends again.

I see no reason for "carping" or "recrimination" among Islanders, most of whom have been brought here by the uniqueness and decency of our common journey.

Richard C. Wade

To members of the State Senate

Dear Senators,

We are members of the Roosevelt Island Community Association and long time residents. We are aggrieved by the present legislature that is before you. Please, please, vote against this bill - vote no on S4223. Sponsored by Senator Olga Mendez.

The reasons are:

1. The minority community which represents more than half the population have not been apprised of this bill. We were taken by shock when the notification appeared in The Main Street WIRE, the local newspaper, on June 12, 1999, four days before the Senate will vote.

2. The minority community has not been allowed to participate in this process, as you can see from the photograph from The WIRE attached. An all white group and behind closed doors.

3. I am sure you have knowledge of the problem that exists in the Roosevelt Island Community. We have had a Media blitz in the last few weeks. Fox News, NY1, The New York Times and a Mayor Giuliani Town Hall Meeting.

Save our community by voting against this bill. We have signatures of 250 residents to date.

If it passes it will only exacerbate the racial tension that currently exists on Roosevelt Island that has existed for years and continues to increase, especially as a result of the treatment of the previous President of RIOC, Dr. Jerome Blue.

R.I. Community Association
Jessie Rademaker, Director
Linda Warren, Lisa Knox, Nellie Velez, Dorothy Donald, Bruce Bell, Sharon McDaniel, Deirdre McNamara

Dear Jessie,

The WIRE will be publishing your June 15 letter to 53 Senators.

To accompany it, please provide me with the names of the 250 residents mentioned in the sentence, "We have signatures of 250 residents to date."

In addition, I would appreciate having information on how the Roosevelt Island Community Association has recruited its membership; what the dues are, if any; when and where the meetings are held, if any; whether the meetings are regularly scheduled; whether the meetings are open, etc.

You can email the information to me at dicklutz@rcn.com (in which case please leave a message for me at 826-9055 to alert me to check email for it) or you can leave it in my name at the Rivercross desk, at 531 Main Street. I will need it by noon, Wednesday (June 30) to meet publication deadlines.

Thanks.

Dick Lutz
Managing Editor

Dear Dick,

I am in receipt of your letter dated June 26, informing me of your intent to publish my June 15 letter to the 53 Senators.

You will not be receiving the names or the signatures of the Roosevelt Island Community Association members.

I am not able to identify a single instance in which your editorials have been the source of unbiased information on issues residents are concerned with.

It really is unfortunate that meaningful dialogue between individuals or gruops with different viewpoints cannot be presented in The WIRE.

I look forward to communicating with you when an atmosphere considerable different from the present is established.

Jessie Rademaker

Dear Jessie,

Thank you for your response. I note that you ignored my questions about where and when RICA's meetings are held, and whether they are open to the public. Since your communication to State Senators made a claim that the Maple Tree Group excluded you from participation (even though frequent notice of its open meetings were published in The WIRE), I thought you might like to make it clear that RICA's meetings are open, if that is the case. I'll hope to have that information from you soon.

Your comment that WIRE editorials contain opinion is noted. Newspaper editorials are opinion, of course. As always, The WIRE is open to the views of any and all members of the community.

Dick Lutz