To the Editor, Staten Island Advance:

I’m a resident of Roosevelt Island and was especially offended by the careless article published in your paper on April 21. Below is my response.

The article, written with all the conviction of the uninformed, was astoundingly inaccurate and just plain mean-spirited.

You say the Roosevelt Island Tram is not like the Staten Island Ferry. That’s one of the few correct statements in your article. A 2002 financial analysis showed that in addition to the one-time costs of $120 million for ferries and $191 million spent on terminals, the Staten Island Ferry costs taxpayers $48 million per year.

The Roosevelt Island Tram costs the taxpayers $0, nada, nothing. We pay fares on the Tram to cover the cost of our commute, just like every other New Yorker, except your crowd on Staten Island who ride the ferry for free! We have a small ($300,000) deficit which we make up with our own funds generated right here on the Island. We receive no subsidies from the City, State or Federal government, unlike every other form of public transportation.

Without comparing past safety records, suffice to say, people in glass houses...

Roosevelt Island’s population has increased dramatically over the last few years and the population will almost double in the next 5-10 years. Our already overcrowded F train simply cannot handle that volume. Residents depend on the tram to get back and forth to work every day. Even if the subway could accommodate the numbers, we’re an Island and we need a redundant transportation system. But most important of all, Roosevelt Island has a large senior and disabled population. The tram has become their one safe and relatively easy access to Manhattan. We simply cannot deprive them of this access.

I agree with one point in your article – we need to eliminate the State agency that runs the Island. That’s where the redundancies are. The Island residents have been trying, for years, to do just that. We need a local layer of government to run this Island, not people in patronage jobs managing at arm’s length from Albany in their spare time. If you want to cut costs, that’s the place to start looking. Meanwhile, leave the Tram alone.

Margie Smith, Vice President
Roosevelt Island Residents Association

 

To the Editor, Staten Island Advance:

I am responding to your paper’s April 21 editorial.

Let me ask you, are you a resident of Roosevelt Island? If you were, you probably wouldn’t have written such a moronic piece. I have been a resident of Roosevelt Island for 27 years this June. I grew up here. I took the Tram to Manhattan for years to go to school and then to work before there was ever a subway stop here. The Tram has actually been amazingly reliable – much more so than the subway ever was. It has functioned with more regularity (every 15 minutes, like clockwork) than the subways and/or buses ever have, particularly serving this Island. It also ran during both transit strikes.

Obviously, you don’t live here, so let me explain something to you. The subway (F Train) is unbearably crowded during rush hours, particularly in the morning headed toward Manhattan. Many people have to wait for more than one train to go by because they can’t get on in the mornings. The MTA also schedules many service interruptions to the F line, which further curtails service to Roosevelt Island. Many weekends there has been no service. The Tram provides welcome relief from these situations.

It’s also a relied-upon source of transportation for many elderly and handicapped people who may find the stairs (12 stories below ground) daunting when the Subway escalators are broken at the Island station – an all-too-often occurrence.

The problem that occurred last week falls squarely on Roosevelt Island’s patronage appointee from Governor Pataki, President Herb Berman of the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation, who lives in Brooklyn. He wasn’t voted into office by anyone, doesn’t live here, and knows about as much as you do when it comes to Roosevelt Island and the Tram. It is his responsibility – which was last tested about a year ago when the Tram last lost power – to insure the safety and functionality of Roosevelt Island services, including the Tram, for its over 10,000 (and growing) residents, plus tourists. Unfortunately, he’s about as good at his job as you are at yours. He didn’t take necessary precautions or make foreseeable contingency plans in the case of another power outage at the Tram. If you want a real story, do a little investigative reporting on Roosevelt Island and what State Assemblymember Brodsky called its "non-democratic" political structure.

What if your Governor suddenly declared that Staten Island had to be fiscally "self-sufficient"? That means generate all your revenue and not receive any from New York State. That’s what Pataki did to Roosevelt Island as soon as he took office in the 90’s. You’d probably create a movement to secede from the City again.

What we need here is representation for our taxation, not reduction of basic services, and – while we’re at it – a new governor.

Next time I suggest you do a little homework before you stick your foot in your mouth.

Damon LaScot

 

To the Editor, Staten Island Advance:

Your editorialist should check the facts! The Tram does not operate on tax dollars. Although Roosevelt Islanders are taxpaying citizens, and transportation throughout the U.S. is supported by tax dollars, Governor Pataki cut Roosevelt Island from the State budget over eight years ago.

Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation (RIOC) Directors are appointed by Governor Pataki, not elected. They autonomously administer, with zero accountability to the community from which all their revenues are derived. Anywhere else, this practice would constitute "taxation without representation" and be deemed unconstitutional.

RIOC has failed to attract or retain needed services for the community such as those that abound in Staten Island. We are captive to mainland Manhattan for items as common as a slice of pizza or an ice cream cone.

Approximately 75% of our young children attend school in Manhattan. Due to the impossibility of routing their school bus trips through Queens (our only vehicular access to Manhattan) during rush hour, school buses pick up children at the Manhattan side of the Tram, not on Roosevelt Island.

The Tram connects passengers to mainland Manhattan in 3.5 minutes and runs regularly, while the F train requires a ten-story underground descent and riders consistently encounter overcrowded trains with no room for boarding. Imagine the problem for a person seeking medical attention, particularly since neither of the two Island hospitals provide emergency service. Roosevelt Island was designed to house considerable elderly and disabled, who are unable to navigate by train.

The Tram fiasco has brought to the world’s attention basic facts that Roosevelt Islanders have been jumping up and down about for years! RIOC’s sole mission has been patronage, and to pass sweetheart construction deals to developers. RIOC has little or no regard for the welfare of the community.

