To the Editor:

The significant amounts of money we are and will be spending on Roosevelt Island lawsuits these days, plus Southpoint in the future, are worthy enough (although we could conceivably lose after expensive protracted court battles, even up through appeal); however, they represent but ancillary actions to the one big action just screaming to be taken: Breaking the Roosevelt Island lease between City and State. Too long have we been systematically raped by the State with such as ever-burgeoning greedy ground-lease rents which up costs for everything here: Apartment rents/monthly charges, expensive food from an offensive supermarket, escalating Motorgate parking fees - you name it; as well as (and of great importance) the State never allowing us representation, especially evident now in its almost dementedly blind pell-mell end run to build here in a capricious way, forcing a showdown by totally ignoring our wants and needs. Will New York State ever allow us true democracy (doubtful), or, rather than finally breaking free, will we be forever enmeshed in its grasping tentacles, which have held us as in a vise for the past quarter-century?

The time is right. We can't take 73 more years of this stuff.

We have always been the State's cash cow, milked to the last drop and now forced as well into giving blood. Do we slap on band-aid lawsuits? Do we cry rape to the City so it takes us back? We're in fact too hot a potato for the City to actively intervene unless we force the issue, in which case the City will have to take us back (off the record, it actually wants to - we are, after all, its rightful children, too long farmed out into malevolent foster care, living on rightful City land, too long flagrantly abused by New York State).

If you have cancer what do you do? You have to cut it out. I really do believe we have the far-thinking courage to excise our cancer by addressing the main true issue squarely: Breaking the City/State Lease, the terms of which have been illegally breached so many times by the State that we are on extremely firm 100% provable legal ground, the main issue of which would not be, as in the present pending cases, subject to interpretation (always iffy and sometimes even boiling down to whether the Judge's breakfast has sat well). Completely severing our connection with the State, we would return under the benign umbrella of the City.

The time is right. Oh, so right - never so right!

Because one of our main causes of action would surely be our having been denied true democracy for 26 years through autocratic government, the question of constitutionality would bring into play constitutional law; this means we could, if necessary, take our case right up to the Supreme Court of the United States.

It's up to you people. Would I rather see my hard-to-come-by money go out now a number of times, as well as again in the future, in the fond hope (to be realized or not) of alleviating pain in a few sore toes, or instead go straight for the jugular? Here's my $500 legal fund pledge if we consolidate our lawsuits, bringing up each of our present, as well as all past, issues as a separate cause of action within the one giant lawsuit, forcefully focusing in on the Big Solution. Legal fees could come not only from contributions but also from a series of raffles held for HDTV sets - easy, feasible, fun and what Island resident wouldn't like winning a new HDTV?

"Free at last!" The classic inevitable bottom line. We can do it, folks, so let's do it. Now's the time, truly, before any more money is spent on side issues we may or may not win. If a thing is worth doing, it's always worth doing right. And the right thing now to solve all our problems is getting this 10,000-pound elephant off our backs.

Barbara Potts

To the Editor:

The photo of the "blooms" on the trees shown in the April 1 issue of The WIRE lit up the page with a breathtaking view of early Spring flowers.

Lest these anonymous blooms remain unknown, let's identify them for the benefit of residents who appreciate such early Spring arrivals. They're brought forth on Callery Pear trees, the first to appear in the parade of floral displays announcing that winter is over.

And close behind these first bloomers, of course, are the flowering Japanese cherry trees, which are already bursting forth, behind Eastwood and, in widespread display, over at Cherry Tree Walk.

Maurice Bleifeld, Chair
Roosevelt Island Tree Board

To the Editor:

Hats off to two guys who would not give up.

Charles DeFino, Director of the Youth Center, and Steve Kaufman, Chair of the Youth Center Board of Directors, spent endless hours with RIOC, negotiating to get Octagon field back for our kids. They would not take "no" for an answer. After many discussions, RIOC finally conceded.

We thank Charlie and Steve for not giving up and thanks to the RIOC men for doing the work.

Our kids have already played on the field and they sincerely loved it.

Thank you, Steve and Charlie, for a job well done.

Fay Vass
Mercedes Lugo

To the Editor:

With the longstanding and passionate concern over Southtown development and the huge divergence of opinion as to what, how and when Southtown should be built, and especially because of the widespread sense that community concerns have been ignored, I believe it is critical to create a process on which we may all agree. Some may feel RIOC's final designation of the Hudson/Related and their plan makes such questions moot. But there are currently two Article 78 proceedings pending, with a third party, RIRA, intervening. These actions may overturn the RIOC Board's resolution. Further, the developers have said they would follow if RIOC chose to change the development plan. Hence, the discussion of a process for Southtown development is both relevant and critical.

With this in mind, I make the following proposal.

Step 1: Community Decision on Direction

RIOC will hold monthly town meetings at which residents can voice their ideas, visions and concerns on Southtown. Out of this, the town meeting will elect a steering committee empowered to search in various fields for experts sensitive to the issues raised by residents. Such experts might include architects, landscape architects, city planners, investment bankers, horticulturists, ornithologists, marina experts, day-care experts and, especially, artists.

Step 2: Choosing a Design Team

Once the net has been cast wide and the best of creative experts is found, through steering committee meetings and town meetings, the ideas and sensibilities of these experts will be reviewed and considered by residents. Finally, a select group of experts would become the design team.

Step 3: Design Team Mandate

The design team would be given a mandate to follow in developing the plans for Southtown.

a) To always take into account the ideas and concerns of residents and be open to their input.

b) To strive for a continuation of the history, visionary urban planning, and architecture under which the Island was first conceived.

c) To strive for a total cost of development (including infrastructure and debt service) equal to or less than the income cash flow.

The design team should use all its creativity and energy to build on what is unique and special about Roosevelt Island to complete the original vision and make it one of the crown jewels of urban life and community anywhere.

Step 4: Coordination of Design Team

As the design team works up ideas and plans, the steering committee will coordinate the efforts of the experts and report back to the community through the town-meeting process.

It is important to note that this process will free the design team from the constraints and demands of conventional developments and developers. Note that there is nothing about this approach that rejects or eliminates Related/Hudson companies from developing the project once residents decide what the project will be.

Step 5: Designation of Plan

Through this process a plan will be fully developed, debated openly, and voted on by all those in the community who wish to participate. Perhaps a referendum will be held as a final step.

There is one point that should be emphasized, in particular, about this procedure. One mandate will be a design that is financially self-supporting. If such a plan can be developed, we have a good shot at obtaining funding through private lenders or State agencies that have bonding authority, such as the Port Authority. Some will say it is impossible to devise such a plan - that, for example, the infrastructure costs are so great that it can't be done. I only ask that they show me the proof of that. Until a design team, including financial experts, works with creativity and in depth on all the details, we will not know. Even if it isn't possible, such an approach will delineate exactly what the shortfall will be, and thus give us a figure to obtain through government or private sources.

Does not the beauty of our Island and community demand that we do everything possible to retain what we all dearly love and to fulfill the vision of Ed Logue and others who started this process, and build into the future making Roosevelt Island a wonder to live in, a jewel to behold, and the envy of the world?

Lee Edelman