Seymour Williams:  My name is Seymour Williams, and for tonight I'm moderating the Year 2000 RIRA Presidential and Vice Presidential Debates. ... If you have a question that you'd like to ask one of the candidates, please write your name on a sheet of paper and pass it forward. You don't have to write the question down, but just write your name down, and I'll put your name in a hat, I'll shake it up, and... Hopefully, we'll get around to everyone today.

We're going to start today by allowing each of the candidates to give an opening introduction of themselves. If you're not too shy, when you're ready to ask your question, I'm going to ask you to come up to the front and ask the question in front of the mike, so everyone can actually hear your question. If you think of a question, as we're proceeding, you can still pass your card up, as well.

Is everyone here? I believe so. Let me introduce the candidates. I'll start on the left, with Mr. Byron Gaspard, who's running for [First] Vice President; Matthew Katz, who's running for President, Patrick Stewart, running for President, Joan Christianson, running for First Vice President, and Walter Hill, who is also running for First Vice President.

One thing that makes this election a little unique is that we have an independent candidate running for Vice President. That's Walter Hill. Here we have Matthew and Byron running as a team, we have Patrick and Joan running as a team, as well, and that's unusual. It's not exactly like the Presidential elections of the United States, but we're allowed to do that here.

Also, I would like to bring up another topic that's very important, just briefly. I'm going to ask Joyce to come up for a moment.

Joyce Mincheff:  Hi, everybody. I just wanted to make an announcement to make it clear to everyone that you have until October 31 to enter your nomination to the nominating box. If you choose to run for office, there's still time. The nominating boxes are located in the Public Library. The nominating boxes are also at Trellis, at the Island House doorstation, and they're also at Accountable Financial, which is Sy's business, 599 Main Street. So if any of you have interest in running for a Common Council seat, or if you have an interest in running for President or Vice President for the Common Council, it's not too late. You can still pick up your nominating forms and deposit them in the boxes. Thank you.

Sy Williams:  Before we get started, first I would like to thank all of you for coming out tonight. All your candidates are members of RIRA, and one thing I will say being a member of RIRA myself is that all these candidates genuinely do care a lot about Roosevelt Island. It's evident in each and every meeting that we have. And without any further ado, I'm going to start off by letting the Presidential challenger introduce himself.

Matthew Katz:  Good evening, and thank you for coming out this evening. This is probably the best representation of grass roots democracy that I know of, and to come out on a night that the Mets are going to whip the Yankees is especially appreciated.

I've been a member of the Common Council for three years now þ one year as an appointee, two years as an elected representative. I've seen a Common Council that has been inactive and unable of accomplishing very much, because of the way it's been run. I've seen a lack of leadership, which has not allowed the Common Council to even act upon the measures that it has supported and voted for.

I'm running because I've been told stories about the Residents Association from the old days when it participated in the daily life of this Island þ when there were block association parties and dances and ways of raising money that could then be used for the community þ when there was regular participation with the youth of the Island, and the Seniors, and the disabled of the Island. That doesn't happen anymore. There is no participation because there is no money. No money has been raised or spent on Common Council during my tenure.

I've worked hard on the Common Council over the last three years, on the Housing Committee... I've been on the Government Relations Committee, I've been on the Legal Action Fund Committee... I'm a charter member of that and I've been the Treasurer since its inception. I've also worked with other groups on the Island. I've worked with the Maple Tree Group; I'm currently the convener of that group, and I've been working with The Main Street WIRE to help distribute the paper, along with my wife. I've worked in the schools in the Learning Leader program. I've never felt the kind of sense of community anywhere that I've lived in the City, as I have here. And I think that's worth protecting.

And so I'm running to try to make this Residents Association, which is in fact the only elected organization, in an Island of organizations, that represents you. Because you're RIRA, we're not RIRA. The entire Island þ every person who lives on this Island - is a member of RIRA. We are simply your Common Council. We are supposed to be your reflection. Our vote is supposed to carry your imprimatur, and that hasn't happened. Patrick Stewart has used the Common Council as a platform for his views. It's a difference in philosophy. I think that the Residents Association is an Association of residents, and so I'm running to try to get the things that I consider important.

Roosevelt Island's in a period of transition. We have a RIOC Board that is forcing over a billion dollars worth of development. It is a RIOC Board that is appointed by one man, the Governor of the State of New York. The members of that RIOC Board don't represent you. They were put there by the Governor. Their loyalty is to one man, the Governor of New York, and whether it's a Republican or a Democrat, it's fundamentally wrong. That's why I've been working with the Maple Tree Group to fabricate legislation that can give this Island an elected RIOC Board, and a Board that can then hire professional Island management, professional community management þ what a concept þ instead of our present RIOC President, whose claim to fame is that he ran Pataki's campaign in 1994. It would be nice to have someone who is trained for the job and who is experienced in the job.

I'm running for this position because I think it's important to face the kind of development on this Island with some position of authority. We have a legal committee on this Island. Joan is the Chair of that committee. We have been virtually ineffective because we've never raised enough money to make ourselves effective. The only way you have a legal representation is if you can hire a law firm, which the Common Council voted to do, and we did, and we have participated in an intervention, in a suit, but we've never been able to do much because the money isn't there. The money isn't there because Patrick Stewart has not supported the effort. The Common Council needs to be representative, we need to support the votes that the Common Council takes.

I hope I can convince you tonight to support my bid for the Presidency. Thank you.

Williams:  Now we will hear from Patrick Stewart.

Patrick Stewart:  Thank you, Sy. I want to thank you all for coming out on a Series night. I'm amazed, frankly, that any of you or any of us are here, for that matter. You would not believe the back and forth that has gone on about this meeting. It almost had the proportions of the Bush-Gore thing. There's more paper going back and forth about how this thing was to be run, and ad nauseum. But here we are. It will be run by Sy Williams in a reasonable fashion. I have to also thank Sy. He was offered two tickets to the game tonight, and declined them, and I have to tell you that's [APPLAUSE] that's way above and beyond the call of duty, and I'm grateful for his being here.

My name is Patrick Stewart. I'm the President of the Roosevelt Island Residents Association and have been for almost four years. Before that I was a member of the Common Council from Island House. Along with that, I am a Board member of Community Board 8, Manhattan Community Board 8, representing this Island to that Board along with Nneka Pope and Deirdre Breslin. I'm also a member of the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation Board of Directors, along with David Kraut and Susan Whitaker, again, representing the Roosevelt Island citizens.

This has been a, this has been a difficult time in the life of Roosevelt Island. It certainly has. We've had talk about ineffective RIRAs, we've had talk about self-governance, we've had talk about going back to the City as an option, and so on, and by the way I'm for that, going back to the City, and the Board of Directors is working on that as we speak. It's interesting to say that RIRA has done nothing. I quite frankly think RIRA has done a considerable amount. As an example, how do I spend my time as a member of RIRA, as the President of RIRA? I spend my time in meetings, 114th Precinct community meetings. I spend my time on the Borough President's Coalition for Mitchell- Lama; CHOKE, the clean-air people from Queens; Community Board 8; a variety of Community Board committees of Community Board 8; the Mitchell-Lama Coalition. I've been to Albany lobbying, I've been to DHCR lobbying on behalf of Eastwood and their rent determinations. I even go to Maple Tree Group meetings. The Common Council has gotten $50,000 in scholarship money for the Nursery School from Public Purpose funds. We've gotten $25,000 for the Boy Scouts, a van which they share with anyone else who wants it. I've been actively involved with the Seniors, the Youth Center, the disabled, and so on. So to say that... and I might add, by the way, that I don't think I've ever seen Matthew Katz at any of those meetings I just described. So I think we've got to put our money where our mouth is, and I think we've got to judge RIRA by what RIRA does as opposed to what people say RIRA does. You will be given flyers toward the end of the meeting so that you can judge for yourselves. What you will read is fact. The fact is that for the last four years RIRA has represented this community, in, I think, a fine way.

