After RIRA President Matthew Katz declared a lack of quorum and left Tuesday night’s Town Meeting, many residents stayed to make speeches to an audience which dwindled only slowly.  Here, only slightly abridged, is a transcript of remarks that dealt with the proposed constitutional changes, but with other topics, as well.

Joan Christianson:  “I chose not to run for re-election to the Common Council because of some of the issues that we’ve had here tonight, because of the constitution.  There are people on that Council who, when you do not agree with them, shout you down...  It just got to be a big headache.  Unfortunately, they walked out.  Any meeting, as far as I know, you give a 15-minute leeway.  The meeting was called for 8:00 o’clock, it’s 8:15, and then you call for a quorum.  [APPLAUSE]  Do you want a constitution where, if you are elected from your building, and you then move to another building, you can still be on the Council?  That is not democratic.  That is not democracy.  If I live in Eastwood, if I got called for an apartment in Westview or Island House, or I move to Manhattan Park, I can’t represent Eastwood any more.  Gifford Miller, if he moves to the west side of Manhattan, can’t represent the East side any more.  Hillary Clinton moved to New York so that she could represent New York.  This is a democracy, and these are the very people that want democracy.  Thank you.” [APPLAUSE]

Martin Atkins:  “One, I came here tonight thinking that I would hear debate.  Also, I mentioned earlier that a lot of people walked out because they did not want a quorum.  What does that say?  I think it’s very, very underhanded.  I wrote several things, but right now I want to mention two.  A constitution is supposed to be democratic, and the bylaws they suggested are very dictatorial.  The other thing is, after debate, there is supposed to be time to rethink, then take it home to re-do, and then re-present, and this is not a one-evening process.  I don’t think it’s fair to be demanded to vote yes or no without debate.”  [APPLAUSE]

Laurence Brodsky:  [In summary:] Brodsky said she found it a “disgrace” the way the people promoting constitutional revision had acted.  She called for a debate before a vote, with questions and answers, and negotiation.  All sides should get back together, she said, with a lawyer as a neutral party, and negotiate on all issues.  [APPLAUSE]

Richard Wade:  “I knew full well two or three weeks ago what they were going to do.  They were going to try to pass this thing before anyone knew what happened.  And so I had a notion that I might not be able to say what I wanted to say, and so I wrote it out very briefly.”  Wade then proceeded to read from a prepared statement: “This town meeting is not to adopt a new constitution, but to ratify a coup.  A small group of activists has fatally crippled the Roosevelt Island Residents Association...”  Wade was later interrupted so that others might speak, but he left this prepared statement (continuing from quotation above):

“A small grup of activists, having fatally crippled the Roosevelt Island Residents Association (RIRA), seeks to revise it by the appearance of legitimate changes.  A democracy is to become an autocracy.  Years ago Islanders refused to be bossed by Jerome Blue and they don’t want to be bossed again.

“This ‘constitution’ has one overall objective – to concentrate power in the hands of a few and eliminate the nuisance of free discussion.  Its model is the Rivercross Board (a disproportionate number of the cabal live in Rivercross), where secrecy makes the CIA look like an open book.  Elections are predetermined and arranged.  Only the nimble are given time to finish a question, and any ‘speeches, statements, or debate will be ruled out of order.’ The proxies fly in from everywhere.  No one has to wait for ‘late returns.’  The single goal is to privatize Rivercross to take 355 units of affordable housing away from people and sell them on the open market.   Board members have a keen eye for big bucks; they would become millionaires. They dangle this promise to newcomers to Rivercross, expect their vote in reutrn the Rivercross captivity or RIRA brings with it a contempt for the opinions of others and a suspicion of even slight indpendence.

“All this contraction of authority in a few hands comes at the time of an historic expansion of the Island.  Southtown will add another 8,000 and Octagon Park a substantial number. RIRA has never been able to penetrate Manhattan Park.  When RIRA should be talking about inclusion, it is campaigning to exclusion.  The future lies in this Island, not RIRA. There will be great changes, new groups, new associations, and, yes, another newspaper. We are entering a new dimension of the Island’s growth.  RIRA doesn’t even speak for the old.

