This is a great day for Democracy in America and New York.  Earlier this week RIOC said that Tram service was to be suspended indefinitely.  We all fought back as a united community against an inept and incompetent regime, and in the face of overwhelming resident and political pressure, Roosevelt Island's state appointed Jerry Blue was forced to reverse position Saturday and reopen the Tram.

Jerry Blue is only here because of his longtime connections to D'Amato.  His complete failure to respond to the crisis caused by the Tram accident – the kids, seniors, and disabled who became virtual prisoners on the Island – is just the latest in a 20 month tenure where the hallmark has been a callous and total disregard for our welfare.  He is running our Island into the ground.

Blue has already inflicted tremendous damage.  We cannot rest until he and his administration are gone, and accountable and effective government is restored to Roosevelt Island.

We are taxpayers and voters – we want and deserve responsive, accountable, well-managed government, and we cannot rest easy until the Governor removes Blue and appoints someone who deserves our confidence and commands our respect, and who has the professional skill to run our community.

We cannot afford to rest on our well-earned laurels just because we won this round.  The urgent imperative is to gain a permanent and officially-recognized strong resident voice in our own affairs.  Just because we are a small community, we do not have to continue to sacrifice our right to democracy in order to live here.

At the very least, the RIOC Board of Directors should have as many members elected by the community as it has State-appointed seats.  In any other community in New York, we would have elected officials whom we could hold responsible for their performance.  We should have them here as well.

The State of New York is still intimately involved in our affairs because they have failed to provide the infrastructure to grow our community to the size they define as making us self-sufficient.  Their failure does not give them the right either to abandon us or to penalize us by withholding from us the same voice in our affairs that we would enjoy in any other community.

We have proven we can capture the public's attention.  This is an election year for Governor Pataki.  If we do not continue to press loudly and adamantly for our rights, then we will get just what he thinks we deserve.

We've seen what he thinks we deserve in Jerry Blue.

We must continue to fight with the same energy and commitment that got us our Tram back until we have regained the same rights as any other citizens of New York.