RIRA and other community groups with an interest in Southtown are finally acting in concert. Well, sort of acting in concert, if not yet in perfect synch or charmed harmony.

What's happened, as we reported on page 1 last WIRE, and as Attorney Jeff Glen relates in this issue's lead story, is that RIOC has turned down RIRA's performance as good cop opposite RIRSD's bad cop. RIOC is refusing to budge, sticking by its approval of a plan for Southtown that appears to encroach on the six acres of park which the General Development Plan (GDP) says must lie between the existing buildings of Northtown and the new development.

If you've ever been involved in a zoning fight, you know how important this can be. The GDP is Roosevelt Island's zoning, presumably the final word on what can be put where. Island pioneer Shirley Margolin has called it our "constitution," and that's on the money if you're concerned with preserving the Island as a special place where City-dwellers can breathe the good air of open spaces and genuine community.

So when RIOC cuts corners, as it appears to have done in arbitrarily shrinking Blackwell Park, it's no small matter.

While RIRA was trying on its good cop costume, of course, others had to do the heavy lifting. Robert Chira filed an Article 78 action challenging RIOC's decision. So did Roosevelt Islanders for Responsible Southtown Development (RIRSD). In a fog of inaction, perhaps, or maybe deliberately, RIRA let a deadline pass, leaving RIRSD and Chira to preserve residents' rights, so that now, RIRA can take action as an intervenor.

Paradoxically...
...that's produced some good news...
...and some bad news.

The good news is that RIRA's attorney, Jeff Glen, has devised a strategy that could ride one of these cases to a broader long-term protection of residents' interests, perhaps – if the judge sees it his way – producing a ruling, or negotiated solution, in which the authority of the GDP is recognized as something more than a so-called loose collection of ideas, which is how RIOC prefers to view it.

The bad news? Well, it means that while RIRSD is spending thousands of dollars fighting this case, and Robert Chira is putting in an equivalent amount of legal time (or more), RIRA is also spending thousands on Jeff Glen's time.

A very conservative estimate puts residents' committed or expended costs at well over $30,000 already, and mounting fast.

RIRA has worked out a deal under which it won't need additional legal money immediately. Chira will eventually need support, but being a lawyer who can buy his own time wholesale, he's covered for the moment.

RIRSD isn't. It's found ways to pay the bills so far, primarily through the generosity and committed involvement of the hundred-plus Islanders who've seen the importance of this matter and have put money into the cause of an environmentally sensible Southtown, with continued existence of the community greensward, the soccer/baseball field. But more money will be needed, and needed soon. We can hope RIRSD will find ways to raise it, or we can rally to the organization's support with contributions.

Montauk Credit Union is receiving funds for RIRSD – and if you're not already a member of the Credit Union, dropping off your contribution is an easy way to get to know the folks there, who also have a banking deal that's hard to resist.

DL