“The American Consitution, with all its protections, needed a ‘Bill of Rights,’ which was necessary for ratification.  RIRA has issued a ‘Bill of Wrongs,’ all of which reduce opinions and make remedial action a steeplechase.  It is difficult to convey how bad this document really is.  One section suggests that co-payments by the president and treasurer are no longer necessary.  Even Elliot Spitzer has never heard of this one.

“This document seems to have been written by people who know little about the history of the Island, and its worldwide reputation as the most successful ‘New Town’ anywhere.  It is a simple grab for power and the money that will go with it.

“As a person once said, ‘Mr. Katz, tear up this document.’”

Byron Gaspard:  “I’m embarrassed tonight, because for six and half years I was a member of the Roosevelt Island Residents Association.  Now the name in itself means is that it is the Roosevelt Island Residents Association, which means that it is supposed to have your authorization – an authorization which represents the residents of Roosevelt Island.  It no longer represents the residents of Roosevelt Island.  It represents the special interests.  When I was running for President I talked about this.  I spoke about how everything has turned around, and the residents themselves are secondary to the special interests.  This has to stop. There are two solutions.  One solution is that you can simply boycott any involvement in the Roosevelt Island Residents Association.  The second solution is that you can form a real Roosevelt Island Residents Association that really represents the needs and concerns of the residents of Roosevelt Island and not themselves.  It’s up to you.  The ball is clearly in your court.  You’ve seen what has taken place here tonight.  If the concern was the really have this constitution addressed by the community, then we would have had a vote tonight.  But the concern wasn’t to have this constitution addressed by the community.  The community was never really meant to be part of the process.  We have to get the community back into the process of representing ourselves and representing the diversity of this wonderful community and demand that we not be excluded.”  [APPLAUSE]

Debra Mount Cornet:  “I think that we all saw tonight was a startling [unintelligible ] of what they really are. They don’t care about self-government.  They are using residents of this Island as a stone – a stepping stone – to get more political power, more personal power, and more positions close to those who do have power.  They revealed themselves for what they are.  They’re not interested in democracy...  What we can do is, like Byron was saying, we have to get a petition voting to disband them – to disband them.  [APPLAUSE]  Then we have to come back into this room as residents, members, just like we’re here tonight, and vote them out.  We can do that.  We’re the only ones who can.”  [UNINTELLIGIBLE] [APPLAUSE]

Karen Stewart:  “My name is Karen Stewart.  I only want to say a very few things.  When we all came into the room tonight, we had a constitution that guaranteed us that we would have a certain number of representatives on the Common Council; it guaranteed us that if someone representing us moved from one building to another, they could be replaced by someone else...  What now has happened – I want to make sure that each of you understand what has happened here – by Matt Katz getting up and walking out of this room, it has been decided that the RIRA constitution as you all know it no longer exists.  Mr. Katz, when he left the room, had 107 people in the room.  [APPLAUSE; PORTION OBSCURED] ...showed that there were only four people in the room to vote for the constitution.  It was widely discussed Saturday, Roosevelt Island Day, by people who are members of Maple Tree Group, that if, in fact, we were going to get a quorum, they would get up and leave the meeting.  For that last five minutes, it was their leaving, or there would have been 130 people in the room when Mr. Katz left...  What we have now is that Mr. Katz will decide how many people your building gets to represent them.  Mr. Katz will decide who gets to stay on the Council and, if he chooses, who he may appoint to the Council.  When the matter was voted on in the Common Council, I was able to demonstrate that he had shortchanged Southtown by over a third in representation, and had to force him to change that, as he did in an amendment.  I think what has happened here is simple malfeasance.  I think his getting up and walking out when he knew in fact that he had a quorum is something that, under the old constitution, he could be removed for.  Unfortunately, ladies and gentlemen, he has taken that out of the new constitution so you can no longer, as of 8:07 tonight to get rid of him because he did what he wanted to do, and not what you wanted to do...  I believe these issues fall into residents’ hands, not into the hands of people we elect...  I wouldn’t let Pete Grannis, who I admire more than any other politician, decide what my life should be about.  I believe that my rights are guaranteed on a piece of paper and it should stay that way.  Thank you all.”  [APPLAUSE]

Margaret Gaspard:  [FIRST FEW WORDS OBSCURED BY APPLAUSE]  “As of today, my resignation will be going in.  [APPLAUSE]  I have always tried to do the right thing and abide by the laws of a council or the land.  Him getting up and walking out of here, and with the numbers not being exactly correct on the first go-round...  [OBSCURED BY NOISE]  As of today, this is it.”  [APPLAUSE]