One thing that concerns me about this whole situation here, that is that the RIRA President's job is a full-time job. I wish it weren't, but it is. And if you add in the Community Board and the RIOC Board of Directors, it's more than a full-time job. It is a challenging, a worthwhile job, it pays no money, as do not the other [UNINT] pay. And I personally have gotten a great deal of self-satisfaction from this, and I continue, I hope that you all will continue to allow me to do this, because I honestly believe, in my heart of hearts, although Matthew Katz is a good man, a decent man, a well-intentioned man, I don't think he's up to the job. Thank you. Thank you very much.

Williams:  One thing I did want to mention, for the people who arrived after the first announcement, you should have a index card at the bottom of your seat, and if you'd like to ask a question of one of the candidates, feel free to write your name down and pass the card upward toward the front desk. We'll be selecting names out of the hat. Thank you. And hopefully we'll get around to most of you. Another thing I wanted to mention was that, although we have a team of Patrick Stewart and Joan Christianson, and Matthew Katz and Byron Gaspard, when it comes to election day, you don't have to vote for the team. You can split your vote. I just wanted to make sure you're aware of that, as well. So you can vote for any President and any Vice President. You don't have to vote for the team if you don't wish to. I guess they're a team because they share similar viewpoints on some major issues. Now we'll hear from Joan. Ladies first.

Joan Christianson:  Good evening. For those of you who don't know me, I'm Joan Christianson. I've lived on the Island for roughly 23« years. I've been the Vice President of the Residents Association for the past two years, and for the two years before that, I was a representative for Eastwood on the Common Council. Through the years I've belonged to, I've been a Little League mom, I've managed, I've umpired. I've helped out with soccer, I've been very involved with Saint Frances Cabrini Roman Catholic Church on the Island, and a few other groups, mostly a lot of stuff involving the children.

It's been interesting being on the RIRA Common Council, to say the least. There are many different viewpoints, and we all seem to express them, sometimes with a little more enthusiasm than probably is needed. I think we've accomplished a lot in the last four years... the last two years. I've seen many things, you know, God bless Al Weinstein. When he was here he was constantly worried about our Tram, and, you know, with the RIRA Common Council would make sure that our Tram always operated, and when things were going badly he was always there to make sure that we had the services that we needed. And a lot of other people have worked very hard throughout the last couple of years to keep things going well on this Island and to fight for what we need, and I believe Patrick Stewart has been one of our strongest supporters. I, for one, would not want the job of President of RIRA. From what I've witnessed, from what I've observed since being his Vice President, he goes to more meetings than anyone I've met in my life.

You know, I think that we can continue to fight together, we can continue to fight to get a better Public Safety. I mean, I have my own personal problems with Public Safety, but overall we need something different on the Island where Public Safety is concerned. And Byron, for one, has worked very hard on the issue of Public Safety. But again it's something that RIRA can work on and hopefully we can have a voice in changing things. I think that the new, the RIOC that we have right now, from what I've been... from meetings that I've gone to and things that I've observed, are listening to us better than the previous one. I'm not saying Rob Ryan is great, whether he's better than Jerry Blue was, I'm not 100% sure yet, but I think they're listening [UNINT]. I think because we have Patrick on the RIOC Board, Susan Whitaker, and actually, Leo Kayser, who is a new member and a Governor appointee, doesn't seem to be looking for any political future, and again he is working very well with Patrick and with Susan and with David [Kraut], to fight for what we want. And I personally feel that Patrick and I and the RIRA Common Council have a better chance of pushing for more representation on the RIOC Board as it stands now than in pushing through a legislation that would completely change the RIOC Board. Thank you.

Williams:  Now we'll hear from Byron Gaspard.

Byron Gaspard:  I'm glad that you came out. This is wonderful, to see people so concerned about their community. My name is Byron Gaspard and I'm running for First Vice President. In the two and a half years I've been a member of the Roosevelt Island Residents Association I worked as Vice President of Educational, Cultural, and Social Services, was the Chairperson of the Public Safety Committee, was a member of the 114th Precinct Committee, was appointed by Joseph Lynch of DHCR to the Capital and Community Planning committee that voted against the minischools, minischool project that was voted for by RIOC in spite of the community's concerns, in spite of the community's rejection of this project. The RIOC Board eventually voted for the minischools, ignoring the community. And our President of the Roosevelt Island Residents Association abstained the vote, a chance he had to really let that voice be heard, by a person who was President of the Roosevelt Island Residents Association, who is also a member, a voting member of the RIOC Board, he had a chance of letting his voice be heard, and his voice wasn't heard. He abstained the vote. He had a chance to let the community know that he is working on behalf of our community.

And that's the problem that we have with the Roosevelt Island Residents Association. We've been divided and torn. We haven't been able to represent the Roosevelt Island community because we've been too torn fighting against each other to do the work that is needed for the residents of Roosevelt Island. This is why I decided to run. We need a RIRA that works for the community. We need to give RIRA back to the community, and the only way it's going to happen is if you elect change. Do not be afraid of change. Do not vote on familiarity. Vote on change that's going to benefit you, the residents of Roosevelt Island, because this is a wonderful community and I believe that Katz and myself can continue to contribute toward this wonderful community.

Williams:  And now we'll hear from Walter Hill.

Walter Hill:  Good evening, folks. My name is Walter Hill. I'm an elected member of Roosevelt Island's Residents Association, RIRA. As a member of RIRA, one of my duties is to represent the interests of its members. When I say "its members" I mean Roosevelt Island Associates. Now, all of you are members of RIRA but you're not elected representatives. I represent the interests of Roosevelt Island to all governments, quasi-governments, private institutions, that develop the policy that affects Roosevelt Island and its residents, and those that manage and supervise our houses, and those that manage or supervise our Island operations, and to insure that the health and safety and welfare of the residents involved in the life of the community are maintained, and improved. And so I'm seeking to run again. Why? Because things are happening before your very eyes that are blinding to some of us. Such as self- governance. Are we ready for that? Think about it. It's a sham. The $40 million worth of infrastructure, at its last report RIOC has less than $10,000 in the bank. What purpose? How are we going to self-govern? Are we going to float bonds? Who is going to buy these bonds? Not me. Not you. Why? Because we can't afford to.

The other most important issue, crime. Crime is everywhere in the universe. Thank God we don't have face-to-face shoot-outs on Roosevelt Island. But people, there isn't any doping. Sure there's crime. And we have children and young adults in the community, but we must talk to our neighbors. These are their children. And they are their parents. The hue and cry for Public Safety þ change, what is the change for? Because Public Service operates like the New York City Police Department. It has the same mentality, except they are unarmed. You disliked Peter Norwood, and now you dislike Fry. You want City police to be placed on the Island. Forget it. In the Council I hear discussion about park rangers. What can park rangers do that Public Safety doesn't do?

