I thought the Open Forum of the RIOC Board of Directors meeting went very well, all things considered. Granted, Rob Ryan will come to know us better as time goes on, and we will come to know him better, as well. Certainly an Open Forum speeds up the process, and I sincerely hope the Board will see fit to hold others intermittently until RIOC and the community become more comfortable with one another.

When you stop to remember that six months ago a resident would have had to fill out a Freedom of Information form to get RIOC's phone number, it helps to put things in perspective. I don't think Mr. Ryan realizes quite how bad it was, or how widespread the genuine outrage was felt throughout the community.

I expect that, for those who were not personally deeply engaged in the process, there may be a suspicion that all the fuss was exaggerated. Certainly, there have been one or two public comments at recent Board meetings by State participants that, given the legend these meetings had become in Albany, things were seeming to go well since Ryan had arrived.

And, perhaps, Ryan himself may reasonably feel that it is only a 'political' minority on the Island who feel so strongly about the many issues we bring to his attention.

So it was certainly good for all of us that so many of you came to the meeting and spoke so articulately and so adamantly on a wide a variety of subjects. Such wholehearted community involvement demonstrates clearly to the Board, and to Ryan, that our outrage was not directed at Blue personally, but was, and is, directed against the way the issues that concern us were handled.

Clearly Ryan felt personally that this was not entirely fair, and probably it's not entirely fair.

But my recommendation to Rob Ryan is not to take it personally. To most of the community he has yet to become Robert H. Ryan, the man. To the community, he is still simply RIOC, and therefore still shrouded with the legacies of Jerry Blue. And those legacies mean that he will have to go the extra mile before he fully enjoys our confidence, fair or not.

It is clear to me that Jerry Blue strengthened this community in his opposition to us. He drove us to adequately arm ourselves with the relevant information, the relevant laws, the relevant procedures. As a result, we are far more knowledgeable, and far more committed, than most other communities. It is a very good thing that Ryan understand that fact thoroughly, and this Board meeting was a fine demonstration of both our knowledge and our commitment.

Ryan has made clear that he holds himself accountable to the community. I, for one, believe him, and believe that his intentions are exactly what he says they are. I am not so sure about Pataki's intentions, however, and I think it would be foolish of us to change our stance until we have hard, clear evidence of substantive changes in the policies that got us to this point.

Ryan assured us that the community will continue to have meaningful input into the Southtown development process, and the RIRA Planning Committee will continue to work with him in making that a reality. The Common Council will request clearer information on his plans for Blackwell House and the Chapel of the Good Shepherd. And we will continue to oppose the Marriott project, and monitor any and all development and infrastructure issues.

Ryan genuinely has not had time enough to resolve any major issues yet. But there are indications that things are moving in the right direction. For instance, my playground consultant, Zoe (who's not on the Common Council yet), reported that Ryan had fixed not only the gate at the Toddler's Playground, but the duck and seahorse too. "And that was the day after we told him, too," she said, "and they've been broke forever!" (She can swear to three years.)

As I said above, I do believe Rob Ryan's intentions are what he says they are. And I believe that as his intentions are translated into clear commitments, and those commitments are then translated into action, our community will support this reformed RIOC as thoroughly and as successfully as we opposed Blue's RIOC.

The means for making that a reality as quickly as possible lie entirely in RIOC's hands.