Ethel Romm:  “My name is Ethel Romm, and I am for a change in the constitution.  Since I am the only one speaking for it...  I sit as an alternate on the [RIRA Council].  What that means is that I didn’t get enough votes to be a member, and I can vote only if a member from Rivercross hasn’t shown up.  I am for a change in the constitution.  It took two years to get it, and so I would want you to ask me why I would be for a change.  Not one word that I have heard reflects what’s going on in that constitution.  I’ve been a part of volunteer groups all my life; I never saw a more kludgy, clumsy instrument for us to work with than the constitution that we were working under.  It was reflected in the absolute paralysis of what we tried to do. We couldn’t fix a light bulb.  All the complaints [OBSCURED BY NOISE]...  Couldn’t fix a lightbulb.  One day we took a count, those of us – you’re calling us activists – I like that word – I wish we could get you all out when it’s a positive thing, instead of getting you fired up by things you may not be aware of..  I took a count, around the chamber, of the people who kept voting no on simple things – I mean simple things – when we lost the firefighters and we wanted to make a memorial, all this static...  [COMMENT FROM AUDIENCE]  Because you haven’t heard the other side, I think I’d like to ask you just to listen, because it turned out that almost 60% of the people sitting around the table saying ‘no,’ they weren’t on their because they had been elected by a building...  They were there because they found some organization to join that doesn’t even meet, that could get them a seat on the Council...  All this constitution said was that, in order to sit on that Council, you had to be elected by your building.  Now, is the constitution perfect?  I wasn’t on the constitution committee, but they worked and worked to go through that, and the others, the naysayers, kept saying, ‘You did this over our dead bodies.’  Well, come and help write the constitution.  What do you do in that case?  What on earth do you do...  All they’re asking for is a constitution, a simple document, very simple and quick, with the parts...  It is easy to fix in the bylaws – you couldn’t do it before.  You want to change the new one?  It’s a cinch.  We wrote it so you can easily change it.  You will have on that RIRA elected people from your building.  That is what that constitution says.”  [SHOUTING FROM AUDIENCE]

Deirdre Breslin:  “I don’t have a lot to say.  I haven’t been to a RIRA meeting in five years. I have never seen anything in my whole life as disgusting as what happened tonight. [APPLAUSE]  Boo!  And everybody who feels the way I do, please join me!  Boo!”

Eileen Sheehy:  “I haven’t been to a RIRA meeting in a long time either, and I just want to say, I am for democracy, and this was a very poor example of democracy in action tonight, and I have kind of mixed...  I didn’t know what I was coming into on this.  I was prepared to hear a debate on whether we should have a new constitution, what the changes were, and the one thing that bothered me about this whole change is the exclusionary factor.  I don’t want to exclude anyone from RIRA.”

Raye Schwartz:  “Was this meeting ever called to order?  I rest my case on that one. Secondly, and most important, and I do feel very, very strongly about this – we have a situation here where we can become much more divisive.  I think the first knee-jerk reaction is let’s kick them out, impeach them, whatever.  I think that more important is that (a) I’ve never seen any minutes of the RIRA Common Council in The Main Street WIRE, and I challenge Dick Lutz to publish them whenever there is a meeting.  We really all need to see them...
I think we are entitled under freedom of information to see the minutes of the meetings.  And secondly, I think it behooves all of us to get more involved.  The meeting notices are published in The Main Street WIRE.  I will personally start going to them.  I do think we need to make a better showing, and if we’re really talking about democracy, I think we’d better start getting more involved.”

Vicki Feinmel:  “I’ve been on the Common Council for many years – from Eastwood for a few years, then Island House, then last year moved to Rivercross.  I lost my seat, and I’m now an alternate from Rivercross.  I worked on changing this constitution, and why I did is because the last few years, there were so many confusing elements of the constitution – there were loopholes, there were reasons for people to argue.  Why we wanted to change the constitution was not to...  My reason – I can only speak for me – for changing the constitution was to make things clearer, to make things fairer, and no other reason other than that.  Karen and Patrick Stewart were at every single meeting, discussed every issue.  We agreed, we disagreed, we changed every item until we agreed, and then two days before this meeting, there’s a letter that goes out.  People’s names were on it who were never asked whether they could be put on the letter or not.  So if this seems a little strange tonight, realize that maybe there was a little bit of history and a little bit of anticipation of not on the up-and-up.  The intentions were good in terms of the constitution.  There should be discussion here tonight, and again.  I believe that because it seemed such a setup, and Karen and others were encouraging and bringing people in...”