And so that's why I'm running for Vice President of Roosevelt Island Association. Thank you very much.

Williams:  Now we're going to proceed with the most important aspect of today, the debate. And once again, people that have arrived a little late, if you'd like to ask a question of one of the candidates, or perhaps pose a general question to all of the candidates, write your name down and your address on one of the index cards that you should be able to find on your seat, and pass it forward. All right, we're going to start now with the debate. Candidates, please, if you are selected please limit your response to 90 seconds, and if your name is called please let us know exactly to whom you would like to have the question asked.

The first question is posed by Steve Marcus. Is Mr. Marcus around?

Margie Smith:  Actually, he's not here but I can... My name is Margie Smith and I live at 531. The question is for Patrick. Patrick, I'm not sure what your position is on Southtown. I look back at the President's column in the January WIRE and you say, "I give you my personal promise that the GDP will not be compromised. I do not make promises easily or glibly, and I give you my word that I will not fail to deliver on this one." The GDP is clearly being violated at the Southtown plan. That's why RIRA has intervened. I also heard you talk about the money that's needed on Roosevelt Island. The only figures we've ever seen about the money Southtown will bring in show that Southtown ground rent will be so absurdly low that we'd be better off just putting the money that we're going to spend on infrastructure into the bank. We've also heard that these figures are not correct, and that the ground rent hasn't been negotiated yet. Both of those would lead me to believe you would be against the Southtown project because it violates the GDP, the ground rents are not clear, and since RIOC is [UNINT] at the bargaining table for the ground rent, I, for one, don't trust that they are going to come out right. Can you state very clearly, are you for the present Southtown plan or are you against it?

Williams:  Patrick, may I say one thing? Just for the sake of future reference, try to refrain from asking multi-part questions, because they're very difficult to answer. You can lose track of which part you're answering. So would you come back up and perhaps ask one question?

Smith:  Are you for the Southtown plan as it currently stands or are you against it?

Stewart:  Very very quickly, I'm for the Southtown plan as long as it complies with the General Development Plan. That has yet to be determined in a court of law. I believe that 5,000 new people are essential to this community and I am for it. Now, let me say, beyond that, that because of the legal situation, both as a Board member of RIOC and as the President of RIRA, I have had to excuse myself from any of these discussions, so I'm speaking purely from a personal point of view. I'm very much for Southtown.

Williams:  Mr. Katz?

Katz:  I'm certainly for development, too. We need the revenue that it encompasses, but you can't be looking at the bottom line only. There's such a thing as the quality of life on this Island and there needs to be a balance in any of the development that is done. That's the reason a year and a half ago that the Roosevelt Island Residents Association put together a legal committee to try to have the opportunity of having some legal recourse in all the questions of development on the Island, and I should tell you that the Residents Association Common Council voted to create this committee, voted to define this committee so that it would encompass all the development on the Island, voted to hire DeForest & Duer as the law firm representing the interests of the Common Council and the residents of this Island, and then voted to insert itself as a part of the RIRSD suit against both RIOC and Hudson and Related companies. There have been four votes now by the Common Council to support some kind of legal action against the Southtown proposition so that we simply get ourselves a vote at the table, so that this community is heard. I can tell you from the first day until the present, or at least the first day until Patrick had to recuse himself because of his conflict of interest, that he has never supported the most fundamental thing we've done, which is to raise the bucks to pay the law firm.

In this very room in 1999, Gifford Miller, our Councilman, stood right here and he said, "If you are serious about having a legal voice on this Island for any development at all, you need a war chest, and you should think about seriously putting together $100,000 if you want to be taken seriously." The next speaker was Patrick Stewart who said, "No, no, no, this is not the time to raise money," and from that day until this there has never been a right time to raise money. If people like Judy Berdy and the other members of committee hadn't put together a core amount of $10,000 there would be no legal action on this Island, at least not from the Common Council. From that day until this Patrick has subverted any opportunity to raise money. A year ago my wife put together an Island-wide effort to go into all of the buildings and do a serious fund-raising to try to give this legal action some clout. And we gave the members of the Common Council packets to give out. Two weeks after that effort Patrick Stewart returned his to Sherie, unopened. If that is support of the actions of the Common Council, then I don't see how Patrick Stewart is supporting the efforts of this residents community.

Stewart:  Do I get a rebuttal?

Katz:  Mine was the rebuttal.

Stewart:  Oh, OK.

Williams:  The next person [to ask a question] is Linda Pickett.

Linda Pickett:  I'd like to know what you are going to do to get money from the State for this Island. That's the only way we are going to survive and we can't do it on just pins and needles.

Williams:  Are you asking anyone particularly?

Pickett:  I'm asking Katz, I'm asking Patrick, to please answer this. We have to go forward and if we're going to go forward we need to know that. I mean, that's the key.

Katz:  Ma'am, you're absolutely right. It's all about money. The current RIOC has been told by Governor Pataki, "This Island is self-sufficient," and so, four and a half years ago, he eliminated both the operating subsidies and the capital subsidies to this Island. We haven't gotten a dime from the State in four and a half years. We have been told, "You're self- sufficient, you have enough revenue from the operations of this Island to run the Island," and for those of you who have lived here for a while, you've seen the infrastructure deteriorate and deteriorate.

How do we get money for this Island? Well, RIOC is putting all of its eggs into one basket þ the development of the Island. They don't much care what the quality of our life is because most of them don't live here. Their sole responsibility is to make good on Governor Pataki's statement that this Island is self- sufficient. We aren't. There is a General Development Plan and it says we are self-sufficient when we reach a population of about 16,000. We ain't there yet. We're 8,300 people.

With the plan that I have proposed þ that the bill in Albany states - is we will have no political ties. We can ask Republicans or Democrats for money. Not only that, but in the infrastructure questions of this Island there is a cap, there is a limiting of the liability of this Island. The present RIOC is responsible for 100% of the infrastructure costs of this Island. With the bill we are proposing and that is in Albany right now, there is a cap of, depending on which bill you're talking about, Assembly or Senate, $250,000, $500,000, within a budget of $9 million. The rest of the responsibility is the State's. That's the point.

Williams:  Any rebuttal?

Stewart:  The question, Linda, was how are we going to get funds from...

Pickett:  From the State.

Stewart:  RIOC, right now, to give the devil their due, is in the process of obtaining money from various State departments. Not very much. It's less than one million dollars. The only way that we are going to get money from anyone is to continue on the basis of going forward with returning this community to the City. No doubt about it. If you look at the self-governance bill of the Maple Tree Group, very simply, what that does, and this is very, very serious, is that after RIOC2, and that's what they call the new organization, after RIOC2 takes over, within a certain period of time, three years, the State will be able to pull out of Roosevelt Island entirely. There will be no State obligation to this Island whatsoever. We will sit here with $200,000,000 in debt to be paid to the Empire State Development Corporation; we will be sitting here with $50,000,000 in infrastructure damage that was done through the past five years and not taken care of; we will be here without any operating money at all other than what can be generated in revenues off the Island. And we will be sitting here with no capital expenditure money at all. That, to me, is financial suicide. I cannot, in good conscience, allow anybody to do anything anywhere near that sort of thing to the people of this Island. And I will not, will not, stand for eight or nine people in the Maple Tree Group making a decision on what they believe is the best for this Island. What is best for this Island is a generally-elected Residents Association with a responsible direction purely for the simple reason that we have 8,500 people on this Island that have to be protected, and they'll be damned if five or ten people are going to tell us how to do it.

