I want to congratulate all of the candidates who ran for office last Tuesday. All of them, from the candidates for President of the United States to New York State Assembly to president of the Roosevelt Island Residents Association, have a dedication to public service that should be recognized by all of us. They all deserve our thanks and our respect. And now it is time for those who won to prepare to govern.

I would also like to take this opportunity to congratulate Steve Marcus on becoming the newly elected president of RIRA. I am sure that we will be working together on various issues in the coming years. There is already a history of Steve bringing information and requests to my attention. It is because of him that we now have the hotline for transportation issues and Island events (212-308-6608). That suggestion made good sense and was easily implemented.

Fall is a time for other changes on the Island as well. I want to welcome Blackwell Management to Roosevelt Island. They are the new management company for Westview and Island House. The phone number for their office is 212-755-3012 and it is located in the space formerly occupied by the Roosevelt Island Day Nursery in Island House.

I heard that the Halloween parade was once again a resounding success. The pictures of the event are amazing. It looks like wall-to-wall costumes and fun on Main Street. This is definitely one of the best places to be for Halloween. I want to thank Doryne Isley for all of her work on this event. She really is able to reach all ages between those who participate and those who spectate. I also want to thank all of the merchants who let children trick-or-treat in their establishments. I also want to thank all of the people who took time out of their busy Halloween fun to attend the naming of the Grandpa Al Lewis Playground. I just wish that more children were able to visit our offices to trick or treat this year. Also, let us thank our elected officials who shared the day with us.

In keeping with the tradition of wonderful holiday traditions on Roosevelt Island, we are going to hold the second annual holiday tree lighting. More details will follow as they become available, but we invite everybody to join us at this fun event. There will be refreshments and entertainment. Last year, the tree in front of Blackwell House served as the Island tree. The event will take place there and please watch this column and the kiosks for more information.

As winter approaches we also are continuing to make street repairs. As many of you may have noticed, repair work was done by the curb at the bottom of the ramp. We will continue to try to work with DEP's schedule to make sure that everything gets done. I wish that we could give you the exact time and date of each repair beforehand, but again, we are tied to DEP's availability and schedule. We will continue to update you on the progress.

Finally, I want to take this opportunity to pause and honor our veterans. I ask everyone to reflect for just a minute this Veterans Day on the sacrifices that our servicemen and women have made over the generations and continue to make today.