[BERDY INTERRUPTS; DISPUTE BETWEEN FEINMEL AND BERDY; UNINTELLIGIBLE.  SHOUTING FROM THE AUDIENCE.]

Laura Gillespie:  “My name is Laura Gillespie.  I’m from Eastwood.  I’m proud of it.  
I don’t care.  We are angry because of the content.  We are angry because a wholesale change in the constitution is not necessary to do the things you’re talking about.  We’re angry because giving the Council discretionary power with regard to future changes is disgusting.
I agree that some changes should be made, because, according to Mr. Katz, if we had had a meeting tonight, which we haven’t official because it wasn’t called to order, and therefore it didn’t happen, and therefore they cannot call [OBSCURED BY APPLAUSE]... have to have a meeting first, which they have not had.  Now, I think it’s not legal for them to do what they’re doing.  Criminal activity is punishable.  This is an obvious case of people having their own agenda and not being interested in what the people they represent care about.  We should have some change.  We should take away the ability of the Council to decide things if the meeting that they had didn’t decide it.  That means they have to bring it back.  What kind of constitution would give them the power to decide instead of us?  This doesn’t need changing. But this is not what’s addressed.  What’s addressed are self-serving things.  There should be a constitution which basically describes the institution; there should be bylaws, a separate part, which are not changeable by anyone – written in stone so that they guarantee rules and limitations and rights, and then some other bylaws which can be changed.  But it should also not take a simple majority to make those changes.  That’s one change that should be made. Thank you.”

Kitty Berman:  “I came not because I was angry, but because I wanted to get some information about how change is always an improvement, and it isn’t always in my view. Vicki, this evening, and Ethel, who used to be in Island House, they told me, and were representatives on the Common Council – they moved to Rivercross, where they are now representing the building, which left Island House with two vacant seats and as many alternatives as we could scurry around to get.  In previous years, I [unintelligible] the Common Council because our tenants organization asked the then president, ‘How do we fill these seats,’ and we were told, ‘Well, the tenants organization can get candidates and they can refer them to us once the tenants have approved these people, and that’s how I got to be on the Common Council, first as an alternate, then as a regular delegate because our regular delegates showed up very rarely...  At any rate, when we had these openings this past year, we put up a list asking anybody who lived in the building who wanted to be representing our organization at the Common Council to reply to the president of our group.  We got some responses, because we always get responses when we put things on the bulletin board and tell people we need somebody now, would you do it.  We were told after a while by one of the people who had been elected to the Common Council that it was his obligation to fill the other seats on the Common Council.  Now, I’m quite concerned...  A gentlemen and two ladies applied, and we were told, ‘Well, we don’t like this one lady because she’s a pain in the ass, she makes trouble, whatever,’ and this was said by the elected member of Island House, who also informed us that he had already chosen a lady to represent us.  OK.  When I looked at the list of delegates from Island House, I see that the young gentleman who applied was finally accepted and the original lady who was chosen must have had the good sense to decline after a while, but we are still left without viable representation on the Common Council, not because people didn’t come forward, and not because we didn’t say, ‘These are the people we recommend.’  So this change in the constitution does not seem to be an improvement, and I’m sorry Mr. Katz, and Mrs. Katz, and the whole litter, left because I wanted to know how this came into being, and why...”  [APPLAUSE]

Berdy:  [For those who have arrived late...] What happened is that at 8:12 p.m., there were not 100 people in the room. Mr. Katz adjourned the meeting and there was no vote. But at 8:14 there were 100 people in the room...  [UNINTELLIGIBLE INTERJECTION FROM AUDIENCE]  Anyhow, because the officials of RIRA decided they could not wait one more minute for the quorum to come in, there was no vote taken officially.  In a straw poll which we conducted there were 68 people against the constitution being changed, and four people being for the constitution being changed.  So this is an informative meeting at this point.  As you can see, the president of RIRA has left, unless the Vice President would like to say something... Steve?  But Deirdre Breslin would like to speak first."