Williams:  The next questioner will be Ed Igel.

Ed Igel:  I'm a resident of 531, and at a recent RIOC meeting, the vote on the minischool came up. You failed to vote against it, Mr. Stewart. Had a golden opportunity, you blew it. Everybody in the community was against it. You abstained. An abstention is not a vote Yes. I don't understand the rationale behind it, I would also like to know how anybody can have any confidence in your judgment after you failed to carry out the public will to that extent.

Stewart:  Thank you for sharing, Mr. Igel. To repeat what I said to you the other night, and in hopes that there will be some understanding what the vote to abstain means, very simply, there was a resolution put before the Board of Directors. In addition to that resolution there was an amendment put forward by one of the other Directors. I, as a Director, did not have the complete understanding of that amendment to the resolution. Therefore, in conscience and in reality, I couldn't vote for it, and I couldn't vote against it, because I didn't know what it was. Therefore, the only alternative left is to abstain, which as we all know, is not a vote "yes," it is not a vote "no," it is a vote of concern. Does that help?

Igel:  Follow-up question?

Stewart:  No.

Williams:  No follow-ups.

Katz:  I think the fundamental difference here is that there is a built-in conflict of interest for a RIRA President who is also on RIOC Board. This RIOC Board serves at the pleasure of one person, the Governor of the State of New York, and whether it's George Pataki or Mario Cuomo or the next fellow down the pike, you can't serve two masters, and this is what this appointment has involved. Now the constitution of the RIRA Common Council asks that the President be appointed, be an ex officio appointment to the RIOC Board. That is not what's happened. George Pataki has appointed Patrick, and if I win this election, George Pataki will still have Patrick Stewart on the RIOC Board. It is my considered opinion that the RIRA President should never be on the RIOC Board. There is a built-in conflict of interest that will rear its ugly head over and over and over again. You are either loyal to the Governor or you are loyal to this community. It can't be both.

Williams:  The next question is posed by Robert Chira.

Robert Chira:  Both the candidates for the Presidency talk about representing the Roosevelt Island community. But as leaders, I would like to have you each spell out your vision, your objectives. What do you see as the long- term, medium-term Island? What should it look like? Are you in favor of not just Southtown, which has been commented upon, the minischools, which have been commented upon? There's also Southpoint. What kind of people should be attracted to this community? Should they be families? Should they be a mixture of people? What kind of housing units do you think should be constructed in these development programs? In other words, you want to represent the community, but where do you want to lead it, and what is your vision of its future?

Stewart:  I think that, or I know that, at least for the interim period, we need to develop this Island. By that I mean that we need to build Southtown and have those 5,000 residents here, for pure economic reasons. The kinds of people, no I'm not sure I'm prepared to address what kind of people we're looking for, I think the General Development Plan outlines that fairly well. I would say, for simplicity, we're looking for all kinds of people, rich, poor, short, tall, black, white, whatever.

Beyond that, we have probably the most valuable piece of real estate in the State of New York called Southpoint. What do I see for that? I see the original vision, the Roosevelt Memorial. I also see a development, which could be housing. It could be a museum. It could be any number of things, but it must be appropriate to this Island. And when I say "appropriate," what do I mean by that? To me, it has to be right economically for the Island, it has to be right socially for the Island, and it has to be right environmentally for the Island. If you ask me about Southpoint, the hotel, I'm against that 100%, and I have every reason to believe that that will not go forward. There is some space in Octagon Park, the ecological park, that is available. The Board is now looking at a developer who is interested in building five-story housing on the footprint of the lunatic asylum that will house everyone from students to seniors to artists to whatever. The Eldercare facility, I really don't know about. As you know, we fought and won the move to get the Eldercare facility out of Octagon Park, and then it was moved to be put on top of the Sportspark, which is, again, a park. It is my understanding as I am here tonight that that will probably not go forward. Have I left anything out?

Katz:  You know, I agree with Patrick. We have something called this General Development Plan, which is part of the master lease between City and State, and it answers a lot of these questions. Going back 30 years, there was this visionary in the '60s by the name of Ed Logue, who had the idea for this planned community, and he and others like him put together this idea of affordable housing, understanding that that was not paramount in the ideas of the developers in Manhattan and New York City, and the idea of mixing groups of people of different ethnic groups and different social groups and different financial groups, and that all came together in this planned community called Roosevelt Island. And it worked. I mean, it's wonderful. I mean, that's why we're all here, isn't it? But that doesn't mean it's going to stay wonderful. There's all kinds of development planned for this Island. This community has no voice in those plans. We need to get a seat at the table so we can urge them to recognize that there are people living here now þ people who have a certain vision of what this Island has been, is now, and should be in the future. A combination of commercial ventures and residential ventures, and our green space - our trees and our baseball fields and our soccer fields and our public gardens. These are the things that make this such a special community, and if we can't communicate that to developers who are looking at the bottom line, then Roosevelt Island will cease to exist, GDP þ General Development Plan þ or no. It is our responsibility, certainly the responsibility of the RIRA and its Common Council, and its President, to insure that that General Development Plan is abided by.

Williams:  The next question is posed anonymously, although I believe... I guess I'll just read it... Roosevelt Island is served by Community Board 8. What has your role been in bringing the concerns of Roosevelt Island to this organization? Would someone at least stand up and take credit for writing the question?

Shirley Margolin:  I do.

Williams:  Shirley Margolin...

Shirley Margolin:  From a ten-year member of Community Board 8.

Williams:  From a ten-year member of Community Board 8. Who are you posing the question to?

Margolin:  To both, to whoever wishes to respond.

Stewart:  What the Community Board has done, and has most recently done, as you probably noticed trying to get down stairs at the Tram over there, is... the Community Board has recommended and in fact gotten the money and the wherewithal to redo the Tram stairs on the Manhattan side. It will be built in such a way that new elevators, ADA-compliant elevators, will be installed in that area. Community Board 8 has also asked the City for money to totally reconstruct the 36th Avenue Bridge. Community Board 8 has in more instances supported us in our efforts to keep Southpoint, the hotel out of there. Community Board 8, along with the Sutton Area Committee, the Beekman Place Committee, the Turtle Bay Committee, the 59th Street Task Force, through the Community Board, have supported the Island in any number of ways, from literally being ADA-compliant at the Tramway to Southpoint to the Eldercare facility to the minischools and so on. We are part of Community Board 8. Roosevelt Island is part of Manhattan Community Board 8. We have three members who sit on that Board, and three members who work very hard for the interests of this Island.

Williams:  Rebuttal?

Katz:  My only connection with Community Board 8 has been through my professional life when I made an appeal in front of them, although I expect that if I'm elected President, I will have some need to make myself known to them. But do keep in mind that I'm not running for the President of Community Board 8 or District Board 2 or the RIOC Board of Directors. I'm running to be the President of our RIRA Common Council.

And you know as I look at this handout that Patrick has put out on what RIRA has done, I don't remember voting for any of these things through the Common Council. I see things that the RIOC Board has done through their public purpose funds and I see things that the Community Board has done, but I don't see anything that the Common Council has done. That's the post I'm running for and I would like to make the Common Council proactive and reactive so that we could actually put something out like this and be proud of it.

