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 February 9, 1998 |
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Letters To the Editor: Hurrah, the Tram is back! But nothing has actually changed. Jerome Blue is still heading RIOC, and we are facing the same problems that confronted us prior to the Tram-crane accident. Well, almost. Without the illusion of the Tram linking us to Manhattan, it is now obvious, even to those who had been completely oblivious to Blue's policies, that Roosevelt Island is a political no-man's land whose residents have no rights. Blue is merely a symptom of the real problem. Sooner or later, Blue will be forced to resign. But he can be followed by another Blue, then another, ad infinitum. The real problem is the legislation that created the Urban Development Corporation and its "public benefit corporation" subsidiary, the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation. Note this excerpt: The corporation's powers shall be limited to carrying out the development, management and operation of Roosevelt Island... to do and perform all other acts necessary to carry out the foregoing... Translation: RIOC is empowered to do anything it deems necessary to carry out the mandate to develop, manage and operate Roosevelt Island. The only limitation is the mandate to develop, manage, etc. This could be Blue's interpretation. It would explain why Blue and RIOC, since their appointment a year and a half ago:
RIOC, and Blue as its CEO, are accountable to the governor that appointed them and to implement his policies. Not to the residents of Roosevelt Island or to their elected representatives. Because Blue's predecessors were generally responsive to community leaders and Islanders' concerns, their extremely broad powers went unnoticed. As long as the legislation remains unaltered, Roosevelt Island will continue to be subject to arbitrary policies implemented by political appointees who will not hesitate to use despotic methods. Recent history has made this perfectly clear. The time has come to amend the legislation. The decisions made by RIOC and its president affect each resident and every aspect of daily life on the Island. We are entitled to a RIOC that is elected by its constituents. A RIOC that can appoint a professional city manager to operate, manage and develop Roosevelt Island. A RIOC that will finally achieve the original goal of the legislation: ...to create on Roosevelt Island a new community which would retain and heighten the benefits of urban living while preserving a sense of scale and open space for Roosevelt Island residents and New York City as a whole... Fran Dym
To the Editor: RIOC, despite its huge payroll, was unable to follow my February 6 suggestion that they put a notice on the outside of the Public Safety Office with the information (I didn't say this) that they failed to include in the long blue sheet (to remind us we're still stuck with Blue) called Tram Update. The sheet was so full of whining (and three examples of Blue's sexism, substituting "manned" for "staffed") that there was only misinformation about the Senior/Handicapped buses: "with return every half hour." Buses twice as often as the hourly buses in the past? What luck! But there was no information as to when the buses would depart from the Island, and I'm not psychic &$0150; nor did I want to sit around for 29 minutes waiting for these half-hourly buses... So I called. But it was after hours. The machine informed me that the Island has 147 acres and I could leave a message if I pressed zero. I did; after a long pause, I was cut off. I repeated the call; same result. (Even the message machine is not interested in hearing from us.) I called the next morning. There are no half-hourly buses. (RIOC didn't know how to say the buses left 59th Street on the half-hour.) Nor did they bother to say that buses leave the Island on the hour %#0150; nor, get this %#0150; they no longer exert themselves to stop at Gristede's for the Seniors and Handicapped on River Road. Too much of a strain on the bus driver! RIOC never fails to remind us that once Roosevelt Island was Eden &$0150; but not any more... The notice did tell us that weekdays, between 4 and 8 p.m. there would be no buses. On the 6th, I checked the Public Safety Office &$0150; no bulletin. On two concrete pillars at the bus stop there was a sign that a yellow bus would stop in front of the Public Safety Office at 552 Main Street. But – can you believe it? – no mention of when. Why a yellow bus, I wonder? But at 2:00 I found out. It has only three seats, that can accommodate six. And maybe Blue could throw some of our money away on this strange bus – our own minibus would not only seat any number, but it would be free. Each of us had to give name, address and signature. On the 4:30 return bus, there were seven of us. The driver would not allow standing. So a woman sat on a tire container! Blue's PhD must be in Originality. Who else would have thought of paying for a six-seater rather than using a free full-sized bus? Must hand it to him... Frances Salten
Friends and Neighbors: In 21 years, there was never such an outpouring of residents as in the Town Meeting last Wednesday, and on a dreary night with standing room only, and others stopped at the door. So Bravo to you, dear neighbors! Your response in the hall was so persuasive that its reverberation forced Dr. Blue to get the Tram running again, notwithstanding his statement in The New York Times that the Tram would be out "indefinitely" – "The Tram is going to be closed a long time, indefinitely," they said. This statement was picked up by almost all TV stations, press and radio, and ran for days. Such negative statements, without any foundation, upset the whole community. When the President of RIOC can make such unbelievable statements, he loses all credibility! Even as late as this past Friday afternoon, Dr. Blue's spokesperson, Mr. Greason, was still questioning whether he might be able to open on Monday because he was still expecting an "okay" from another agency... Presto... it opened on Saturday! Suddenly a magical transformation! I would also like to point out that since day one, Dr. Blue has never recognized the Roosevelt Island Residents Association as the Island-wide duly-elected entity. He regards RIRA as only one of the so-called "60 organizations." Thirty-one representatives from almost all of the buildings have been duly elected to represent the community and to him we are non-existent! In that regard, we are on the march and already engaged in strong dialogue with many political authorities. I would like to address some issues raised by Dr. Blue in his letter distributed at the Town Meeting: 1. Regarding his inability to restore the Console Operators, his letter claimed that the plan originated with the previous RIOC administration. But the truth of the matter is that two weeks before the previous RIOC administration was taking leave, I asked the then President of RIOC, Jean Lerman, what the status of the Console Operators was. She said it had been decided to leave that decision for "the Republicans." I begged Dr. Blue not to implement the plan, that it was against the overwhelming will of the community to eliminate the Console Operators and that it would be an accident waiting to happen. In fact, there was no saving under the plan outlined according to an auditor we hired. I pleaded with him to suspend his decision for 30 days so that he could study the matter and consult with official representatives of the community. He refused. Our auditor was right. Dr. Blue subsequently stated that the savings turned out to be "Zero!" 2. Dr. Blue wrote about a decision rendered by the Industrial Board of Appeals in 1993 granting the right to remove the Console Operators. I originally informed Dr. Blue that the decision was completely "flawed," that the filing for a variance was kept secret from the community by the RIOC board and staff for over two years. RIRA had no possibility to render the residents' point of view at the hearings. The original decision was rendered by a state official who never visited the Tram. The appeals hearing in Albany was also kept secret from the community so we had no chance to testify. The arbitrator told me that he would have been glad to hear us if we had been there. We were never notified. The decision was completely flawed. 3. Dr. Blue maintains that at the time of the crane-Tram accident, the console was attended by the Lead Supervisor who indeed had technical expertise. But he was in the control room attending to other duties and was not required to act as, nor was he acting as, a Console Operator. Big difference! A highly authoritative source has confirmed that there was no Console Operator in the booth. I will conclude by repeating what I said at the Town Meeting on this subject: Dr. Blue or not, we are on a trajectory that is unstoppable: the force of the Roosevelt Island community that will indeed bring back the safety net of the Roosevelt Island Tram: The Console Operators! Dear Neighbors, it was most uplifting to see your response. We are already engaged in a number of important political activities. Upward and Onward! We'll keep you posted! Al Weinstein, Chair
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