Deirdre Breslin:  “If I can’t do this in two minutes, it’s not worth doing.  The first thing is a message.  Mrs. Weinstein asked us to remember Al Weinstein [APPLAUSE], and for you to know that we have MetroCard for the Tram because of Al Weinstein.  Let’s not forget that. [APPLAUSE]  And if Al Weinstein were here, he would vote ‘no’ on this because he was a real person.  The second is, I want you to know that as far as I’m concerned, I was on RIRA for a very long time.  I stopped.  Why?  Because nothing was happening.  Nothing worth discussing.  I’m on Community Board 8, I’m on the council of one of the hospitals here, you name it, I’m on it.  I’m on places where they do things.  So for the person who said, ‘Go to the meetings and sit there,’ go someplace where you can do something.  If you can make them do something, fine, but if not, don’t waste your time.  The other thing I want to say is, the group that is here, if you got together again, I think you could make things happen, and I want you to know that.  Roosevelt Island is a wonderful place.  Remember Al Weinstein, and do something real.”

Karen Stewart:  “This is very against the rules, and I shouldn’t speak twice, but you have an accusation tonight that I will bet you’re going to hear many times more, and that is that on the flier that you received under your doors with the names of the past presidents and the 20 or so other ex-officers of RIRA, that those people had never been asked, and had not approved their names being there.  Because I was working Roosevelt Island Day, and because I was asking Doryne to give me as late a deadline as possible, I was walking around with three versions of that letter.  I handed Doryne the wrong one.  There were two people whose names were on it who, in fact, had not been formally asked.  Actually, one had been asked and had not replied, and the other hadn’t been asked at all.  That is only my fault.  Those two people are Ed O’Flynn, who is a current member of the Common Council and had voted against the constitution, and Lawrence Brodsky, who spoke so passionately to you earlier.  They are representing that there are 6, 7, 8, 9 names...  That is simply not true, and if any of you hear that, I ask you to ask for the names, and I want to clear that up, and I ask that specifically to  Mr. Lutz, and I want to invite Mr. Lutz to examine my records so that he can see that there were...  Oh, and there was Virginia Granato.”

Joan Christianson:  “Virginia Granato was included, and again, it was my fault.  I was supposed to get in touch with her...  [UNINTELLIGIBLE]  She’s not informed of what’s going on.  As far as everybody else on that list, we have their approval...  I wasn’t angry.  I get angry when something like what happened tonight happens, because it was planned.  I was told by somebody on Roosevelt Island Day that if we were able to get 100 people in this church, that the Common Council that wanted the changes were going to get up and walk out, and that’s what they did.  I went outside to see if there were any people out there who should come in, and there were people who would have voted for the constitutional change who were outside hoping there would not be a quorum.  So what happened tonight is disgraceful, and as far as I’m concerned, the constitution is not changed, and I hope everyone here feels that way, and I hope that The WIRE reflects this meeting properly.”

Tanya Gussak-Jagerson:  “My name is Tanya.  I live in Westview, and it’s my first time ever that I attend any meeting here...  [SCATTERED APPLAUSE; NEXT WORDS OBSCURED]  I’m very curious...  How many of you ever read the old version and looked through it, and how many of you read the new version.  I didn’t.  I didn’t see it, and I cannot [unintelligible], but I don’t know what was before, and what was new was coming.  And I think you should agree with me.  We have to have the old...  We have to make our own decisions.  Otherwise, it’s like we are listening to rumors.  I have various friends here...  One who is telling me ‘no,’ and Ethel, who I like so very much, telling me ‘yes.’  I want to see the constitution published.”

Steve Marcus:  “My name is Steve Marcus.  I’m the S.O.B. here who put the new constitution together.  I’m proud of the work the committee did.  We spent a lot of time on it, four sessions, each one two to two-and-a-half hours.  We went through every part of the constitution.  Let me give you a little background on why we changed it.  We spend a lot of time in every meeting arguing over what the hell the old one says, and what it actually meant, and what the intent was of the old one.  So we had a lawyer once on staff, one from our group who was extremely valuable in making the language clear.  There were roughly 30 or 40 changes made to the constitution.  Now, if I were to ask you folks to come and assemble 100 of you so that we can add another three seats to [represent] Southtown, how many of you would show up for that?  [PAUSE]  Not that many.  If I were to say to you, ‘We want to change the constitution because we want to split out the Public Safety committee – it’s more important than it was 10 or 15 years ago the last time the constitution was put into place.  How many of you would show up if we wanted to change the format of the committees?  [PAUSE, COUNTING SILENTLY]  Ain’t no hundred.  I’ll be happy to address all the issues, but there are time limits.  Name one.”

