The RIRA Column

Allow me to introduce myself: I’m Matt Katz and immediate past president of the Roosevelt Island Residents Association. RIRA President Steve Marcus offered me the opportunity to fill in for him this issue and, print junkie that I am, I was glad to comply. During the four years I was responsible for this column I found that, by venting my spleen in ink, I was less likely to misplace my ire on the woman and pussycats with whom I share my life.

First order of business: To neighbors and first-time visitors to the Island, a Happy Independence Day and welcome! The Fourth always seems to mean more when our nation is at war and threatened by enemies, don’t you find? For those of us of a certain age, we’ve had ample opportunity to test this hypothesis. In any event, I hope the fireworks on the Glorious Fourth are the best ever.

It’s been 20 months since I left office and I’ve worked assiduously to keep my distance from the Common Council and leave RIRA business to those whom you elected. The temptation to backseat drive was overwhelming at times after four years of heading the group, but I tried hard to stay away. RIRA’s sole power is that its Common Council is the only elected entity to represent this community (as a stand-alone village in the heart of the City) and it takes all of us to make that work by voting and volunteering to run for office in RIRA elections and, in that regard, we’re all of us RIRA. So, what have we been up to lately?

June 10 marked the tenth Roosevelt Island Day and I spent the morning planting flowers and vegetables with the Living Library’s Bonnie Sherk and the children of PS/IS 217 in their schoolyard. Bonnie has been a major factor in the planning for Southpoint Park (site of the fireworks seating), offering her expertise in international and educational programming to make this 13-acre park something extraordinary. I spent that afternoon taking aspirin and kvetching about my aching back.

Did you attend the RIRA Greek wine tasting on June 17? It was a delightful, bibulous evening with excellent Greek wine and delicacies and netted $1,400 for the RIRA treasury. These funds allow RIRA to produce their own events and to support the programs of other Island organizations. Thanks to all for their hard work.

I offer additional kudos to the 26 CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) graduates who completed eleven weeks of training and whose numbers include my wife Sherie and me. Under Team Leader Howard Polivy, we shall forge a cohesive group that will seek additional training to become a significant provider of emergency services should the need arise.

At the last RIOC Board meeting I attended (some habits are hard to break; I’ve attended every one over the last eight years), a resident Board member chastised the RIRA Common Council for not being represented in larger numbers at the meeting. Why, I asked, should working people attend a 4:30 p.m. meeting when their only opportunity to be heard is after the meeting has adjourned and the agenda debated and voted upon? In further defense of the Common Council’s devotion to our Island home, I would add that six Council members took the CERT training; not one of the RIOC resident Board members found the time to volunteer. Make of that what you will.

Let’s follow up on some old business from my administration: The Verdant Power plan to place underwater turbines in the East River estuary began with a single unit in the East Channel. Based on the success of that template, we can expect a "six-pack" of units to be installed starting this September, according to Verdant Power honcho Trey Taylor. Newsday ran an excellent pictorial story on May 30, should you be interested in seeing what the hardware looks like.

I had initiated discussions between RIOC and the NYC Transit Authority back in 2002 that resulted in the inclusion of our Tram in the MetroCard system. It’s ironic that, with the Tram operating at capacity, it should so utterly fail last April. With the Tram grounded until fall (we are told) and projected major renovations scheduled for nine months starting in 2007, the track work on our overtaxed F train has become more than an annoyance and the transportation needs of this growing community are reaching a critical mass. More anon.

When the desperately needed renovation plan for the Roosevelt Island Bridge was announced with a 2012 starting date, I was able to convince the Department of Transportation Commissioner that an earlier start time was essential. The failure of the bridge lift mechanism five times in two days during the summer of 2004 was a powerful argument in our favor. This effort culminated in the April 19 DOT presentation to Island residents of the details of the three-year major overhaul now promised to begin in or about December of this year.

Let’s talk about Southtown. This nine-building development will increase (and one hopes enhance) our population, RIOC revenue, the retail presence here and, in general, the Island’s prosperity. But what of the promises of affordable housing, codified in the General Development Plan? Hudson and Related Companies, with the compliance of RIOC, have included the first two buildings, leased to two East Side hospitals and made available to their employees at reduced rents, as part of the required ratio of affordable apartments. While this may be valid under the letter of the law, it doesn’t increase the stock of affordable housing available to Roosevelt Islanders and other New Yorkers. Wasn’t that the spirit of the GDP when it was written? And when will the remainder of the required affordable units appear and in what guise? I fear another low-income ghettoization such as the Manhattan Park/2-4 River Road solution that isolated low-income and senior tenants from the rest of the 10-40 River Road population.

Octagon Apartments also were to include 20 percent lower-cost housing. The reality is 100 units slightly below fair-market prices and with income requirements that have eliminated many middle-class families from considering those apartments. Our elected officials (especially Mayor Bloomberg, who amended the GDP to allow 500 units of housing to be built on parkland) have truly failed us by not requiring Roosevelt Island to maintain its economic diversity and to live up to the provisions of the GDP.

Further, as the population of the Island approaches and then, exceeds the limits for this Island community to encompass, how will we commute to Manhattan? It was the responsibility of the developers of Southtown and the Octagon Apartments to consider this factor in the Environmental Impact Statements (EIS) required to commence residential construction. David Kramer of the Hudson Companies, Inc., was quoted in the last WIRE, stating, "We really haven’t been involved with the Transit Authority on the issue of the frequency of the F train. As developers, we can only control or try to impact so much of the world." In fact, the developers of both projects each issued an EIS stating that the infusion of new residents would not adversely impact our transportation needs. Anyone ridden the F train during the morning commute lately? Should RIOC be so foolish as to seriously consider a new residential complex at Southpoint Park, the question will remain: Will they have to swim to Manhattan in order to get to work on time?

And finally, the latest iteration of the self-governance bill that would allow us to elect the RIOC Board that runs our lives and that would then hire a seasoned community manager to be the hands-on administrator: We hear it was killed by State Senate Majority Leader, Joe Bruno, who accommodated our patronage-prone Governor by preventing it from reaching the Senate floor for a vote. I thought this version really had legs and I’m sick of upstate Republicans sticking it to New York City in general and Roosevelt Island in particular. Electing a Democratic Senate and Governor should be our highest priority.