Williams:  The next question will be posed by Martin Atkins.

Martin Atkins:  One, I have not made up my mind which of the candidates I will vote for, so I'm not trying to put anybody on the spot. My question is to try and get understanding. To be President takes an incredible amount of time. It's like a car:  If you don't have enough gas, you're not going to get to your final destination. I would like to know, one, Patrick knows how much time he spent, Matthew does not. I have two pieces of paper. I would like you to write down how much time you think you can spend per month, and ask you to write down how much time you've actually spent per month, so I can get a better handle of how you'll be able to fulfill your post. It's day, night, and weekends.

Williams: That's an unusual request, but if the candidates are willing...

Katz:  Can I respond verbally before I do my bit?

Atkins:  Well, you can respond but I don't want the numbers because I want the comparison, and I know some people could spend less time and get more done, but I've been on committees, and I know it takes... I was on a committee at work and it met once a month for half a day and it took one day to write minutes; it took another day just to pass the minutes around, and through the month it took up at least one or two more days of my time. If you multiply that by the number of days, being on one committee took up more than one man-month of my time. That's a lot of time.

Williams:  Mr. Atkins, I believe that your request falls outside the parameters of the debate.

Atkins:  It's not a debate.

Katz:  Yes, it is.

Williams:  Yes, it is a debate. So I don't want to...

Katz:  I'd like to respond to his question, though, if...

Williams:  If you could rephrase it as a question...

Katz:  It's a really good question. Because I know full well how many hours this is going to take. And I spent a good part of the summer deciding whether I was going to simply walk away from the Common Council, as so many others who have put in a term, or try to effect change on the Common Council. I'm retired. I have the time to put in. I have spent 20 years of my life running committees at a non-profit organization, trying to put 30 volunteers in a room to get something done. Sound familiar? I mean, this is essentially what the Common Council is, and does. These were monthly meetings, and I am the first one to tell you that the real work of the Common Council doesn't happen on the first Wednesday of each month. It happens between those meetings. That's where the important work of the Common Council has to happen, through the committees, through individual effort, and through the officers of the organization, the President and First Vice President. That means going to every meeting that will hear you. That means going to try to find every kind of resource to support the Island that you can possibly find. It is tremendously time-consuming and I'm fully aware of that. It is daytime programs, it is going to meet with the MTA, which I've done. It's going to meet with DHCR, which I've done; it's going to meet with our public officials, which I've done both here and up in Albany. I'm fully aware of what you're talking about and you are absolutely right.

Could Byron answer some of that, because he's been such a part of this, as well? Would that be all right? Could he take the rest of my time? May I allocate the rest of my time to Byron?

Williams:  Another 30 seconds.

Byron Gaspard:  That's a very interesting question. The whole idea of putting time into serving your community means that you are partial in terms of the type of work you want to do for your community. You can't put time into compartments. Of course you have to have a personal life, but your personal life is your community. If your community falls apart that affects your personal life. The fact of the matter is, you have to be dedicated to the community, you have to love this community, and if you truly do you will put in the time that's necessary for this committee.

My wife and I, when we first moved here two and a half years ago, a little over that, we sat up until 1:00 o'clock in the morning. We were patrolling our halls against stopping drug trafficking in Eastwood, stopping gambling and garbage being thrown down in the hallways, and I thought Public Safety failed to give us the security we needed, and we were very successful in stopping the drug trafficking, getting actual arrests to take place. We had people arrested on the fourth floor. We had people arrested. We made the Public Safety Department susceptible to the conditions on the fourth floor, and we dedicated ourselves, and every minute of time that we have to dedicate to our community, I promise you we will dedicate to our community, because this is about the residents. It is not about me.

Stewart: There's one thing I do agree with Matt about, and that is the work of RIRA is not done on Wednesday night, once a month. It is done daily, it is done by a variety of different people. But to answer your question, I spend six to eight hours a day, weekly. I spend probably between one and four hours each night, and I probably spend four hours each day Saturday and Sunday.

Williams:  For the sake of fairness, since all the questions thus far have been posed to Presidential candidates, what I'd like to do is open the floor to anyone that has questions that they'd like to pose to the Vice Presidential candidates. We'll have at least two questions that we'll take time out to have the Vice Presidential candidates answer at least two questions that you want to pose.

Stewart:  Let me just say one thing. This had been scheduled from 8:00 to 9:30, and these are all good questions, and need to be answered, so I am prepared to stay here as long as anyone has questions to ask, after whenever it is we stop the meeting.

Williams:  Yes, are you raising your hand back there? You can be next. We'll have three.

David Bauer:  Let me just raise this question, if I could, to the Vice Presidential candidates. What obligation do you feel the officers of RIRA have to carry out the wishes of the Common Council and the citizens of the Island?

Williams:  Each of you can go first, just once.

Gaspard:  I think that the First Vice President has a responsibility to work with the task force, to work with the different organizations on the Island, to bring anybody to the table who has a vested interest in our community. We have to commit ourselves to that type of change. In the past the Roosevelt Island Residents Association has acted almost like a political club, a Democratic or Republican club. We need to really open it up to the community and really bring people to the table that have a vested interest in our community. We need a youth representative from the Roosevelt Island Youth Program, from the Beacon Program. They can actually sit on the Roosevelt Island Residents Association and be a part of the political process. This is their community, too. You know, they're not taboo, they're not a disease, they're our youth, and we need to start treating them that way. We need to have representatives from Coler-Goldwater to sit on our Common Council so that we can hear some of their best interests and their concerns on the Roosevelt Island Residents Association. We need to have a more active Public Safety Committee, and to become even more active. We're paying more than $1.5 million to the Public Safety Committee, and we're not getting the security that is needed from Public Safety. We need to really start holding back our monies and not pay good money after bad, and have a Public Safety that meets the security needs of Roosevelt Island. We need to be more about the residents and less about ourselves.

Hill:  What was the question?

Williams:  Would you restate the question, please.

Bauer:  What obligation do you, as an officer of RIRA, have to carry out the wishes of the Common Council and the citizens of the Island?

Hill:  Well, I believe the duties of the Vice President would be to be a liaison with the President from the community, and he doesn't have a format of his own. He just follows the format of the community and relays it to the President. That's it.

Christianson:  I think that the Vice President is obligated to carry out the wishes of the community. And I think that RIRA has done that. I mean, I'm sitting here and I guess being a resident for as long as I have, and it took me a while to get involved in RIRA. When I first moved here I was a little involved; at that time my husband was very involved. I was more involved in raising my children. And I realize that you go through various stages in your life, and now I'm at a stage where þ you don't want to know the reason I got involved in RIRA but I'm involved. A lot of people in this community out there don't care what we do. It's a terrible thing to say, but they don't. It's a handful of people that care, that meet and care what goes on in this community. The rest of them go about their daily lives and couldn't give a hoot less what we do.

RIRA is elected by the residents, but we're not some big powerful organization. I honestly feel that in the last couple of years we've gained more respect with our politicians, with RIOC that stands here now, even with the Governor, because we're loud, and we've shown that we're not going to just sit by and do nothing. And we have divisions within the RIRA Common Council itself. That's normal. We're human beings, we all have different points of view, we all see things differently and we want to go about things differently. And it's the majority of people that have to rule. If a vote comes about and I don't happen to agree with it, I'm not going to work against that because I didn't vote for it. At the same time, if I vote for something that is passed and other people have voted against it, I expect them to work just as hard to see what the majority of people want done. Thank you.