[VOICE FROM AUDIENCE]

“The purpose of creating bylaws...  Bylaws are standard in every organization, simply because the constitution provides you folks with the basic rights.  The bylaws are the mechanism under the hood that permit that permit the organization to operate smoothly, so that we can change committees, so that we can make changes to the representation of Southtown as...  What the constitution says is [that] it has to be proportional – one man, one vote.  Since we don’t want to have a Town Meeting every time a building goes up, we put that in the bylaws.  There are number of things in the bylaws.  There’s an issue about election rules.  The current election rules do not work.  I can explain to you why they don’t work – primarily, no candidate can stop somebody from using soft money to put up their own posters, and so on.  This is free speech; you can spend money any way you want.  I had any number of ideas on how to change the election rule, I’m happy to listen to anybody’s comments, and I take them seriously.  When we were in the constitutional meeting, I tried to build consensus, I frankly thought I had consensus.  Karen Stewart, Patrick, were at all the meetings.  Since these were the folks that expressed more concern about changing the constitution than anybody in those meetings, I was constantly checking with them: ‘Is this all right? Is that all right?’ Incidentally, Patrick’s idea for an electoral rule was to get rid of them altogether – they don’t work.  If the constitution goes through, and it will be voted on – it was already approved by the Council to go to the Town Meeting by 75% of your representatives, the people you voted for.  If it’s approved again, then this summer we’re going to have election laws that make some sense, so that if I have to pay for fliers and somebody else who has an office gets them free, we have some fairness.  All these issues – I understand that you’re concerned about them, I’m happy that you’re concerned about them.  I think if you listened to the dialogue and thought process for each of these, then you would walk away feeling better.  I think that the people you’ve elected have done a good job.  I personally don’t have anything to be ashamed of, and I hope that we get to do things that you elected us to do, and the things that you elected us to do, really, was to work to understand your concerns and to work on them, not this stuff [OBSCURED BY VOICE FROM AUDIENCE] but actual stuff – what’s going on with privatization, what’s happening with development, fixing the stuff on the Island, and making RIOC aware of what our concerns are.  Thank you.”  [APPLAUSE]

David Bauer:  “There’s just one matter that bothers me about what is going on on this Island at the present time, and that is democratic process.  RIOC is not a democratic process, they’re appointed to run this Island, and RIRA, presently, as it’s constituted, has a sizable part of its membership appointed from other areas – not elected.  The democratic process requires that I be able to go to the person who has been elected, and say, ‘I don’t care for what you are doing, and if you continue, I will vote against you next time.’  There’s nothing that is as important as understanding the democratic process and the right of each person on this Island to cast a vote for the people that they want to set policy for the Island.  RIRA is the best hope that we have in providing a counterbalance to the appointed people that run the Island at the present time.  And I would wish that full consideration would be given to making RIRA a completely elected body.  Your interest tonight is terrific, and should continue in all parts of what we are doing as we go along.”  [APPLAUSE]

