But that meant those who were there could engage in the kind of informal conversation that's so often sacrificed when there's real business to do, Robert's Rules are being followed, and opposing views are contending for time, attention, and votes. So Residents Association President Patrick Stewart, Vice President Joan Christianson, Judy Berdy, Frank Farance, Deirdre Breslin, Ken Diebner and others, coming and going, had an hour or so to shoot the breeze about the state of the Island.

It's a sorry state.

As Patrick Stewart observed, it's all about money. While wealthy Nassau County gets a spot in the State budget for a few million Sacagawea's, Roosevelt Islanders' money flows only the other way - to the State in taxes, but never back, at least not in recent years.

And we're about to get some bad news about the seawall, they tell us – a great deal of work, in the millions, that cannot be funded from Island resources. But never mind the seawall... The evidence of outright decay is all around us – in Blackwell House and the Chapel of the Good Shepherd, quite obviously, but also in sidewalks, roads, grounds, and in all the other items that undergird our quality of life.

Another of Patrick Stewart's observations is also quite relevant, under the circumstances: There are now four residents on the Board of Directors of the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation (RIOC). There are also four non-residents, and the Chair, Steven Hicks of DHCR.

So now, it's time to assert this Island's need for money. Stewart should put an emergency resolution before the RIOC Board. That resolution should direct RIOC President Robert H. Ryan to put an emergency request for an emergency appropriation before Governor George Pataki. Perhaps $10 million for a starter, with the specifics of another $5 million to $20 million to come.

Let's ask now for the funds this Island needs and fully deserves. And let's follow through with whatever pressure it takes (a cavalcade of buses to Albany, anybody?) to make it happen.

DL