To the Editor:

I write as a member of the disabled community of Roosevelt Island, who can only use the Tram if the lift is working on the Manhattan side. It is an outrage and shame to our disabled community not to be able to have access to our beloved Tram.

I cannot understand why the lift on the Manhattan side is not completed. I was first told, "by the end of December." It is now three months past the December date and the lift is still not completed, nor has it been inspected, which I was told in February should be in about two weeks. I have spoken to RIOC and they can only say "soon" or, if I look on their website, I see it is "another month." I trust with the changes made in the leadership of RIOC that a two-week job will no longer take four months plus.

The writer of the banner headline in the March 24 WIRE may have miswritten with "Spitzer Names Stephen Shane RIOC President." I am sure that what was intended was some variation of ‘Spitzer Nominates Stephen Shane for the Position of RIOC President.’

Chapter 899 of the Laws of 1984, item 7 in Paragraph 4 of Section 3 says the Corporation shall appoint officers of the Corporation.

I would imagine that the Board of Directors of the Corporation will respond favorably to the nomination by the Governor. As far as I know, there has been no meeting of the Board to take action on the appointment of the President.

Editor’s note: The writer is correct. By law, only the RIOC Board can hire/fire the RIOC President. The WIRE editorialized February 24 suggesting the Board get on with the process. But, for good or ill, the RIOC Board has always accepted the Governor’s choice.

To the Editor:

Your newspaper of March 10 with the letter from Ronald Gift Mullins did the community a real service by describing the experience of being towed by Tony’s Towing. As a former Roosevelt Island resident, I, too, experienced the unpleasant and expensive situation when my car was towed to Salamis Service. My suggestion: Have your car towed to your own mechanic.

Due to an error in transmission, my commentary on the City-wide developments that may affect Roosevelt Island’s housing plans (The WIRE, March 24) should have concluded as follows:

"This real estate environment and media climate complicates negotiations by residents and owners of the Island’s WIRE buildings. To leave the Mitchell-Lama system without a long-term ground lease and tax concessions makes no economic sense. But to obtain these benefits without continued governmental regulation will require both creative proposals and skilled negotiators. Ultimately, the task is to persuade the key politicians and their bureacracies that deregulation leading to a free market will be on terms that will not destabilize the existing population. And, they must convince the powers that be that such a transition to a free market will ultimately be better for the Island and all of its residents."

Robert Chira