RIOC canceled its December Board of Directors meeting, scheduled for this past Thursday night, as one of the few meetings annually that day-working Islanders can attend. Plans apparently are that the Board's next meeting will therefore be an evening session to provide for community access to the Board.

But the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation Board is in the process of thinking through just how it will interface with residents of Roosevelt Island. Under consideration, as described at the November meeting, is a schedule under which residents would have an opportunity to address the Board, and perhaps have questions answered, just four times a year.

Policies have varied over the past few years under two different presidents and three different Board chairs. At times, the President or Board members – sometimes both – have responded to questions from members of the community. But in recent meetings, while residents have been afforded an opportunity to make comments to the Board, most questions have been ignored.

Stephen Hicks, in one of his last statements as RIOC Board Chair, before moving on to private industry, said, "The Board is not here to answer your questions," when a resident pointed out that her question had been ignored.

The four-shots-a-year access pattern has been a topic of discussion among Island activists since the November Board session. Because it's unclear whether the President and Board would answer questions, or simply allow them to be raised in the form of comments, opinions have varied as to whether such sessions might, considered one at a time, be an improvement over past practice. But few residents have rushed to endorse the idea of access restricted to just once every three months.

At last asking, the access matter was said to be under active consideration. In the November meeting, Board Chair Mary Beth Labate suggested that residents direct their comments on the proposed schedule to RIOC President Robert H. Ryan at the RIOC offices at 591 Main Street
(832–4540). Islanders might also attend a Residents Association meeting (the next one is Wednesday, January 3, 8:00 p.m., Chapel of the Good Shepherd) and speak in the public session to have their comments passed on to RIOC.