Nneka Pope:  “My name is Nneka Pope.  Some of you may know me.  I guess about ten years ago I was elected President of the Roosevelt Island Residents Association, and before that, Vice President, as well.  My family moved here in ’76, I spent the best of my years, almost 15 of them, in Eastwood, and also lived in Island House, and about four years ago I moved to Rivercross.  And I want you to know that there’s no better organization than the Roosevelt Island Residents Association.  I believe in the organization.  I believe in the residents of Roosevelt Island, and I believe in you.  And so it was profoundly disappointing that we would have a town hall meeting of this nature, particularly when there are several people here who have not been to a RIRA meeting in the past.  But I want to make a few things very, very clear.  RIRA, comprised of residents of Roosevelt Island, has always and consistently been extremely proactive on your behalf, and that’s true.  When you walk out of here tonight, know that it’s a living, breathing organization, but an organization that needs you, and you should attend RIRA meetings the first Wednesday of every month.  Having said that, I am opposed to the changes that the new constitution would present.  Number one, I do have a problem with removing the $200 cap for campaign expenses.  It’s true, as Steve Marcus said earlier, we do live in the United States of America, we are familiar with campaign financing laws, but it’s OK if we say ourselves that we’re going to retain and maintain a $200 cap.  That would mean that, to the extent possible, it would level the playing field of all of the candidates.  I happen to be in support of that, so that if somebody has less money than me, that’s OK, they can also participate in this process, even if they don’t have money coming from other places.  That’s important.  You know what else I believe?  Quite frankly, I do not believe, for example, that Community Board 8 appointees should be removed from the RIRA Common Council.  That’s what I believe.  I’m a Community Board 8 appointee and what does that mean?  That means that I sit on the Board, as well as Deirdre, as well as Patrick.  I sit on the planning board that represents 59th Street to 96th Street, everything east of Fifth Avenue, including Roosevelt Island – essentially, the East Side plus Roosevelt Island.  I find that Deirdre, Patrick, and myself have had a very strong influence on the community board with respect to Roosevelt Island issues, and I also believe that it is very important that those very same people participate and share their ideas of the world outside Roosevelt Island.  We are residents ourselves, so I would like to end with my beginning.  It’s very important that you attend Roosevelt Island Residents Association meetings.  You’re very much wanted, and it’s very important for you to be there.”  [APPLAUSE]

Fay Christian:  “Good evening.  I’m Fay Christian.  I live in 625.  I’m a teacher here on the Island.  I was just appointed to the Westview committee of the Common Council last month, and I guess I should have asked why there was a vacancy first, why the person was not there, but I have not been to any meetings in the past, but I am very disappointed with what went on here tonight, because my whole idea of fairness.  I am very strong for residents to be given the opportunity to vote and discuss.  Now, I have to admit that Islanders had not had an opportunity to give their opinion.  I thought tonight would have been a great opportunity for each side to give their opinion.  I think it’s important for us as townspeople to hear them.  And I really feel that tonight that did not happen, and I am embarrassed for those people who are new to the Island, and they came in here and saw us screaming at each other.  That is very embarrassing to me.  As a teacher, I guess it’s even worse, but I hope that we are given an opportunity for each and every one of you to give your opinion...  In all fairness, we all should have the right to give our opinion on everything that happens on Roosevelt Island.  I was not elected; I was appointed.  But I want to feel that everyone has a right to vote.”

Raye Schwartz:  “I’m not quite sure why they’re throwing out the constitution.  I understand that for many organizations the constitution simply states the mission of the organization, the charter, the purpose of it, and not the infrastructure.  The thing that creates the process... is what we call bylaws.  When there are changes to be made, they usually require a referendum.  There’s an approval by the delegates – that would be your Common Council, and then a vote of the constituency.  So I think the bigger confusion that I have, why the whole constitution rather than looking at those parts of it that may not be working to everyone’s satisfaction, and just amending those portions of it, and probably redoing or revising the bylaws.”  [APPLAUSE]

Berdy:  “This morning I had a telephone call from somebody who was at Goldwater Hospital in 1959, and he’s now a pathologist at a medical college in Virginia.  I was just thinking, what would he think of us, because he’s a paleopathologist.  He studies ancient people, and a thousand years from now, when they study Roosevelt Islanders, what will they find – a group of very confused people or a group of very sophisticated people.  I do not know.  First of all, thank you, everyone, for coming.  Thank you for trying to participate in democracy.  Give yourselves a round of applause.  And we will keep you advised of what goes on.  We have everyone’s name.  Watch those bulletin boards; watch those kiosks.  It is very hard to keep up with every organization that goes on on the Island, but it is our Island.  I live in Island House, and I don’t always know what’s happening to my building...  These are the urgent, important things that RIRA should be doing, this is what the association is for.  It was very nice to have Roosevelt Island Day, and that’s another thing that the Residents Association is for.  And though we get bogged down in politics in RIRA, and we always have, that we somehow forget what we’re there for.  We’re there for the health and well-being of our community.  And we are the community.  It is us.  So, on that note, thank you for very much, and we will keep you advised, and thank you for trying to exercise your rights.  Thank you.” [APPLAUSE]