To the Editor:

My wife and I moved into our apartment in Manhattan Park over 15 years ago. One or both garage elevators at the North end would be out of service occasionally but would be repaired in a few days. Now both elevators have been out of service for over a year. In his RIOC column in The WIRE, Mr. Berman would indicate what progress was being made to have them repaired and put back into service. "The contract is out for bids." "The bids were too high." "The contract is being re-bid."

In the last few months, there has been no mention of what progress, if any, is being made. My wife and I are both in our eighties, and we are finding it more and more of a hardship to negotiate the stairs, especially when we return from a shopping trip with a full cart of groceries. Using the South elevators is not an option. It is not convenient. There has been no adjustment in the parking fee because of the lack of elevator service.

We are very upset and would like some assurance that the elevators will be repaired and back in service in the very near future.

Eli Jack Held

 

To RIOC President Herb Berman:

Thank you for your survey of Roosevelt Island residents in regard to the Main Street retail area.

It is good that you are considering the poor state of the retail on the Island but I expect that you would get much better analysis and suggestions if your task force also consulted a professional urban retail consultant and/or urban designer. I am attaching an announcement of a seminar on urban retail planning soon to be held at Harvard that features current concepts that would probably be relevant to Roosevelt Island.

One of the primary reasons that Main Street merchants have problems is that there is no transient parking available. The entire street is continuously filled with dead "entitlement" parking and it is impossible to stop to pick up something from a shop, deliver something to a shop or, for that matter, impossible for residents to pick up and drop off without double parking. All of the "entitlement" parking should be eliminated and relocated so that Main Street has transient parking available like most streets in New York residential neighborhoods. Transient parking will contribute to the vitality of the street and retail.

Survey items:

1. I hope the mention of "major retail" does not suggest an Ikea or WalMart, and I wonder where "major retail" might possibly be located. We need to develop and strengthen our neighborhood retail so that Main Street is more vibrant, like most streets in New York residential neighborhoods.

2. "Beautification" or "sprucing up" is not an adequate concept for dealing with the problems of retail on the Island. Structural solutions will be needed to vitalize the area. Transient parking would be an example. Retail signs and graphics with more visibility, particularly at the arcade areas, would be another. Design and operating standards for the stores would be another.

3. There are many problems with the existing retail, including:

. A total lack of ventilation, resulting in a stale smell in many stores

. A lack of visibility into stores because the merchant has covered the windows with merchandise

. Worn and shabby entrances and interior finishes

. Poor quality of merchandise

4. If the general retail environment were upgraded as a result of a professionally directed program, the current retail operators would probably tend to respond with improvements in their operations and services.

5. Tourists often visit Roosevelt Island and find nowhere to go, really. I am not sure what kind of attraction would encourage tourism.

6. There should be something here with a river view serving food.

7. There should be a coffee shop with wireless internet service.

Robert Gray AIA

 

To the Editor:

After what happened in Davos, Switzerland very recently, where the wealthiest men and women of the world discussed our world's economies and many other crucial topics that deal with humankind, I believe that these same people could be contacted to help build Louis I. Kahn's vision of an FDR Memorial for Southpoint, as well as the Wild Gardens and the rehabilitation of the magnificent ruins.

Most of the topics that they discussed had to do with providing much more to the billions of people of the world who live in extreme need of everything that the developed countries take for granted. All that these most worldly, successful, and wealthy people seem to want is exactly what Roosevelt called for in the Four Freedoms speech, and what Kahn honored in the best manner possible. A splendid future can only await those who commit money for a museum or conference center as possibilities for the rehabilitated ruins, for the creation of the Wild Gardens, and finally, for the construction of the incredibly serene and powerful memorial park Louis Kahn designed.

This is the right time, this is the right location, this is the right message to be seen by the world over. The United Nations and the whole City could only add to it and benefit from it for more than decades to come.

Like Ellis Island, the Statue of Liberty, and soon the Freedom Tower at Ground Zero, Kahn's memorial, the rehabilitated ruins, and the Wild Gardens (like the ones I saw in Santa Barbara, California) could only enhance what New York symbolizes for the world, especially since September 11.

I know that, during the harshest times of American history, very magnificent memorials, parks, and edifices were erected to keep visitors from all corners of the world aware of what America stands for, and will always stand for, be it in Philadelphia, Washington, Boston, New York, or the Rocky Mountains.

Laurence Marie Lacoste-Brodsky