Senator Olga Mendez had a wide-ranging one-hour conversation about Roosevelt Island with Governor George Pataki on Tuesday.  Others present for the meeting included aides to Pataki and Mendez, as well as RIOC President Robert H. Ryan and two of his staffers, Vice President Robert Antonek and Attorney Kenneth Leitner.

One outcome of the meeting might be a Town Meeting in September, suggested by Pataki as a way for him to take the Island's pulse on several key issues, among them the question of a locally-elected RIOC Board.

"The Governor understood the three main issues - development, infrastructure, and self-governance," Mendez told The WIRE on Tuesday.  "He proposed that he would like to have a September Town Hall Meeting to listen to the people, and he proposed appointment of two or three members of a group to meet with his staff to deal with those three issues."

The projected meeting would be Pataki's first visit to Roosevelt Island.  As Governor, he appoints the President of RIOC, the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation (currently Robert H. Ryan, who succeeded Dr. Jerome Blue two summers ago) and members of the RIOC Board of Directors.

Like Assemblymember Pete Grannis, Mendez has been working with the Island's Maple Tree Group, a subcommittee of the Roosevelt Island Residents Association, on legislation that would provide for Island residents to elect the members of the RIOC Board and for that elected Board to hire a professional civic manager to administer the affairs of the community and RIOC, which is a State Public Benefit Corporation formed specifically to take over management of the Island.  It succeeded earlier organizations with that responsibility.

In the 1998 and 2000 Residents Association elections, residents backed the idea of a locally-elected RIOC Board by margins of 92% and 80%.  The votes were widely taken as a show of dissatisfaction with RIOC's management of the Island.

Grannis introduced a comprehensive bill in the Assembly this session, but Mendez held off, waiting for a meeting with Pataki to learn what provisions he would accept and sign into law.  The Grannis bill provided for extended State responsibility for the Island, particularly for infrastructure that has deteriorated since the State stopped providing subsidies for the Island's capital needs and operating expenses.  Four years ago, RIOC President Blue and the Governor declared the Island "self-sufficient" financially, and the Roosevelt Island subsidy was removed from the State budget.

Grannis has repeatedly stated his view that the Island is not self-sufficient, and that there has been serious deterioration of the infrastructure.  Most Island Community leaders agree.

Mendez said the Governor responded warmly to the idea of a locally-elected RIOC Board, while reserving final judgment until after he has met with residents in the projected September Town Meeting.