Editorial

There’s little more that an editorial can say about Monday night’s "Community Forum" staged by RIOC at the Chapel of the Good Shepherd.

Announced for an inconvenient time, on an inconvenient day for many, the session was a blatant insult to the community by Dr. Jerome Blue, President of the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation. For that matter, it was a blatant insult to his boss, Commissioner Joseph Lynch, who heads DHCR as a member of the Governor’s cabinet.

Others said it Monday night with more force, and more eloquence, than can be mustered here on a tight deadline: They asked, "Where’s Blue?" and walked out.

That says it all.

This community has long since had more of Jerry Blue and his misbegotten management methods than any community should have to bear. It is time, after long last, for him to leave his debacle behind and seek sustenance in other quarters.

For the Island, it is time for some measure of local autonomy, including the opportunity to elect the Board of Directors that oversees the public benefit corporation that runs the Island, and to hire the professional community management any great community needs and deserves.

It is time, in short, for the legislation drafted by the Maple Tree Group to be moved expeditiously through the New York State Legislature.