Williams:  Will the next questioner please stand up?

Mary Camper-Titsingh:  Yes, my question is directed to Byron Gaspard. What have you done in the past and what will you specifically do to improve public safety on this Island?

Gaspard:  In the past I've been chairperson of the Public Safety Committee. We worked to make this community more aware of the amount of money that's paid into the Public Safety Committee and the type of work that we are given for our money. We were very successful in getting Public Safety more aware that more internal patrols, especially those patrols that are least secure such as Eastwood which is the least secure development on Roosevelt Island, we made them more aware that we need internal patrols. We had meetings. We met with the 114th Precinct. Our first meeting was with the 114th Precinct, the Public Safety committee, along with the management, Doryne Isley and other members of management. We had a very successful meeting in dealing with the security needs on Roosevelt Island and we have made the community more aware of the amount of money that's being put into a system that hasn't met the security needs of Roosevelt Island. What are my future plans? My future plan is to talk to residents, let them know that their money doesn't have to be spent badly, that they can hold back their monies, that they can talk to their management. We will meet with management; we will let them know that we are tired of tolerating a sub-standard Public Safety system that doesn't meet our needs, that doesn't secure us, that doesn't make us feel safe in our own community, and that we're spending all this money, over a million dollars, into a system that needs to be spent better in terms of a security system that meets this wonderful planned community.

In addition to that, I've worked with the Roosevelt Island Beacon Program. We have drug awareness groups. We have cultural enrichment groups. We have open counseling groups where we work with youth to make them more aware of some of the behavior patterns that are destructive to the community and how they can be more of an asset to this community. And I will continue to do that type of work because our youth is part of this community, too.

Williams:  We'll give Joan a rebuttal or a response to the same question.

Christianson:  Byron has worked very hard on the Public Safety Committee as a member of the Common Council. I have very strong feelings as far as Public Safety is concerned. I can tend to get a little emotional when I discuss Public Safety because I think that probably 85 or 90 percent of the people working over there are incompetent and need to be changed. They are given a lot of power with little training, and I think that's something that this community needs to be made aware of. They're Peace Officers. They have this wonderful status called "Peace Officers," which... God only knows how we allowed that to happen. And if anything we need a Public Safety Department that is trained. If we're going to pay all this money, then we deserve people who are qualified to do the job that we want them to do, and not people who obviously, if you look at them, I don't know what kind of test they take. I think they scrape the bottom of the barrel for the most part. And I think that's something that all of us can work on, and I think that's something the whole community has to work on. It's getting, I guess... what I guess we should deserve for our dollars. We're putting a lot of money in, nothing in return for it. Thank you.

Hill:  In my introduction statement, I declared that the Public Safety has the mentality of the New York City Police Department. That's what it is. They carry on just like the City police do. And, as far as the test and the training, it doesn't have that much training that they have to endure. I was on the Police Department of the City of New York for three years. I wore the blue. And I know what transpires. And it's the same mentality. Once you get that authoritative attitude, you take on that influx and about withholding funds, you talk to Doryne Isley about withholding funds from Public Safety? They all work for the same people. You are not going to withhold any funds. That's just a lot of pap.

Williams:  Thank you. Judy Berdy?

Judy Berdy:  Good evening.

Williams:  This is the last of the three questions. I know some other people have questions that they would like to pose to the Vice Presidents, but in all fairness, three, we only have about another 20 minutes left, and I'm sure there's an awful lot of questions left in the hat.

Berdy:  Historic preservation, as you know, is my forte. I mean I've been rescuing the red letters off the Tram staircase for the last three days. I mean, that's Roosevelt Island. They tear down the Tram staircase to build a private house and they tell you this is progress. What would you do, Byron, Joan, and Walter, to help the Historical Society, to help the residents, to rally to save our landmarks? One organization cannot do it. It is up to the community. What would you three do to help us and the community save our history. Our history is everything from the Tram steps that they're tearing down today to Blackwell House to anything that happened on this Island, and any history from the Indian Days. Byron, Joan, Walter?

Williams:  We'll start with Walter.

Hill:  Well, for one thing, being, Joan, that you are the head of or Vice President of the Historical Society, as Vice President of RIRA I would form a bond with you and we would go to the Historical Society and we would see what could prevail that would sort of solidify these sites on the Island that are noted for being historical monuments, and get the community involved, because most of the people don't know that they're on the bounds of losing these historical sites. So you must get out to the residents, because they're not informed, and when we have these RIRA meetings, we must get the community to attend, so you can put forward your suggestions. And that's how I would go about helping the Historical Society of Roosevelt Island.

Christianson:  Well, Judy, you know I've been active where this building's concerned. Again, it comes down to:  people on this Island sit back and take life easy and go about their daily business, and until you start screaming that they're needed they don't come forward. And I guess if that's what it's going to take, putting up flyers and organizing where we have a march, you know, we go for TV coverage or whatever, we can do it. We can all do it. And that doesn't have to be as a Vice President, it can just be as a resident of Roosevelt Island, because I seriously believe that we need to save Blackwell House. You know, I have a personal love for this building, for all our landmarks, for our past, our future, for everything that's going on, you know, the Tram station, everything, so you call and we'll be there.

Gaspard: I believe our history is a very important part of the existence of our Island. If we neglect our history, then we are, in fact, neglecting our community. I think that it is very important that we support the landmarks, I think it is very important that we make ourselves known in terms of restoring it, and maintaining our landmarks, and as First Vice President, if I'm elected, I will work very closely with Judy Berdy to make sure that they are restored and maintained.

Williams:  Thank you. Of course, we're short of time. We're only going to entertain two more questions, and that will give us time for the candidates to give their summations, so... The next question is posed by Sharon Bermon.

Sharon Bermon:  Given what's happened in recent months, I would like your response to this question. What are you going to do, do you think that it would be appropriate for RIOC to do something, I mean, for RIRA to do something, about the Boy Scouts, use of public facilities? Do I have to explain why I'm asking the question?

Christianson:  Please.

Hill:  Yeah, please.

Bermon:  Given the fact that the Boy Scouts of America is claiming they're a private organization, which many good people feel is discriminating against a sizeable minority of the population... I say that as a heterosexual woman whose... some of whose best friends are gay men and Lesbian women, and I am affected by what they are doing. It is my understanding that they are using public facilities and getting money, perhaps, I'm not sure about that. I see this as a civil rights issue and I would very much like to know what you are going to do about it. And it has nothing to do with the usual stuff that everybody asks you about.

Katz:  What an interesting question. To say that I've been thinking about this constantly wouldn't exactly be the truth, but I can tell you that it's certainly appropriate for RIRA to take this up in debate and to decide if the RIRA Common Council has a role to play in this. Off the top of my head, it sounds like this is the sort of question that might be more appropriate for the Roosevelt Island Council of Organizations. It was my impression that it was their responsibility to deal with all the variety of organizations on the Island. I'm not really sure exactly what it is they do, but this certainly sounds like something that would fall under their purview.

Williams:  Thank you. Patrick?

Stewart:  To answer your question as best I can, Sharon, I don't have the foggiest idea. I don't really know what the issues are other than that there appears to be discrimination. I would imagine that it has gone to courts of law. I don't really know. As far as, should people be discriminated against, if that is the question, absolutely not, in any way, shape or form. To be specific about the Boy Scouts of America, I just flat out don't know. But I sure as hell will go home and look. Thank you.

