The summer ended with a dull thud this past Labor Day weekend as I labored to prepare for last Wednesday's first RIRA Common Council meeting of the fall season. There's so much happening, I hardly know where to start. Possibly, the beginning would be best:

Good news first. Our State Assemblymember, Pete Grannis, again has found funds to support many Island organizations including your Resident Association. RIRA will have $1,200 to enhance its operations, and the Senior and Disabled Associations will each have $6,000 for their programs. Our Youth Program has an extra $12,000 for recreation, education, and counseling services, and PS/IS 217 will have $9,000 to spend on educational materials through their PTA. Also our public library branch will share $15,000 with two other branch libraries. Thanks, Pete - you always come through.

Excess noise shouldn't be a problem on our sleepy little Island, but it is. I was jolted from sleep early last Saturday morning when a Keyspan steam valve roared open and, especially if you live on the east channel in Eastwood, I bet you were too. When I called the new Keyspan II plant control room, I learned that they started to put a new unit on line late Friday night with the resulting steam (and also a minimal gas) release. We have an agreement that operations like this, likely to produce loud venting, will be conducted during weekdays only and not at night or on the weekend. I'm waiting for clarification from Keyspan's Community Development Director.

Have you noticed the continual clatter from low-flying helicopters this summer? Sure, we've seen an increase in police and military flights, especially during the Republican National Convention. But commercial flights appear to be flying on the River and over our Island with impunity. In my discussions with the Helicopter Noise Coalition, the east-side group that helped to remove the 60th Street Heliport, there seems to be some confusion as to whether altitude regulations even exist, although I've seen regulations that appear to require a minimum 1000 foot altitude over City buildings. I will follow up with the Manhattan Borough President's Helicopter Task Force, meeting later this month. Stay tuned.

From the ethereal to the mundane: There is an area of sidewalk near the Gristede's front door and directly in front of two stairwells into Motorgate that stink of urine and are covered with pigeon droppings. This is unpleasant anywhere on the Island but especially so in such close proximity to our major food vendor. Gristede's manager, Adrian Ramirez, informs me that he has taken care of pigeons directly in front of his doors by installing anti-perching devices and that workers in RIOC uniforms perform the maintenance of the sidewalks around his store. In fact, Adrian got a cleanup crew out to deal with the mess as soon as I brought it to his attention. RIOC President Herb Berman informs me that this maintenance is the responsibility of Motorgate and Gristede's, not RIOC. Adrian has dealt with that part of the problem he sees as his concern. Herb informs me that he has implemented regular walk-throughs with people from Manhattan Park (co-owners of Motorgate) and I hope a solution can be found without delay. This isn't rocket science; it just needs someone to take charge. Herb?

On Tuesday I attended a Second Avenue Subway Task Force meeting convened by the Transportation Committee of Community Board 8. The thrust of the meeting was Phase I, the portion of the new subway to extend from 96th Street to 63rd Street, including the connection to our F train. The tentative plan, pending full funding of the necessary $3.8 billion, is to begin the 36-month project in February, 2007. The MTA's Ian Taylor, who is the station design manager, suggested that the impact to our F-train service would be mostly at night and on weekends. Questions were submitted in writing, and my questions regarding the specifics of this disruption were not addressed before the meeting adjourned. We were promised written responses at a later time, which I will share with you when they are received. What struck me at this well-attended meeting was the depth of opposition to the Second Avenue subway project in general. Transportation Committee co-chair Dan Quart stated that the Lexington Avenue line is currently running at 140% of capacity. I think people mostly are concerned with the many years of disruption in their lives on the Upper East Side and are less concerned with the impact on subway congestion that this project will effect.

Did you read Karen Stewart's diatribe in the last WIRE? I truly wish she would apply her talents to working on behalf of the community rather than belaboring this constitution and bylaws question. To clear the air of misinformation, I would assert that the constitution and bylaws, debated now these many months, is not "my vision" but has had the input of a committee as well as the full Common Council, including the constant participation of Karen Stewart herself. Her problem is that she violently opposes any change in any facet of RIRA activity and has made it clear that she will not accept compromise or consensus. Given the deficiencies of the current constitution, she has the tools to tie up the process almost indefinitely. Karen states, "Almost one quarter of the Council does not have e-mail." No, three Members don't have e-mail and receive official notices by other means. The e-mail debate this summer was in lieu of face-to-face constitution committee meetings (committees traditionally don't meet during the summer except to plan summer programs) and the three computer-less Council members were not members of this committee.

