Next to Roosevelt Island, my favorite topic of discussion is food, and I plan to spend the major part of this column on this happy subject.

With a small group of Islanders, I was invited to tour the facilities of a start-up company that soon will be soliciting your business.  FreshDirect is located in a state-of-the-art warehouse on Borden Avenue in Long Island City.  From this mammoth plant (as large as five football fields!) they intend to service New York City, starting with Roosevelt Island and extending to Queens, Manhattan, and so on.

Here's how it works: From your Internet connection you will contact a website containing a vast array of customized fresh foods that will be constantly updated.  After you put together a "shopping cart" of purchases, your order ($40 minimum) is totaled, paid for by credit card, and shipped the next day within a two-hour time frame.  There will be telephone operators for the electronically-challenged.

John Boris, vice-president of marketing, claims that this service will provide meats and fish, fruits and vegetables, canned and dry goods, dairy, baked goods, and prepared meals from the most experienced purveyors in New York and fresher and less expensive than any supermarket.  They will start their business with Roosevelt Island because of the proximity to their headquarters, and expect to begin advertising their new business within the month.  Boris mentioned that FreshDirect will employ some 900 workers when they are up and running.  We suggested that they recruit their staff, from fulfillment workers to truck drivers to webmasters, from Roosevelt Island.  This idea was received with enthusiasm and we should expect job offers along with steaks cut to order!

I was impressed by the technical scope of this venture.  However, the only reason I'm bringing it to your attention is that it adds to the often inadequate mix of retail services available to us here; I have no other ax to grind.  In addition, FreshDirect intends to offer the first $50 order free, with the first three delivery charges of $3.95 waived.  I can't afford to turn up my nose at $50 worth of free food, and intend to see if this unique way of shopping meets my needs.  Perhaps you might do the same.

Do you find yourself grinding your teeth as you leave Gristede's?  I find the discourtesy of their cashiers grating and unnecessary.  There is never even eye contact, much less a "thank you" or "nice to see you" or "how've you been."  I've had more personal contact shopping with strangers in Denver or Los Angeles than with the young people at Gristede's who see me almost every day.  I had one cashier in Denver offer me the use of her store discount card when she discovered that I was from out-of-town and didn't have my own!  Can you imagine one of our young people putting themselves out in that fashion?  I've spoken to Adrian, Gristede's manager, and asked him to do some sensitivity training with his staff.  After all, courtesy costs nothing and reaps enormous dividends.  He has agreed to make the effort, and I would suggest that you reinforce my request with your own.  If we demand a smile and a kind word, that sort of thing becomes habit-forming!

You may have noticed an insert in this issue of The Main Street WIRE.  This contact sheet of Island organizations, services and merchants is an essential reference work and is long overdue.  My wife, Sherie Helstien, is responsible for giving life to this project and completing it with the assistance of Roosevelt Island's two prime sources of information, The WIRE and Frank Farance's information hotline, among others.  She had considered offering this resource for some time, but held off, pending its completion by an Island organization that had Borough President funds to pay for a similar effort.  However, after waiting almost two years for the organization list to appear, she took the bit between her teeth and the result is here before you.  This is typical of Sherie's approach to community activism.  Several years ago, when she was a new member of the RIRA Common Council, she saw a need for a contact sheet so that members could communicate among themselves.  Rather than calling for some RIRA committee to take on the task, she just did it, disseminated it at a monthly meeting, and updated the list on a regular basis.  That's the kind of proactive leadership we desperately need.  Congrats to my sweetie, to Frank, and to The WIRE, for seeing a need and filling it!

As of this writing, RIOC anticipates the resumption of Tram service by the end of the week, that is, today.  Will they be able to apply the lessons learned over the last four months to future Tram glitches?  Probably not.  RIOC administrations come and go along with the governors who appoint them, and they take their institutional memories with them.  The repository of Roosevelt Island's history of management and administration resides in the residents.  When a Board of Directors elected by the residents can hire a RIOC president with the expectation that this person will stay and grow with the community, they may have a shot at learning from their mistakes.

I've heard rumblings of discontent regarding the prevalence of drug trafficking and other crime on the Island, both in Common Council and on the street.  Certainly, the shooting in front of 2-4 River Road on February 25 has exacerbated residents' fears.  You can make a difference by attending the regular meetings of the 114th Precinct and bringing your concerns to their attention.  The next meeting is on Tuesday, March 26, at 7:30 p.m.  The location is Riccardo's, a restaurant at 21-01 24th Avenue in Queens.  Public Safety and the NYPD tell us that Roosevelt Island crime is not on their radar.  If you know differently, then you need to let them know by showing up and making noise.  For more information, call RIRA First Vice President, Byron Gaspard, at 752-6819.

Finally, as we enter the first full week of spring as well as Holy Week, I want to wish all my friends and neighbors a guten Pesach and a beautiful Easter.  May the message of these holidays help bring peace to the Middle East and to the world.