Why?  Because those who have considered the question believe that elected residents supervising professional management can do a better job of running Roosevelt Island than is being done now.

But less than two weeks later, the Board of Directors of the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation - including three resident members (Kevin Fullington was absent) - unanimously approved a resolution that takes the Island in a completely different direction: market-driven development and, eventually, a return of Roosevelt Island to the governmental jurisdiction of the City of New York.

Could the RIOC Board have provided any clearer signal that it is truly uninterested in residents' views?  Did anybody on the RIOC Board consider, for a moment, how this plan might fit in with residents' call for local control?

We report extensively on this RIOC plan (report, page 1; interview, page 5) in this issue of The WIRE.  The creation of Board member Leo Kayser III, it holds the potential for massive change in the way the Island is managed and developed, and it runs counter to sentiments expressed by residents in two elections.  In 1998 it was a 92% majority.  In 2000, it was 80% even with formal opposition from the RIRA incumbent President and First Vice President.

Change is good.  Change is needed here.  And it is inevitable.

But what is troubling about Leo Kayser's plan is that it was set in motion without consultation with residents, other than those who serve at the pleasure of Kayser's good friend, the Governor.  And it contemplates extensive development (perhaps even of designated open spaces earmarked for parks) with developers gaining control of the properties first, then setting forth their plans.

That's backwards for a planned community with a General Development Plan.

Once developers control Island land, they have a heavy financial investment in doing what they want with the land.  At that point in the process, residents who oppose a particular plan would have only one option - legal challenges much like the Southtown cases now on appeal.  A series of costly legal battles to assert residents' will is simply out of the question.  Residents would be fighting cash-rich developers, who would be defending construction plans on land for which they've already paid and are eager to jump-start a return cash flow.  Any such developer plan would become a fait accompli.

You have to admire Leo Kayser's absolute faith in the marketplace.  It's true that the marketplace inflicts severe punishment on investors who make mistakes with their capital.  Unfortunately, mistakes expressed in bricks and mortar just don't get undone, and the community suffers, too.

Kayser is selling his idea with a long-term goal of returning the Island to the administrative precincts of the City of New York.  But the closest residents would get to democratic election of the local decision-making authority might be a Business Improvement District (BID) or special status in Community Board 8.  And we know nothing, at this point, about any concessions that might be granted to retain the special character of Roosevelt Island.

Furthermore, there's a cart-and-horse problem here, as RIRA President-elect Matthew Katz points out in his column on page 3.  After every available parcel on the Island has been sublet to developers, there will be little reason for residents to elect those who call the shots.  Anyway, developers and those who hold the land would probably be the controlling influence on the Board of any BID.

We marvel at the purity of Kayser's thought and his ability to express a political and economic philosophy in real movement toward real goals.  Alas, those goals are not the community's goals, as demonstrated decisively at the polls last month.

One part of Kayser's plan is State forgiveness of any debt related to Roosevelt Island so that funds generated here can stay here and be used for improvements, maintenance, and other community needs.  If that's possible, it should also be possible under a plan that makes elected residents a majority of the RIOC Board, overseeing professional management.

It's past time for Roosevelt Island residents to take charge of their Island's destiny - to judge, adopt, and improve on ideas of the kind Leo Kayser has brought forth.  That's called democracy.

And it's past time.

DL