Prior to my election, RIRA was becoming invisible on Roosevelt Island because it had no public face. In the last four years, we've created and produced programs that have given RIRA a reason to sustain your attention: blood drives, Roosevelt Island Day breakfasts, parties, dances, movie screenings, auctions, sock hops, lobbying trips to Albany, insurance fairs, the 9/11 memorials, and all the rest. Karen and Patrick Stewart have participated in none of these while maintaining their seats on the Common Council by virtue of membership in other organizations. The most critical asset of RIRA is that you elect your representatives, Island-wide and by building district, thus giving us the right to claim that we speak with the voice of the Roosevelt Island community. The Stewarts, however, have been elected to nothing since 1998, and opted not to run, not even from Island House, in 2002. And now, Karen has proposed eliminating any mention of the Roosevelt Island Council of Organizations (RICO) from the revised constitution even though she has voted a Council seat for the last four years only by virtue of her membership in this moribund group. Yes, the constitution allows her to do so. However, RICO doesn't speak for Island organizations (or anyone else) and hasn't done so for a decade or more. One might expect personal integrity to trump the antiquated rules of an outdated constitution, with Mrs. Stewart taking a seat only when elected to the post. However, Karen took the ethically challenged route and has voted her Council seat representing no one but herself.

Karen's screed urges you to pay attention to what happens at Council meetings, and so do I; not just on constitutional questions, but also on the real business of the RIRA Common Council, which is making a difference. Sure, a forward-looking, viable set of rules makes our jobs easier. But you need to pay attention this fall to the candidates for Island-wide office and from your buildings. What have they done and what do they promise to do? We should be judged by the quality of the work we've produced and the difference in the quality of life that our work has accomplished. The RIRA elections will take place at PS/IS 217 on Election Day, November 2. As RIRA members, the minimal participation expected of you is an educated, considered vote.

Far better would be your decision to take part in the RIRA Common Council by running for office yourself. Life on Roosevelt Island is, in many ways, more demanding than in other parts of the City where life is more anonymous. Our status as a planned community, owned by the City and operated by the State without community participation in our governance or decision-making, has made it so. Nevertheless, we choose to live here (are proud to live here!) despite the problems of transportation and inadequate shopping, restaurants, and entertainment options. What makes life tolerable here is the participation of the community in the life of the Island, individually and through our many organizations. And RIRA gives you more opportunity to impact our issues than any other forum available to us. We reconstituted the Elections and Nomination Committees at our September 8 meeting, and I would welcome your calls to discuss the duties involved in Common Council membership. Make a difference!

And finally: I've been a member of the RIRA Common Council for almost eight years with two terms as president. It's enough. I intend to take a sabbatical from the Council, at least for the next two years. The last four years have been fascinating but I took the job on as a seven-day-a-week proposition, and that's just what it has been. I don't begrudge the time I've put in, but I used to be a well-rounded fellow. Now, my conversation is so exclusively Roosevelt Island-oriented that my friends and family cringe when they see me coming. I'm tired, and I just need to un-focus and smell the flowers again. I've been proud of my service; especially when I've been useful. I've enjoyed participating in the programs we've imagined and produced, serving drinks or even simply cleaning up afterwards. I've especially enjoyed chatting with you on Main Street about Island issues and working to deal with specific problems. Writing this column has been an unexpected joy; I thought I would dry up after two issues! To whomever my successor is: If you don't use this space to share information with the community and to vent your opinions, you are cutting off your nose to spite your face. How many elected representatives have the use of a "bully pulpit" every two weeks? So don't be stupid, write!

I intend to use my remaining columns to comment on the elections and yes, to campaign for folks I think will do a good job. The U.S. presidential elections are critical this year and I hope that the interest in them will result in a good turnout for RIRA as well. Our politicians count voter turnout, y'know, and RIRA's status with them increases with the percentage of qualified Island voters who pull the levers.

One last thing: On Tuesday, September 14, you will have the opportunity to help create Southpoint Park. The Trust for Public Land will convene a Town Meeting at the Chapel from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. and again from 7:30 p.m. until 9:30 p.m. This is important to the future of the Island and you should make it your business to participate. And while you're there, take note of how many Council Members have made this Town Meeting a priority and note who they are. That's one way to know whom to vote for!