Governor George E. Pataki
The Executive Chamber
Capitol
Albany, NY 12224

I am writing to urge you to fulfill your commitment to the residents of Roosevelt Island to appoint four Island residents to the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation Board of Directors as required by Chapter 493 of the Laws of 2002.  This would create, for the first time, a Board with a majority of Island residents, an important step in fulfilling the residents’ goal of self-governance.

The recent resignation of Dr. Joan Dawson and the upcoming expiration of Leo Kayser’s term in June provide you with the opportunity to appoint two new resident directors.  With these appointments, the Board’s composition will be in compliance with the legislation you signed into law last year.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Alexander B. Grannis
Member of Assembly

I understand that the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation (RIOC) is engaged in discussion with staff at the Department of Housing Preservation and Development regarding the development of a 500-unit apartment complex known as the Octagon Apartments Project on land that is designated as Octagon Park in the Roosevelt Island General Development Plan (GDP).  In order for this project to proceed, it is clear that the City must first approve an amendment to the GDP.  For the reasons set out below, I believe that, even were you to approve this amendment, which I call on you not to do at this time, this project cannot go forward under current State law as well as the doctrine of public trust which protects the open space in this area as public parkland.

Chapter 493 of the Laws of 2002, signed by Governor Pataki on September 6, 2002, was enacted specifically to protect the limited open spaces on Roosevelt Island set out in the current GDP from development.  As I have advised RIOC officials, both the letter and the intent of this statute preclude the alienation of open space within Octagon Park.  Rather than reiterating my argument on this point, I ask that you review the attached statement which I presented at RIOC’s December 12, 2002, public hearing on this project.

Even without the prohibition in Chapter 493, however, I believe that the dedicated open space in Octagon Park falls under the protection of the public trust doctrine and cannot be alienated without the approval of the Legislature.  The courts in New York have liberally applied a public trust status to formally and informally dedicated municipal parkland requiring State legislative approval for alienation or change of use.  The open space in question merits protection under the public trust doctrine as the result of actions by the City, State, and Federal governments, as well as RIOC itself, which have resulted in reasonable public expectations spanning many years that this land would remain open and available for public use and enjoyment in some park-like manner.

From the initial stages of the development of this acclaimed planned community by the State Urban Development Corporation and its visionary chairman Ed Logue in the late 1960s, the area surrounding the landmarked Octagon Tower has been referenced in the GDP as open space/parkland.

By their repeated actions, the State and RIOC have also treated this site as parkland.  Over the years, RIOC has sought and been awarded a series of grants for designing and developing the area surrounding the Octagon Tower as open parkland and for stabilizing and restoring its sole structure, the Tower itself, which have furthered the public’s expectations for the completion of the long-standing plan for the creation of Octagon Park.  Among these are grants in 1987, 1989, and 1990 from the Environmental Quality Bond Act awarded by the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (OPRHP).  The $1 million 1990 grant is particularly in point as it was from the 1986 EQBA’s Municipal Parks Program.  In addition to these grants, the National Endowment for the Arts joined forces with the state OPRHP in funding a request by RIOC for a grant for a conceptual design for stabilizing the Octagon Tower as parkland.  This well thought out plan, in which there was significant input and participation by Island residents, was hailed as “Roosevelt Island’s Central Park” in the January 1991 edition of Landscape Architecture (see attached).

More recently, the City’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), under a Memorandum of Understanding with RIOC dated July 29, 1994, committed to fund contracts of approximately $3.4 million for restoration of Octagon Park as an open public recreation area following disruptions from work by the agency in conjunction with construction of the Third Water Tunnel.

Given the statutory protections governing the Island’s open spaces, as well as the long-held public expectation that the open spaces in Octagon Park would continue as areas of recreation, relaxation, and enjoyment, I respectfully ask that you not approve any amendment to the Roosevelt Island General Development Plan that seeks to alienate delineated open space for the Octagon Apartments or any other project on this site.

Thank you for your attention to this request.  If I can provide additional information, or if you or your staff wish to discuss this matter, please feel free to call me.

Alexander B. Grannis
Member of Assembly

[copies to RIRA, RIOC, and others]

My husband and I live in Westview, directly above our PS/IS 217’s schoolyard.  I am writing this because of a response I just received after having made my second call to the school office to ask them to please discontinue the use of the bullhorn, which they allow their assistants in the yard to use when “speaking” to the kids.

I had called a while ago, from Manhattan, and could not hear my husband but could hear loud and clear the kids and the person on the bullhorn in the schoolyard.  I immediately called the school after we hung up and was told they’d stop the use of the bullhorn.  My husband also has called because they did not discontinue use of the bullhorn.  (Keep in mind that this is happening when our windows have been closed against the cold.) 

Today I called when the bullhorn was again in use and was told that we were to call Doryne Isley of RIHMC!  Dumbfounded, I asked what she could do about this noise problem that clearly emanates from their property.  The person I spoke with didn’t know the answer to that.  I have spoken with Ms. Isley and she has promised to hear the level of noise for herself from an apartment window and to intercede on our behalf.

It seems to me that short of putting up much thicker glass windows in our apartment and all of the apartments that abut the schoolyard, RIHMC has absolutely no way of dealing with this problem and definitely no jurisdiction over the school.  Only the school can resolve this problem. 

In the Spring and Fall when our windows are often open in the nice weather, we know that we will have a certain amount of volume from the kids for set periods of time.  However, we believe that the more you raise the volume on one end with the bullhorns, the louder the kids become to override that volume, and so on and so on.  In essence, everyone out there becomes desensitized to the higher and higher volume levels.  Those who are in control are responsible for the decibel level and it appears that Ms. Gregory and her staff refuse to take control of a situation that is creating, unnecessarily, very angry neighbors.  This community has a good relationship with the school, but common courtesy needs to work both ways. 

For Westview and Manhattan Park tenants whose windows face the schoolyard, I would strongly urge you to call Ms. Gregory – 1-212-980-0294.  The buck stops at her desk.

Copies:  Doryne Isley, Principal Sherry Gregory, others