The Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation (RIOC) has drawn up a balanced fiscal 1998-99 budget in line with claims of "self-sufficiency" for Roosevelt Island, but its President continues to take heat for his policies, administrative style, and even some of his facts.

In his first public appearance since a Town Meeting demanded his removal, RIOC President Jerome Blue took criticism for "buying friends" with the Island's public purpose funds and for being "too secretive" in RIOC operations.  But Blue put forward a steady-as-you-go budget for fiscal 1998-99 with few major changes from last year.

The February 10 session, billed as a "President's Meeting," was a kind of state of the Island report, announced as an opportunity for discussion of the RIOC budget, conversion of the Library to a branch of the New York Public Library, privatization of Rivercross, and the Counseling in Schools program.

The financial plan was approved two days later at the RIOC Board of Directors meeting, but allocation of public purpose funds for the Counseling in Schools program was tabled.  The Board asked for additional evidence that the counseling program is actively seeking outside funding for its activities; it provides in-school counseling for Island families without health insurance to cover such costs.

Blue announced a conditional agreement with the Rivercross committee working on privatization of the cooperative.  Under the plan, RIOC will extend the Rivercross ground lease to the year 2068 – a change necessary for the building to seek a new mortgage in going private – and RIOC will receive $250,000 a year additional ground rent until 2006, when Rivercross tax payments will be adjusted to the level that would be paid by a building developed without State assistance.

Residents used the noontime meeting as an opportunity to criticize Blue on a variety of counts.  A contentious session, it appeared to be a follow-on to the venting at the evening Town Meeting held a week earlier, attended by almost 500 residents.

Joan Christianson, a member of the Residents Association Common Council, made one of the more impassioned speeches attacking Blue, beginning with a criticism of his failure to provide bus transportation while the Tramway was out of service after the January 27 crane-cabin collision:  "I've been here for 20 years.  [For the first time, during the recent Tram downtime] I saw people in wheelchairs, stuck in the subway.  Parents had to take children into the city [for school]."  Christianson continued, "All you care about is money.  We resent you and your administration.  There's no communication.  You totally disregard us.  Wednesday night at the Town Meeting your absence was so apparent.  You weren't there to explain.  You totally shut down."

Other criticisms included:

• Figures.  A presentaton of Tramway ridership suggested loads as low as 36 riders "per hour" (instead of "per cabin-trip") during the evening rush.  Though Blue acknowledged at the President's Meeting that the "riders per cabin/hour" figures were incorrect, he defended them two days later at the RIOC Board meeting.  It is not known if the wording was corrected in the final submission of the budget plan to the State.
• The time of the meeting.  Christianson pointed out that most working residents are prevented from participating when meetings are held in daytime hours on a weekday.  Rivercross resident Raye Schwartz told Blue, "A car is provided for you by the State.  It behooves you to be here when necessary [for evening meetings]."
• Secrecy.  "RIOC is far too secretive," said RIOC Board member David Kraut, an Island resident, adding, "This administration shoots itself in the foot."
• Blue's request for Island Public Purpose Funds for bus service during the Tram's post-accident downtime was criticized.  The funds are earmarked for seeding social service projects for residents, but Blue faxed RIOC Board members asking to use the funds for bus service.  The bus service was finally funded from other sources, but started a week after the accident rather than immediately, and consisted of only a six-passenger van.
• Lack of a breakdown on the RIOC payroll of $4,079,388.  Blue promised a breakdown for the next day.  However, when Christianson visited the RIOC office to pick up the information, she was asked to complete a form to request the data under the Freedom of Information Law.  Such requests are typically processed over a period of weeks.
• An increase in Motorgate parking rates, already levied by RIOC and its co-owners of the garage, despite budget figures showing fees will produce revenues $738,000 higher than expenses for the facility.

In a dialog over the delay of provision for New York Public Library takeover of the Island's Library, currently volunteer-operated, David Bauer of the Library Board – who also heads the Maple Tree Group, which has produced proposed legislation to do away with RIOC in its present form – asked, "Why is this [library transition] taking so long?"  That led to a heated conversation in which RIOC Board member Kraut indicated he was in charge of the matter for RIOC, but had heard nothing from the Library Board.  Someone in the audience shouted, "You should ask."  Kraut responded by saying, "No, people should come to me."  RIRA Vice President Ron Schuppert countered, "You should get out of your position if you have to wait for people to come to you," and Bauer added, "This [delay] makes us look like fools.  Something is wrong here."

Kraut responded by asking for specifics, and Bauer continued, "We have put together long lists.  Everything has been itemized.  What more can we do?  If people from the State want to step aside from their responsibilities, perhaps they should do it in a formal way and let residents run the island."  Blue was defended by Archie Seale, owner of the Grog Shop:  "Dr. Blue has a lot on his plate."

In another exchange, Bauer criticized Blue further:  "It's been two years under your administration.  This meeting is an opportunity to vent and that's OK, but until the State says it will provide all that is needed until there's a population of 20,000, we'd be better off making the decisions ourselves.  This is something the State has to recognize.  It's a recurring unhappiness."

Deputy Commissioner Jones responded by saying, "The state hasn't abrogated its fiduciary responsibility," but Bauer countered, "You've cut us adrift."