Williams:  Thank you. Actually, there was one question that was still on the board, so we have time for two more questions. The next question is Guy Midkiff. Is Guy here? No? That was easy. And the next questioner is Joyce Mincheff.

Joyce Mincheff:  As we all know, the City of New York leased the land that we are standing on here to the State of New York quite some time ago, and there's a very binding lease agreement that exists between the City and the State. I know that, Patrick, you've stated that you'd like to see the City take us back. And, you know, I'm going to address this question, A, to you, and B, to both of you, because I'd like your opinions in regard to this concept of the City taking us back, but in particular, Patrick, you've come forward with a statement that you'd like to see the City take us back and I think as the President of RIRA it's certainly important before you make a statement that you evaluate carefully whether that's in fact an option, and because there is a binding lease agreement and in most cases in order to break a lease agreement you can do it under circumstances where you buy out the lease, which would in reality obligate the State to expense that they'd probably not want to undergo, and it's not really clear to us that you've had any dialogue with the City that would give you any indication that they would either be willing to fight the legal battle with the State in order to get out of State control or to obliterate that lease, or whether they've given any consideration to whether in fact that's something that the Mayor would consider.

So my question to you initially, Patrick, is have you had any conversations with the Mayor or anyone at a level that was considerable enough to give us any sense of commitment on the part of the City that there would be any realistic chance that they would consider taking us back?

I would also like the opinion of both of you in regard to the prospect of the City taking us back and whether you think that's an option. I'm going to ask that you indulge me for one second while I ask everybody here whether they'd like to hear a question addressed to the Vice Presidents, and that question would be, because of the uniqueness of how our system works, and because Byron could eventually be Vice President under Patrick and Joan could be a Vice President under Matthew, I'd like to get from both of them what they would think about that being the case if in fact they were elected.

Williams:  Only one question, please.

Stewart:  To your point, Joyce, about the Lease, in order to break the Lease in the real world, you must have the agreement of all the parties to the lease, or you must have, you must have a lawsuit. Now we all know that the City probably would not sue the State, and if they did, it would take forever, so the way to address this situation is with the agreement of the City, State, and/or developers or sources of other funds. Would the City be interested in this? Categorically, yes. Would the State be interested in it? Yes. Is it a do-able thing? Yes. Is it complicated? Very. Because what will have to happen, very simply, is that the $200 million in outstanding Empire State Development Corporation bonds would have to be either paid off or forgiven. That would make it a good deal for the State. Now, what makes it a good deal for the City? What makes it a good deal for the City would be that the flow of income from ground rents and so on, the money that goes to RIOC right now, in addition to all the future development on the Island, would flow to the City. That would therefore make it worthwhile for the City. The most important part of this question is, what's in it for the citizens. The City and State are fine. What about us? The Board of Directors of the Operating Corporation, as a matter of fact, is meeting tomorrow to discuss this. There is a very general point of view, there are no specifics that have been put down yet, there have been conversations with politicians, specifically the borough president and Gifford Miller and Pete Grannis, to date.

The idea of this to me is a very good idea, but with one proviso, and the Board is perfectly aware of this. The proviso is that the General Development Plan be followed to the letter. That the lease, and as we all know the General Development Plan is part of the lease, that that lease protect the people on this Island as we are and as we have been and as we will be. Otherwise, there can be no deal. I think that reasonable people in a reasonable fashion can come away from negotiations such as this with the State being forgiven, let's say, $200 million in debt. The City's ability to pick up $40 million worth of infrastructure damage repairs, the City then assuming the flow of income from taxes and new buildings and the outside financing, the little land that we have left that is available, would be sold. It would then pass to þ sold for 68 years, because there's 68 years to go on the Lease þ that land, and there's precious little of it, by the way, would have to be developed under the terms of the General Development Plan. That is to say, as of right now. So the community would be getting an up-front payment of X number of dollars for the land. The developer would therefore have to be quick about putting up the development because he's already got an investment here. The development that he puts up must have to be in accord with the General Development Plan. Now, it is very complex, and I don't pretend to understand one half of it. But it is possible, there are some very good people who are working on it. I believe that for the good of the people on this Island, that this is a viable option. I'm told that it could be done within two to three years. I'm told that. I don't know that. But I do believe it is well worth all of our while to move forward, not to do it, but to see if it can be done and if it can be done, to do it. Thank you very much.

Katz:  There's no getting away from it. It's an intriguing idea. Everybody thinks that our problems may very well be solved if we go back to the City. But I think we need to consider what the reality of the situation right now is. If, in fact, we are facing $40 million in infrastructure costs, then the City would be picking up $40 million in infrastructure costs. If the City simply bides its time and waits 68 years, what they get is a completely developed Island which is paying out ground rents on a regular basis, Roosevelt Island is then a cash cow. I'm not sure I understand why they would want to take on that kind of debt now, when if they bide their time, they get a cash cow later.

What about our point of view? Well, there is a master lease and if you break the Master Lease everything that goes with the Master Lease is also a thing of the past. The General Development Plan is part of the Master Lease, and if we go back to the City, the General Development Plan no longer exists. Will the City give us some other kind of protection? I don't know, and neither does anyone else. My fear is, as Leo Kayser has told us þ Leo Kayser's a member of the RIOC Board þ that the Island would simply be turned over to the highest bidder and the market rate would rule. If that is the case, then Roosevelt Island as a planned community ceases to exist.

Williams:  At this point we will not entertain any more questions. We will allow each candidate 60 seconds... three minutes for a final statement, starting with the Vice Presidential candidates. Walter?

Hill:  Thank you. I'm holding in my hand the Roosevelt Island Residents Association constitution, which was adopted in December, 1991, and through the four years of being a member of RIRA, 50% of these amendments have not been abided by, and as Vice President-elect, I would try to enforce these amendments when we have our daily meetings, because every one of the members on the RIRA Council now has their own agenda. They come in and they disrupt the meetings, the public meetings, everything is an a chaos. We get nothing done. We hear the complaints of the community, we hear the complaints of the structural disintegration, but we're not able to do anything about it. If we abide by this and follow Roberts' Rules, we might be able to be effective in the Council meetings. That's all I have to say.

Gaspard:  I think we need to ask ourselves a very important question. We need to look at our community and ask ourselves, "What has the Roosevelt Island Residents Association done for me?" And if we come up empty, then we know there's a change to make. You know, we had this paper that was passed around, and this is indicative of the type of problems we have with the Roosevelt Island Residents Association. Most of these things we haven't even voted on. So how is it accomplished? Who did it? It certainly wasn't done by the Roosevelt Island Residents Association. The Roosevelt Island Residents Association was so busy backbiting and fighting and divided that they weren't able to serve the community. As First Vice President, if elected, I would work with task forces, I would work with committees, to make sure that the committees deal with the goals that meet the mandates of the community. We had a housing committee that worked on fire safety. But there were other issues. There were issues that I would term security, not having security cameras. There were issues of drug trafficking that affected almost every development here on Roosevelt Island. There were issues of security and public safety that affected every one of us here on Roosevelt Island. We need to really deal realistically with those issues that really affect us, that face us every single day:  Community issues, issues that affect our pocketbook, issues that affect our lives here on Roosevelt Island. And that's what I would do. I would deal with those issues that affect you. Not the issues that affect me, not the issues that make me look politically good, but issues that make the community strong because we're dealing with community issues.

