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 December 18, 2004 |
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RIOC Board Gets Two New Resident Members; The State Senate confirmed two Islanders to the RIOC Board of Directors last week. For the first time, residents hold a majority of the Board seats. The appointments by Governor George Pataki fulfill the requirements of the 2002 law that provided for majority control of the Board by residents he appoints. The two residents are Alberteen Anderson, 57, who lives in Westview, and Michael Shinozaki, 39, whose apartment is at 40 River Road. Shinozaki's name was put forward by Mayor Michael Bloomberg with sponsorship from outgoing State Senator Olga Mendez; Anderson was invited to become a candidate for a Board seat by RIOC President Herbert E. Berman. Anderson 
Alberteen Anderson works for the MTA, negotiating contracts with film companies for New York City Transit. The position is in the Division of Government Relations, and she's held it since 1992. Her job involves being on the scene during film shoots, often doing on-the-spot negotiations with directors on what they can do and how they can do it. She reviews scripts for safety and security matters. She was reluctant, at first, to talk about herself with The WIRE. “I'd prefer to work behind the scenes,“ she said. “I just want to come in and do some good for the Island.” Anderson said she was also reluctant to take on the Board post when Berman first discussed it with her early this year. “I wasn't sure that I wanted to do it. I had to ask myself, 'Can I do my work and do this at the same time?' I thought about it for several months and decided, yes, I can do both.“ She said she will recuse herself from voting on matters involving relationships between her employer and RIOC. “And [in my Board capacity] I think I can refrain from expressing my views on MTA matters,” she added. Anderson is from Minneapolis. She's enormously proud of her son, and takes pride in having worked two full-time jobs to put him through college. He holds a masters degree from NYU, and a Juris Doctor from Vermont Law School. He practices criminal law in California. She has lived on Roosevelt Island for a little over ten years, all in Westview. Anderson attended the University of Minnesota from 1968 to 1970, and in 1982 received a Certificate in Real Estate from the New School for Social Research. She met Herb Berman, Anderson told The WIRE, while running phone banks for the mayoral campaign of Ed Koch, an activity related to her employment at that time with Local 372, the union representing Board of Education employees. Anderson replaces Leo Kayser on the RIOC Board. Kayser's last meeting was November 18. Shinozaki 
Michael Shinozaki, who was profiled in The WIRE when Mayor Michael Bloomberg nominated him in April (nyc10044.com/wire/2415/wire2415.html), is a 13-year resident of the Island and works for Microsoft as a consultant in software architecture. He earned two bachelor's degrees from Hunter College - one in history with a minor in international relations, and one in economics, with a minor in math. At one time, Shinozaki studied physics at the University of Florida, majoring in aerospace engineering. Earlier this week, he said, “Studying physics, I quickly realized there are a lot of great things that could be built, but aren't, simply because somebody somewhere might get hurt, or because the money isn't there. So I switched to economics.” He is married, with three children. On the RIOC Board, Shinozaki will hold a seat once occupied by Susan A. Whitaker, a former Rivercross resident who resigned from the Board over two years ago. The Board There are now six residents on the RIOC Board:
Both Stewart's and Kraut's terms have expired, but RIOC Board members serve until replaced. Non-resident members of the Board include Mary Beth Labate of the State Division of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR), who chairs the meetings in place of DHCR Commissioner Judith Calogero; Nancy Reuss, representing the State budget operation. They serve by virtue of their State posts. John Mannix is an appointed member of the Board. Background The resident majority on the RIOC Board is the product of a effort that started over seven years ago in July, 1997, when Rivercross resident David J. Bauer formed the Maple Tree Group (MTG) with the mission of finding some way to deal with the shortcomings of Roosevelt Island governance and day-to-day management. After concluding that the problems were systemic, the group enlisted Assemblymember Pete Grannis and, later, Senator Olga Mendez, in putting forward legislation to transform the RIOC Board from a Governor-appointed body to a local governance unit elected by Island residents. Bauer discusses the history briefly in a letter in this week's WIRE. Ultimately, in a January 11, 2002, meeting arranged by Mendez, the Governor seemed to agree that a change to an elected Board would be appropriate, but the law that emerged eight months later provided for the residents to be appointed, not elected. That was enacted in September, 2002, as the “Roosevelt Island Open Spaces Law,” which also placed certain Island spaces off limits to development. (That law is the basis of the planned Residents Association suit to oppose construction of apartments at Octagon Park, reported in the last issue of The WIRE. The WIRE asked the developers, DHCR, and RIOC for comment on the pending suit, but none was provided by deadline for this week's issue. Once litigation is likely, RIOC and developers usually leave comment to their attorneys; even that is generally confined to court.) Although the law became effective in September, 2002 (nyc10044.com/wire/2302/lead2302.html), the Governor did not send Shinozaki's and Albertson's names to the State Senate for confirmation proceedings until over two years later. By then, he had appointed Ponton and Beck. The RIOC Board was scheduled to meet Thursday, but the meeting was canceled. In his column in this week's issue, RIRA President Steve Marcus discusses his view of the RIOC Board's performance over the last several years.
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