Visiting? Indulge us, won't you, in a little bragging.  You are visiting the best place to live in all New York.

We are NYC's small town - New York's Little Apple - a mere ten thousand or so among the millions, a mere 147 acres beside Manhattan's thousands.  And we are the best-kept secret in a City of secret surprises.

You may know us for the Tramway.  And now, if this is your first fireworks here, Southpoint Park.  Even so, you know only a small bit of Roosevelt Island.

We celebrate our diversity.  Not only are we the temporary home of many United Nations employees from all over the world, but we are rich in ethnic and linguistic variation.  Our wealth extends to many dozens who are called disabled or, in some places, handicapped.  Here, we call them friends.  As a community, we are rankled when we find some aspect of our Island inaccessible to any among us.

As a community, in fact, we are probably far more actively involved than any you've ever known.  There are those among us who see a wonderful place to live, and do good works to make it all the more wonderful.  And there are those who tackle problems and solve them. 

Because we do have problems.  We don't get to elect the officials who run the place.  That's because Roosevelt Island is a creature of the State of New York, and while we're immensely proud of our City Councilmember, Speaker Gifford Miller, his influence and that of others we help to elect to public office is limited by the politics of a place where the Governor appoints almost everybody who earns a dime in an official capacity.  Some are good, some are bad, and too many languish in between.

But while we don't get to elect the officials who run the place, we're workin' on that - and have been for years - inching too slowly toward elective democracy in a place where a passel of plum positions are a patronage dream for any Governor who doesn't live here (nor do those appointees) - and sometimes a patronage nightmare for those who do live here.  But we're workin' on it.

And we have our differences, as any close examination of these pages will show.  We're a place where causes are deeply felt, and debate is sometimes clenched-fist clamorous.  Yet, when it's over, we settle back and enjoy the fruits of refined results that might not have been possible otherwise.

If you have occasion to come again - and we hope you will - here you have three-dozen acres of parks to host you, miles of promenade to walk, and a friendly population of folks who will tell you that, if you are lost, you're probably wet.

You are visiting the best place to live in all New York.

DL