It is folly to think RIOC will disband as a result of eliminating the Tramway, whose maintenance is simply and obviously a thorn in RIOC’s side. Living on Roosevelt Island without a Tram will, however, become impractical for 10,000 (and rapidly increasing) Island residents.

Joyce Mincheff

 

To the Editor, Staten Island Advance:

How right you are when you say, The Roosevelt Island Tramway is managed by the Roosevelt Island Operating Authority, yet another of those 583 State-authorized authorities that grow like sores on the body politic in the Empire State.

Indeed we are a ‘sore’ – badly mismanaged, under-funded, understaffed, and exploited, and used as a political payoff by our esteemed Governor. However, this does not give you the right to demand that our Tram – Our lifeline to the mainland – be abolished.

Have you lived on this multifaceted Island, this dream of our esteemed past Governor Rockefeller and Mayor Lindsey, that works? The Roosevelt Island Tram is more than a sightseeing trip; it is a very workable, convenient means of transportation for disabled, seniors, wheelchair users, walkers, baby carriages, schoolchildren, hospital personnel, besides being an Icon of NYC much visited by tourists and study groups from all over the world that come to visit and learn how we work so well – with mixed usage, mixed cultures, mixed incomes .

The F train has not been here that long. It is also 300 feet below ground. It also does not run very well (extremely overcrowded). It has had more shutdowns of the escalators and elevators in its short history than the Tram ever had in its long history.

Before you criticize further, I invite you to visit and see personally how our little Island works – how our Tram is a viable part of our well-being. I would be pleased to show you around.

Naomi Gale Silverman

 

To the Editors:

If you had done any research at all, you would have found these facts about Roosevelt Island helpful before forming your opinion.

Staten Island is a self-contained community. One never has to leave for food, entertainment or any vital services. Roosevelt Island is a community of apartment buildings. We have a supermarket, diner, and a couple of other basics like a dry cleaner. We must go to Manhattan for shopping, doctors, restaurants, entertainment – basically everything. Many of the children on Roosevelt Island go to school in Manhattan.

We have a very large senior and handicapped population (we also have two rehabilitation hospitals on the Island). Our subway is ten stories below ground. The elevators and escalators in our subway station are very often out of service. I can’t tell you how often I have had to walk up all those stairs after a long day and carrying heavy packages. Can you imagine what that would be like for an elderly person or someone in a wheelchair? I can, I see it happen all the time.

The MTA has been doing track and tunnel work for years. We regularly have no service to (or from) Manhattan on weekends.

If a senior, young teen, or handicapped person is out late in the evening, it is inadvisable for safety reasons to travel back to Roosevelt Island by subway. The only safe way is by Tram. Taxi fares are not an option for most people in our mixed-income community.

Most of the public and private school buses drop children at the Tram because they will not come to Roosevelt Island. In all other communities, children get door-to-door service. I would never have let my young children travel home by subway alone. The Tram was a safe, reliable, and friendly alternative once my children were about ten years old.

By the way, the F train is one of the most crowded in the system. At peak rush hour in the morning, it is not unusual for all the passengers at the Roosevelt Island station to wait for 2 or 3 trains before they can squeeze onto a train. The bus is for those traveling to Queens. It takes two buses to get to Manhattan – about an hour. The Tram takes five minutes.

Did you know that Roosevelt Island has new buildings opening that will greatly increase our population?

All of New York’s transportation is subsidized and run on deficits. Why can’t we?

The Tram has never had an emergency evacuation, in all its 30 years, until now. No one was hurt. Can you say the same for the subway, buses, commuter trains, or the ferry? I think not.

The Tram needs to be repaired and updated and better managed, something residents have been fighting for for a long time.

I hope you will consider writing another editorial with more accurate information.

Considering we both live on an Island, I am surprised by your comments.

Marianne Russem

 

To the Editor, Staten Island Advance:

I lived on Staten Island for years, and traveled back and forth on the Ferry and also over the Veranzano. Now I live on Roosevelt Island without a car. The F Train is often diverted from Roosevelt Island and commuters have to go backwards to Queens to get a connection to Manhattan. We have a large population of wheelchair bound residents on the Island for whom that route is impossible. The Tram provides a more direct and accessible alternative and is essential as a backup when the F is not running or diverted. For drivers, the Veranzano during rush hour is a breeze compared to the Queensboro.

Your energy would be better spent lobbying for a subway to Staten Island. You might save some gas.

Bill Sinclair

 

To the Editor, Staten Island Advance:

I wish to extend to you an invitation to be my guest on Roosevelt Island for a day and to spend it in a wheelchair. We can take the F train, if the elevator is working or hop on the Q102 bus if the handicap ramp is working and you don’t mind spending over a hour and a half to get to Manhattan. Or we can wheel over our Roosevelt Island Bridge through Queens to the Queensboro bridge and wheel over it for our Manhattan trip. If this is your choice, may I suggest you bring along enough drinking water in case of dehydration, because we will be on a 5-7 hour journey, depending where in Manhattan we want to go. If it’s the doctor, I’m sure they will understand your lateness and see you immediately. You will only have enough time for a brief visit because you also want to do a little shopping and get home for supper by 6:00 p.m. Yes, without the Tram and the time it saves us, we people with disabilities will have limited time to do any of the little things like window-shop or maybe stop for a refreshment before we head back home. Now if we took the Tram, we would have at least 2-3 extra hours to do all the things we wanted to do on our journey to Manhattan.

And I would like to invite my friend Jim Whalen to join us.

Jim Bates