My name is Herb Berman.  I’m the President of the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation.  We are joined today, up here, by Gifford Miller, the Speaker of the City Council; Peter Kalikow, the President of the Metropolitan Transit Authority; [and] Katie Lapp, who is the Executive Director of the Metropolitan Transit Authority.  We are also joined by several members of the State government, [and of the] Board of Directors of the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation.

This is another great day, ladies and gentlemen, in the history of New York City.  The only commuter Tramway in the United States now accepts the MetroCard, the symbol of the greatest mass transit system in the United States, the Metropolitan Transit Authority.  With one swipe of MetroCard, all New Yorkers will now be guaranteed a seamless ride from the Tramway to the bus or subway.  Finally, after more than a quarter century, Roosevelt Island’s Tram will be part of the MTA system.

There’s been a concerted effort over the past three years to bring about this day.  Bringing the Tram on line has been a collective effort, and I will specify the people in a few moments, but pending that, working with the MTA, the Governor’s office, the Mayor’s office, the Speaker’s office, we reached an agreement to bring the MetroCard to the Tram, and although I’ve only been President of Roosevelt Island Operating Corp for a scant six months, when I took this job, Governor Pataki charged me with bringing the most benefits possible to Roosevelt Island.  Today’s integration of the Tram into the MTA system is one of those benefits.  It has been a long time coming, and I appreciate the diligence of individuals and groups who brought about the importance of this day to my attention, including the Roosevelt Island Residents Association under Matt Katz.

Since it opened in 1976, the Tram has shuttled more than 20 million people over the East River.  Now that the MetroCard has been brought to the Tram, it further cements the Tram as a unique New York City amenity.  Ladies and gentleman, at this time I’d like to introduce a young man who I’ve had the privilege of working with for many years in my capacity as Finance Chair of the City Council and I know from personal recollection and understanding his dedication to this issue – Speaker of the City Council, Gifford Miller.

Thank you, Herb.  First of all, I want to thank everybody who brought us here today.  This is a great day.  This is a great day because the last block has fallen, and fallen into place.  Until today, this Tram was basically the last place in New York City that you couldn’t use a MetroCard to get around, and that’s been important, and I’ll tell you why.  First off, Roosevelt Island residents didn’t get the discount that MetroCard comes with when they are riding the Tram.  Secondly, Roosevelt Island residents, when they rode the Tram to come over and get on a bus or a subway on the East side, they’d have to pay again.  The one-fare system didn’t apply to them.  It’s been seven years that we’ve been struggling to get to this date, and we are finally here and Roosevelt Islanders are thrilled.  We are a part of this City, like everybody else, and I particularly want to compliment the leadership that brought us here: Chairman Kalikow, who’s been doing a terrific job and has been very receptive on this issue; President [Larry] Reuter, who also helped work out the negotiation in which the City put up money in the capital budget, a million dollars in the capital budget to pay for this conversion, in order to make all the residents of this State and the system whole; and I want to thank Katie Lapp at the MTA, and I want to thank Herb Berman and RIOC, who helped make this possible, and also Matt Katz and all the residents.

This is a great thing.  This is really exciting.  This is a meaningful thing in people’s lives every day.  The Tram is the symbol of Roosevelt Island.  Every resident identifies with the Tram.  And people all over the world identify this Tram with New York City.  We have Sylvester Stallone crawl on the car – what was the name of that movie – Night Hawks – not the biggest hit of his career, but an important one.  We’ve had Spider-Man.  We’ve had countless visitors come from all over the world, and each time they’ve come they’ve gotten the impression that Roosevelt Island is disconnected from the rest of the City somehow.

Today, we connect Roosevelt Island with the rest of the City.  We invite all New Yorkers to come.  Bring your MetroCard.  Visit the Island.  Walk on it.  It’s beautiful.  Visit its stores and its restaurants.  Visit some friends.  Use the hospitals, which are terrific and doing a tremendous job.  Bring your MetroCard.  Roosevelt Island is at the heart of the City, a small town in the biggest City in the world, and Roosevelt Island and its residents are now getting treated with the fairness and the equity they deserve.  This is indeed a great day, and I want to thank everyone here for making it possible.  Thank you.

Thank you, Speaker.  I’m also pleased to introduce for a few words the gentleman who’s actually functioned as the Chairman-in-perpetuity of the MTA, Peter Kalikow.

It only feels like perpetuity.  In 1976 Governor Pataki instituted a thing called master links.  Among other things, it was to provide a seamless transit system for all the people of the region, so first we put on New York City subways, then New York City buses, then Queens buses, then PATH, Long Island bus, Long Island Rail Road, Metro North, now the AirTrain.  The last holdout in the link was this Tram, and I want to thank the Mayor and the Speaker for supporting us with the financial resources that we needed to do this for the residents of Roosevelt Island.  They are now part of New York.  They get the MetroCard, they get the discounts, they get the free transfer.  So I want everybody to use it, and enjoy it.  Thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.  All right, folks, it’s time to swipe our MetroCards and begin service on the Tram.  I invite you to swipe the cards with us.  You’re welcome to join us on the other side for what I trust you’ll understand is very light refreshments.  Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, please come over – take the ride with us.