Christianson: I'm very glad you brought up about this paper. One of the things that I've learned in the past few years is that not everything can be done by a group of 30 or 35 people who meet once a month. Things are done by individuals, things are done by small groups of people, and not everything comes back to the whole Common Council. I mean, some things that were worked on on Community Board 8, they weren't brought back to the Common Council, and it's rightly so. Everything can't, or nothing will be accomplished. I mean, if things are needed, if a whole Council vote is needed on something, then it's brought to the Council, but if you're going to bring everything that concerns us back to 35 people, you're going to wind up getting nothing at all done. We added two... Patrick and Susan, by the way, are not government appointees to the RIOC Board. We fought, a group of residents and Common Council members fought, through the Mayor of New York, to get them on the RIOC Board. When we saw that we weren't going to get them on, that Patrick wasn't going to get a rightful seat just as President of the Residents Association, we went through the Mayor's office to get it done, so he wasn't appointed by the Governor. He was appointed by the Mayor of New York.

Everything that we've done that... Everything that we've done, we've done with Common Council approval, for the most part. As far as Southtown is concerned, the way we proceeded, we went back to the Council with everything and proceeded with their approval. RIRA went in as intervenors in the case because that's what the Common Council chose for them to do, and personally, as I have walked around this Island, that's what people told me they wanted. That's how we proceeded.

I'm not going to give you illusions. I'm not living in a world of illusions. I mean, it's nice to want everything to be perfect, and it's nice to want everything to run in what sounds like a great storybook tale. But this is Roosevelt Island. We're part of New York City. You know, people here, as I've said several times tonight, have other things to do. I mean, look at the number of people, for 8,500 people, this room isn't even filled tonight. That's how much they care. A small group of people will care; as you move on to something else, another group of people will come in to care. That's just the way life is.

You know, if you want to vote for me, vote for me. If you don't want to vote for me, I'll still do what I do. It's, you know, that's up to you. Thank you.

Williams:  And once again, the First Vice President nominees are Byron Gaspard, Joan Christianson, and Walter Hill. Let's give them all a round of applause. And now we will hear the summaries of the Presidential candidates. We'll start with Matthew Katz, who is the challenger.

Katz:  I'm the challenger. First, I'd like to make two corrections. Number one, Patrick and Susan, if I understand correctly, were nominated by the Mayor but in fact they were appointed by the Governor, who is the only one who has that right. Number two, the Maple Tree Group is not the progenitor, is not... This bill is not the creature of the Maple Tree Group. Yes, we've had a great deal to do in writing it, in formulating it, in debating for it. This is in fact the creature of the Senate and the Assembly, of our co-sponsors for this bill, of Olga Mendez who is our State Senator, of Pete Grannis, who is our State Assemblyman. They are the co-sponsors of the bill. If it's anybody's, it's theirs at this point.

Number two, on this Island, if this bill belongs to anybody, it belongs to the RIRA Common Council. The Common Council has voted on three separate occasions to support this bill. First, in principle, secondly, February 1999, the language was to actively support the passage of the Grannis bill. The Common Council has never actually done that, but they agreed to do it. And finally, just this past February, this bill was taken apart, section by section, and a form of this bill was given to Olga and to Pete with the approval of the Common Council. So, really, this is a bill that has been through the mill, this is a bill that has been approved by the RIRA Common Council. So let's keep this straight.

I had some ideas about a closing statement but what I would like you to do as you leave here tonight, I would like you to go outside and I'd like you to look at some of the literature around the Island that Patrick and I have put up. I'd like you to make some comparisons. This is a piece of their literature, and it talks about the Maple Tree Group and Matt Katz þ I think his stuff talks about me more than mine does þ what this thing says, it talks about a conversation of Jorge Vidro responding to Matt Katz in a meeting, this February 10 meeting with Olga and Pete Grannis. In fact the conversation that they're talking about never took place. There is a transcript of that meeting. I have it here. The conversation that took place was between Jorge Vidro and a fellow named Lee Edelman, and he doesn't look anything like me, and he can speak for himself. I have the entire transcript; you could look it up on the website.

Also, it says that it was about lack of democracy in Maple Tree Group. No, it wasn't. What that conversation was about was the size of the RIOC Board and whether a larger RIOC Board would be more democratic than a smaller RIOC Board. You can look it up. It's on the record.

At best, this is irresponsible campaigning. At worst, it's scandalous. And I think this should stop. Look at our campaign literature around the Island. You will not see any reference to Patrick and Joan whatsoever. You will not see any reference to the past two years whatsoever. What you will see is our hopes for the future þ what we're hoping to do over the next two years, how we are hoping to change RIOC to make it a more active organization, a more responsive organization, an organization that can sit in a room and work for a common cause. That is our function, that is our responsibility to you. We ask you to support me, Matthew Katz, Byron Gaspard, on November 7, and please, come out and vote for that referendum question. I'm wearing a 92% button. Some of you may remember, two years ago, we had 92% of those people voting, voting for the Grannis bill. We're asking you again to show that you are in favor of elective government for the RIOC Board, because that's the American way. Thank you.

Williams:  And now we'll hear from our incumbent President, Patrick Stewart.

Stewart:  Thank you all. I'm not going to talk about the 92% because that's a spurious statistic, anyway. What we are talking about here is democracy. What we are talking about here is Roosevelt Island and our way of life here on Roosevelt Island, and keeping that way of life. The bill that Matthew Katz has been working on þ the iterations of that bill that they've been working on for two and a half years or more has never got past the Corporations Committee of the Assembly. Why? Because it doesn't make any sense. Why doesn't it make any sense? Let me read you the last line of a paragraph regarding who's responsible for what on this Island. It reads, "Nor shall the corporation be liable for any obligations of the State, that the State is free of all obligations after the third year that the Master Plan is completed." What does that say? That says that each one of us becomes responsible in a way that does not exercise that responsibility. We are free of the State. We will be unable to float bonds, borrow money, or tax ourselves, simply because we are not an entity. That, to me, is financial irresponsibility. That, to me, is not watching over the welfare of your neighbors. That, to me, is gross negligence in terms of what it is we are trying to do, not for RIRA, not for RIOC, not for the State of New York, not for the City of New York, but for the people of Roosevelt Island. It seems very clear to me that if push comes to shove and we are literally put out into the middle of the river by the State of New York, with no recourse, and that's what this says, no recourse, the State of New York will no longer be liable for any of the obligations of Roosevelt Island. I, for one, am very uncomfortable with that. I know that many of us, if we don't like what's going on here, can move. But what about those of us who can't move? Those are the important people on this Island, not those of us who can move. I can go back to Salem, Massachusetts, or wherever. But the people who are in serious jeopardy on this Island through financial irresponsibility are the elderly, the disabled, the poor of our community. What can they do? What recourse do they have? They can't move away.

I took a pledge to myself that I would protect everyone on this Island as best I could. I've done that for the last four years. I hope you'll let me do it for the next two years, and we will continue, as a matter of fact, whether or not you do elect me, we will protect this Island, and the people on it, most importantly. Thank you all very much.

Williams:  Thank you, Patrick. Now let's give all the candidates a big round of applause. And I would like to applaud all of you for coming tonight because it certainly shows that you are concerned citizens.