Question: Are you satisfied with the current level of maintenance of the Island provided by RIOC?

No! The current level of maintenance of the physical plant on Roosevelt Island ranges from poor to awful.

There is no ready two-way communication between the citizens of the Island and RIOC to inform/remind them of maintenance problems. The management of RIOC does not live on the Island.

Main Street north of the bridge ramp has become a rutted country lane over a five-year period. The bridge ramp has been repaired in the same temporary way for each of the last four years. The announced repairs to the Blackwell House have been announced for five years. The infestation of Japanese knotweed that began three years ago with the replanting north of the F Train ventilation building has been steadily moving north without any attention. The area west of the Water Tunnel fence has never been smoothed out and planted properly. The escalators at Motorgate stopped running in March. The night lights along public walks and streets remain out for months at a time. Traffic signs fade and fall without replacement. Dead trees remain in the triangle north of Meditation Steps since last Spring. The equipment in the playgrounds deteriorate without the day-to-day upkeep necessary. Trash barrels disappear and are not replaced along the Promenade. Tripping hazards in the Church Plaza were marked for correction a year ago and remain uncorrected. The original esthetic design of the Island has been compromised over and over again.

Why? RIOC has offered a variety of reasons for these failures. These reasons all point toward inadequate management in the use of available resources, toward an avoidance of responsibility. Some slapdash work is done in the name of expediency or through lack of caring, or simple incompetence.

In the last analysis, RIOC is unable to manage its finances, can't plan for the mandated operation of the Island, and is incapable of doing the work necessary to carry on the idea that created what was, and could be again, a showcase community in the Capital of the World.

David Bauer