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 December 4, 2004 |
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The RIOC Column
President, Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation  A great deal has happened on Roosevelt Island over the past year. I want to spend a bit of time in this column going over some of the things that were accomplished this year, and in my next column I will look forward to the things that we hope will take place in 2005. I am so happy to welcome all of the newest members of the Roosevelt Island community who came to the Island in 2004. The opening of Southtown 1 and 2 added several hundred new residential neighbors to the Island. We also have several new members of the Public Safety family, as well as a new bus driver. Finally, the Child School completed construction and is now at full capacity. That brings both students and teachers into the Roosevelt Island community. RIOC was also able to engage a different elevator contract for the Tram elevator. Since that time we have had very few outages. That elevator was a great frustration for me until we were finally able to get it operational. It is my great hope that it remains fully functional and I will make every effort to see that it does. The elevators at Motorgate remain a frustration for me. They will appear both in this recap of 2004 and in the plans for 2005. In 2004 we were able to issue an RFP for an elevator company to repair and maintain them. It is my great hope that for 2005 that company will be working to improve the conditions at Motorgate. The road repair by Gristede's has started and will, in all likelihood, be complete by the end of the year. While this work will greatly improve the road conditions at that end of the Island, I know that the road on Main Street is also something that will require additional work in 2005. On the development side, construction started on Southtown building 3 and clearing started by the Octagon. Both projects will not only bring additional neighbors to the Island but will also bring open space. Octagon will bring an expanded park and Southtown will start the construction of the commons between the buildings. We were also able to facilitate several meetings between the community and different groups. An open community meeting was held with both the City and State offices of Emergency Management. Since that time we have also facilitated meetings between OEM and the president of RIRA. Those meetings will continue through the next year. We were also able to facilitate meetings between the community and the Trust for Public Land (TPL) regarding the plans for Southpoint. The next meeting will be on December 9. As the plans progress, TPL will continue to make information available to the community. RIOC also now has an information hotline in addition to the e-mail blasts that we send. To register for the e-mail blasts all you have to do is visit our website at www.rioc.com. For the information hotline, please call 212-308-6608. The Island landmarks have also remained a priority. Over the past year we saw the rose window reinstalled at Good Shepherd, the photogrammetry completed of the Renwick Ruin, and the architectural drawings for Blackwell House started. There were also some changes at RIOC. Our longtime warehouse manager, Harold Weinman, retired. Several members of the Public Safety staff left and others joined the staff. We have a new bus driver. Deborah Beck joined the RIOC board. I welcome them again to the RIOC family. Finally, I want to once again invite everybody to the holiday lighting on December 9. There will be entertainment, refreshments, and Santa Claus. I look forward to seeing everybody there. I am excited to see how much was collected for the annual gift drive for Coler and Goldwater and I am sure that Santa will be pleased with the efforts!
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