Funds originally earmarked for construction of Octagon Park are no longer earmarked for that purpose.  The funds apparently will be used, instead, to build infrastructure for Southtown.

The overall amount involved is $3.4 million.

Diana Chapin, Deputy Commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), confirmed to The WIRE that a Superseding Agreement signed last Fall relieves the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation of an obligation to use the DEP funds to build an "Octagonal ecological park" and do related work in the Octagon/Water Tunnel area.

RIOC President Robert Ryan was asked about the agreement with DEP at a meeting of the Roosevelt Island Seniors Association (RISA) last month.  He responded, "I don't know the figure that's being used for the park.  Nothing's changed.  We were only going back and forth to get money out of the DEP."

To a subsequent query from The WIRE, Ryan responded, "The document signed September 30 established a procedure to reimburse RIOC for seawall damage.  This document does not refer to Southtown."

The apparent reallocation of funds is one of the points being challenged in an Article 78 petition against RIOC and DEP by Roosevelt Islanders for Responsible Southtown Development (RIRSD).  The September 22 resolution approving Southtown that was passed by the RIOC Board of Directors provided that expenditures over $725,000 for Southtown infrastructure would not be undertaken prior to receipt of the DEP reimbursement; the Board's resolution apparently anticipated completion of the agreement with DEP to remove the earmarking of the funds.

The original agreement between DEP and RIOC provided "that in lieu of the City making direct payment to RIOC... the City would fund the following construction contracts to be carried out by RIOC as DEP's contractor: the restoration of the DEP staging area site; creation of an Octagonal Ecological Park; and building a portion of a proposed access road provided that in no event shall the amount of the construction contract between RIOC and the City exceed the Project Costs for the seawall and promenade."

In the Superseding Agreement, the City and RIOC agree "that in lieu of funding the construction contracts... the City shall forthwith remit to RIOC the principal amount of $3,400,242.84 representing the actual cost of the work performed by RIOC on behalf of the City pursuant to audited invoices."

Ryan has been quoted as telling members of the community that RIOC expects to spend about $1.4 million on the Octagon work prescribed in the original agreement.

Tony Morenzi, an aide to Assemblymember Pete Grannis, commented, "We always suspected they were getting the Southtown infrastructure money from Octagon Park, but we couldn't prove it."

On Wednesday, The WIRE asked RIOC and Ryan for further comment.  On Thursday, RIOC staffer Robert Antonek responded that because the funds are one subject of legal action, RIOC cannot comment on the matter at this time.