As I look down the last three weeks of my presidency I'm struck by how many issues, how much work, remains to be done by me and by my successor. During the last four years, two successive Common Councils have done a passel of work and created some programs that I hope will continue: blood drives, Roosevelt Island Day breakfasts, Special Ops firehouse Thanksgiving dinners, insurance fairs, movie screenings, parties, and so on. These and other events will endure as new Island traditions but only if you require the next Council to make them so.

Four years ago I ran for the RIRA presidency on a platform that included revising a constitution that hadn't been amended since 1991. Last Wednesday, the Common Council made good on that promise. At our September meeting, the Council approved the new constitution and bylaws with a 79% affirmative vote. We produced a purely informational meeting on October 7 to educate our neighbors on these complex changes; unfortunately, very few residents attended. When the question of ratifying these new documents was brought to a Town Meeting on October 12, the necessary quorum of 100 residents was not present, and the vote reverted to the Common Council the next night. The Council endorsed the work Steve Marcus had started last February with a 13 to 3, or 81%, affirmation, and the new constitution and bylaws are now in effect and binding.

This change now enfranchises our new neighbors in Southtown with three building-district seats to be shared by 465 and 475 Main Street. Anticipating a positive outcome of the constitutional debate, I started work a month ago to plan a meeting with the residents in these two buildings to inform them of what RIRA is and their rights in the organization and as part of this community of building districts, and that meeting took place last Thursday evening. As I'm writing this prior to that meeting, I can't tell you how we were received or what the outcome was, but I can assure you that those Southtowners who attended are aware of their place in the Roosevelt Island firmament. Our first order of business is to overcome a psychological impediment; to start thinking of themselves as Southtowners and Roosevelt Islanders rather than by their employment status as employees of Cornell-Weill Medical Center or Memorial Sloan-Kettering Hospital. We welcome our newest neighbors into our community and, should they need a voice against bureaucracy, insensitivity, obfuscation, or pure sloth, we know for certain that they will find it in the RIRA Common Council.

Those reasons for becoming RIRA activists apply to us Northtowners as well. The only voice this community has is through the direct representation, by building district and Island-wide, that RIRA elections provide. Nomination forms are available at the Library, the Trellis Restaurant, and in the mailrooms or front desks at Rivercross, Island House, Westview, and 30 River Road, and may be returned in the sealed boxes provided at each location. RIRA survives, to represent you and to provide events and services, only if you step up to the plate. Please nominate yourself or a respected neighbor today.

To date, only James Whalen has offered his name for the post I'm vacating. This is a sad state of affairs. Jim has served on the Common Council for four years without distinction and without making any apparent effort on your behalf. He is notorious for making outrageous statements that seem to have no purpose other than bringing attention to himself. I have no problem with a class clown, but I don't see the benefit in a RIRA president advocating your concerns on serious matters. Further, there is a line that may not be crossed and Mr. Whalen has crossed it. In an e-mail to a disparate group of often unwilling recipients, he said, "The Moslems murdered 3,000 American three years ago and hope to do it again." This tars one billion Moslems with a brush meant for a small group of extremist criminals and is unacceptable language for anyone purporting to represent this diverse community within the greatest City in the world. We're just a small Residents Association, but the leadership must be accountable for what we say, write and do. Whalen is a bad choice to lead this community and I urge you to find a better one and to vote for that person.

You will have the opportunity to question your neighbors who are running for RIRA Common Council office on Thursday, October 28, at 8:00 p.m. when Candidates' Night is held in the Chapel community room. Council Members should have their feet held to the fire if they are to adequately represent you. If they are Council veterans, what have they done on your behalf? If they are rookies, what do they intend to accomplish? Please make it your business to attend and to bring tough questions.

The serious business of the Island continues despite our focus on elections. Hosted by RIOC, the second contingency planning meeting for Roosevelt Island will be held on Tuesday, October 19. The City and State Offices of Emergency Planning agreed to meet with RIOC, various public institutions responsible for our safety, and me, on a regular basis. You will recall that the July meeting including the Department of Transportation occurred just before we learned how vulnerable we truly are during the bridge failure of August 11. Three months is far too lengthy a period between meetings, but the OEM was preoccupied with the Republican National Convention and the opening of the United Nations General Assembly. I hope this meeting will address those concerns and the many others that have concerned us since the Blackout of August, 2003. And I hope that we can establish the monthly meetings originally envisioned, so as to bring in all the groups concerned and to arrive at conclusions that may be speedily implemented.

The Trust for Public Land will convene the last scheduled Southpoint advisory committee during the last week in October to discuss your input on the three proposed plans for this exciting new park and present a single, unified plan. Shortly thereafter, TPL will hold a final public meeting to submit that plan to the community. The audience was sparse when the three plans were presented and this will be your last opportunity to sound off on what sort of park you would prefer. It's up to you: either make your wishes known in force or accept what you're given. Check these pages for the date and time of the last Southpoint Town Meeting.

And finally, in the "what goes around, comes around" portion of this column, you will recall my mentioning to you last January during the brouhaha over the misguided Red Bus routes, that Southtown developer David Kramer had categorically refused to build a path and stairs for Southtowners to reach the West Channel promenade and the subway. Well, guess what? Last week the final concrete was poured for that very pathway and staircase. Why this couldn't have been done prior to last winter's bitter cold and winds is a mystery. I'm sure those tenants of 465 and 475 Main Street who slipped and slid down that icy embankment would like to know the answer as well. I hope they understand that having building committees and having RIRA as their advocate just might get answers and results a tad quicker. As Aesop said, "Union gives strength."