To the Editor:

Our Public Safety Department has been vilified frequently for its failures.  I would like to tell you about the several times they have helped me.  Twice, when I came home after midnight and was not anxious to drive into Motorgate by myself and possibly just miss a Red Bus, I stopped by their office in my car and asked if they would follow me until I parked.  “No problem,” they said.  They followed me in, waited until I parked, and then drove me home.  When I thanked them their answer was, “No problem, glad to have helped.” 

Another time, I had completely forgotten where I had parked my car before I went on vacation.  They drove me up and down the aisles, since I thought perhaps my car had been stolen when I could not find it – starting on the roof and all the way down to the fifth level when I spotted it.  They were always very polite and patient and helpful.  

Just thought that for a change they deserve a pat on the back.

Louise Maniloff

To the Editor:

Quality of life on Roosevelt Island seems to be a running thread in letters written to Mr. Berman and The WIRE.  One area that lacks quality of life on Roosevelt Island is the dumpster area behind the Deli, between buildings 575 and 625.  Rats are now overrunning the dumpster in the daytime and evening.  It is a serious health hazard when you see rats running up the entryway of building 575 in daylight hours and children playing nearby.  Under the cover of night the dumpster is a major playground for rats.  Why can’t anything be done about this health hazard?

That area has also become the pigeon-feeding ground for citizens of the Island who have affection for birds.  I have seen citizens just dump bread and walk away.  There need to be signs posted about not feeding pigeons, for they, too, are a health hazard.  

Can’t something be done so there is a quality of life in our walkways?

Donna Chenkin

To the Editor:

Is Public Safety working to ensure the safety of residents, or is it pursuing a policy of unnecessary harassment and abuse of power?  On March 26, at 8:58 p.m., a 20-year-old woman who was a guest of my daughter was issued a summons to appear in Criminal Court for trespassing, because she was sitting in the stairwell, talking on her cell phone.  There was no illegal act involved.  She was simply waiting for my daughter to come to meet her.  

Our guest indicated to the officers that she was a guest of a resident and was permitted to return to my apartment to procure her ID.  My daughter and I also were present at the time.  I politely asked the officers how she could be trespassing if she were a guest?  They responded that we don’t “live in the stairwell” and further stated that even a resident might be issued a summons for sitting in the stairwell.  I then asked them why she could not simply be issued a warning, since there are no signs to this effect, only a no-trespassing sign by the 551 mailboxes, which our guest had never seen since she entered through the main door.  At some point in this discussion the officers called for the sergeant, as they were unable to explain to my satisfaction why this young woman should have to appear in Criminal Court, when a simple, “Please don’t sit in this area” would have sufficed.  

The sergeant stated that I should take it up with management, since Public Safety is being urged to curtail dangerous activities in the stairwell.  While I agree that any “dangerous activities” should be curtailed, I fail to see the application in this case.  My guest was even told by the female officer that they had the right to put her in handcuffs!  When my daughter protested, she was told that she could be issued a summons for disorderly conduct!  

I have brought this matter to the attention of RIHMC General Manager Ms. Doryne Isley, as well as Mr. Fry, head of Public Safety.  I am outraged that a guest of a resident could be treated in such a manner.  Even though it is a great inconvenience for both of us to take time off from work, I plan to accompany this young lady to court and expect this summons to be dismissed.  I further assume that Public Safety will come out looking very foolish, if not abusive.  I am interested in other residents’ similar experiences and hope that you will respond to The WIRE.

Victoria Seixas

To RIOC President Herb Berman:

We have just read your column in the April 3 issue of The Main Street WIRE and would like to inform you that not all tenants of Eastwood are thrilled about the filming of Dark Water.

We have been pleasantly surprised by the good behavior of the production crew as they went about preparing our hallway and lobby for the filming.  It is not their fault that the light-filled, airy entrance to our apartment has been transformed into a sordid tunnel resembling a dungeon in Mogadishu.  While the crew was polite, an employee of the management company took it on himself to make us feel that we were intruders in our own homes.  He grimaced, sighed, and once even called out, “Is it all right that they go in?” when we were picking up our mail.

Our main reason for writing, however, is that the film will make our lovely Island look like a slum.  According to an article by Jim Law in Variety, the film takes place “in a cruddy apartment complex” with “some seriously f**ked up plumbing problems.”

Diana Keyt

To the Editor:

Welcome to Disneyland (formerly Roosevelt Island) where the death-defying rides are free; one has merely to negotiate the street or enter and traverse one’s own lobby (540) and survive the obstacle course to one’s own mailbox and the interminable wait for one’s own elevator to one’s own floor and wend one’s wary way to one’s very own apartment – without getting hurt or killed or annoyed or dying from a stroke from rage at the very effrontery of it all.

Management will shrug and even provide an escort because the Disney characters, little dears, have dismantled my intercom, preventing me from summoning my aide to help me go home, where I’m going instead of the intended Library, because I cannot get to the Library because they have rendered the street impassable to me in my wheelchair.  A month or more of this debacle, or should I say cabal, and all this for free; and think of the fat cats’ pockets being lined by all this.  

Only here on the lovely tree-lined former Roosevelt Island can you thrill to this stultifying roller-coaster ride for free, boys and girls.  With luck they might even shoot artificial rain (real water) into your apartment through your very own window.

Thank you, Disney and management, for raining on my parade and spitting in my face.



To the Editor:

Today, five school buses, awaiting dismissal of students, lined up on the northbound side of Main Street, just south of Blackwell House, blocking the road.  

Since Main Street is only a two-lane street, the parked buses force northbound drivers to cross the double yellow line illegally to pass them.  This is not a good practice.  

Just another example of a not-well-thought-out plan.



To the Editor:

I’m a new resident here from China.  I’d like to know something about the culture and the people’s life of USA.  I also hope to improve my spoken English by the help from the friendly resident here.  So could you do me a favor to find a volunteer English tutor for me?  

My e-mail address is linz@mail.rockefeller.edu.  My telephone number is 212-758-2982
(6:00 to 10:00 p.m.).