Margie Smith, current Co-Convener of the Maple Tree Group (MTG) and a litigant in the case against the current RIOC-endorsed plan for Southtown, said of the Octagon, "We all want something there. We don't want to leave it in ruins. ... But it was never meant to be a residential site." While praising the developer, Becker and Becker, Smith told the Becker team, "The GDP says there's a basic program. There's going to be a new community. The new community will be developed in two areas, Southtown and Northtown. We've got Northtown, we may or may not have Southtown, and [there is] open space to be developed as parks. That wasn't the intent of the GDP, to put a residential building there."

A Residents Association Common Councilor, Jeff Hochman, emphasized Smith's point about the GDP: "You must understand that Roosevelt Island is and has been and will remain a planned community. The current [RIOC] administration does not want to continue the planned community essence which is the basis of this Island. If you look at the history of planned communities around this country, once the buildings that were built did not continue in the planning area, these communities ended. They just became one part of a big maze of the city and their character had ended and eroded."

Another MTG member and Southtown litigant, Linda Heimer, emphasized that the GDP "is our only zoning. We don't have City zoning here, and if we allow the GDP to be violated, it can be violated with all other development." Referring the Marriott Hotel plan for Southpoint, she added, "We don't want this to be a commercial Island. It's a planned community for families and residents."

On the matter of the apartment mix, RIRA Common Councilor Judith Berdy told the Becker team, "To put 350 units into this at eight stories is really cramming in a lot of units in a small space... You do not bring families to Roosevelt Island... 33% studios, 60% one-bedrooms, and about six percent two-bedrooms? That is bringing single people. That is not bringing families... That's not bringing people that are interested in our community."

Berdy and Hochman also expressed concern about the Octagon site being too far from the existing community to be integrated into its life.

In response to the concerns, Bruce Becker said his firm is willing to reconsider the apartment mix, and reconsider the focus on biomedical research personnel. Hochman had said, emphasizing a point made by Berdy, "If you continue with what they want to do in Southtown, our Island is going to be overwhelmed by hospital workers. I have no problem with hospital workers. But they are temporary people, even doctors and nurses who stay here for one or two years. We know this Island began as an Island of hospitals. We don't want it to end the same way."

Click for earlier report on Octagon project

The Becker team was conciliatory toward the residents and Becker emphasized he is sincere in wanting to accommodate community concerns. He said that any proposal must be economically viable, but said, "We're very resourceful," then adding, "I don't believe that we would be designated [by RIOC as developer of the site] if we didn't have some sort of economically-viable plan to start with. But we're more than willing to revise if we can find other sources of funding to be more oriented to public uses... My sense is, that would be challenging... I would certainly make the commitment to pursue it."

Residents speaking at the meeting praised the Becker team for forthrightness and the quality of their plan, but lamented that RIOC has moved forward on development of a site not provided for as residential housing in the GDP.