Assemblymember Pete Grannis is calling for further work on self-governance legislation, primarily to insure a firm financial footing for the Island once its management passes to a locally-elected RIOC Board of Directors.

For complete text of Grannis communications, click here

"If ever there was a time for heeding the warning caveat emptor (buyer beware), this seems to be it," Grannis wrote to members of the Island's Maple Tree Group (MTG), which has worked toward self-governance both before last November's 92% ballot endorsement of the plan, and since.  Referring to a letter he wrote to Senator Olga Mendez (full text, page 11), whose version of the legislation was the one under active consideration when the Legislature's session ended in June, Grannis told MTG, "I continue to be very concerned that enactment of her bill as is might end up leaving Island residents facing unforeseen financial risks.  This would be unacceptable to me and I think should be to the Island community."

MTG members, though preferring an earlier version of the legislation their group had drafted - a version introduced in the State Assembly by Grannis - voted unanimously in June to urge passage of the Mendez version, primarily to give residents near-term control of Island development.  The group also expressed a concern that the Pataki administration might not support a version of self-governance that was more explicit in preserving a State responsibility for Island finances, feeling the responsibility was preserved by the lease between City and State under which the State operates the Island.

Grannis's memo to MTG continued, "Before taking control of a new governing entity, I believe that both good government and common sense require that a proper due diligence review be undertaken.  Since this move will in all likelihood remove the State as the prime guarantor of the Island's future, I believe that we must have in hand proper assurances as to RIOC's condition and full knowledge of what the future holds regarding the new entity's obligations and financial responsibilities."

In a separate memo to Mendez, Grannis praised her work in getting the Republican Administration and Senate interested in self-governance for Roosevelt Island, but continued, "the legislation that came out of this process [that was] offered to us on a take-it-or-leave-it basis by the Senate leadership is not a bill that I felt comfortable in advancing in its current form.

"While your negotiations with the Governor's Office and Senate produced a bill that made good on our promise to put residents in the driver's seat of a new management entity, I am deeply troubled by the risks it poses of putting them at the wheel of a jalopy that might not make it around the bend, rather than a viable public benefit corporation that is both fiscally sound and fully apprised of the Island's physical condition."

Concerns about the Island's infrastructure have been at the heart of resistance to the legislative effort by Residents Association President Patrick Stewart, who has called for a reliable inventory of the likely cost of repairing the seawall, AVAC system, roadways, and other basic systems which, he believes, were neglected to the point of danger under the three-year administration of Dr.  Jerome Blue, who left the RIOC Presidency in June.  In his memo to Mendez, Grannis wrote, "...the previous administration of RIOC has left all of us with a great deal of uneasiness with regard to the fiscal and physical condition of both RIOC and Roosevelt Iland.  While Dr.  Blue was fond of trumpeting his ability to make the Island self-sufficient...  many questions were raised (and are as yet unanswered) about how he was accomplishing this."

Before listing work he feels is necessary before self-governance moves forward, Grannis's memo to Mendez continues, "Once done, self-governance will likely be irrevocable.  And, while the Pataki Administration has not been responsive to the Island's needs in its budgets over the past five years, it remained at least morally responsible as long as the Governor controlled RIOC [through appointment of its Board of Directors and the its President].  This Administration will have virtually no reason to be concerned about the Island if their link to RIOC and the Island þ the Governor's control of the RIOC Board þ is severed."

In his memo to MTG, Grannis promised further work on the legislation after Labor Day.  However, it is generally believed, based on the State Legislature's past working patterns, that no legislation is likely to be passed until well into the year 2000.  MTG members have expressed a fear that the "moment will pass"  for self-governance legislation if the Governor's priorities change, or if residents become more comfortable with the new RIOC administration of Robert Ryan than they were with RIOC under Jerome Blue.