To Ronald T. Vass:

This letter is in response to your letter to RIOC President Robert Ryan, dated September 17, 2001, expressing your concern of a "Disaster Plan." As a former RIOC Board Member, you should be well aware that the City of New York is responsible for police, fire, medical, and any other emergency services required on Roosevelt Island in the event of a disaster.

Emergency plans for Roosevelt Island have been developed by the NYC Police Department, Patrol Borough Queens North and the NYC Fire Department. The duties and responsibilities of the RIOC Public Safety Department are an integral part of that plan.

You should also know that this Emergency Plan is not and never has been intended for public dissemination. Its purpose is to have a clearly defined set of procedures for the trained professionals who will be handling the emergency. In the event of an emergency the Roosevelt Island community would receive instructions from the emergency personnel on the scene.

In times such as this, it is important for perceived community leaders to support the structures and agencies in place, so as to build confidence, rather than create fear without merit by misrepresentation. Especially when such deeds undermine people's confidence in a system already under attack.

With this in mind, it is gratifying to note that other community leaders helped calm the community's fears. Some examples are the vigil held by the chapel, the march to the fire house, numerous comments of gratitude to the emergency workers, the demonstration of sympathy to those suffering personal loss, and unbeknownst to many, the round the clock efforts for almost two weeks of RIOC staff members working at Ground Zero, led by President Ryan and Vice President Antonek.

Finally, the flags you see on Main Street, provided by RIOC, speak to the support of the community as a whole.

James Fry
Director of Public Safety

 

Dear Mr. Fry:

On September 25, 2001, you carefully worded a response to a letter that I sent to Robert Ryan on September 17, 2001, requesting that he "go public" with an updated version of "RIOC's Disaster Plan," not New York City's Emergency Plans.

The Community's fears which you briefly mentioned are based on basic local questions that have not been addressed in the last four or five years, and they are basically...

This small Island consists of a very special group of residents, many disabled, many seniors and many foreign people who do not speak our language fluently – therefore, our problems internally or locally differ from most of the City.

The disabled want to be made aware of what standby systems are available for them in case of elevators down, electricity down (oxygen), other special medical problems requiring special services.  Historically, there was a known "relationship" between Public Safety and the disabled population which is now non-existent.  The seniors have similar fears to the disabled, etc., etc.  Many inter-Island plans were in place between Goldwater Hospital, Coler Hospital and RIOC.  Has that been followed up?

Experts say the United States is vulnerable to "Germ Attack" and/or additional "Bomb Attacks." I am sure that if anything as bad as that occurs you would do as much as is possible to work with NYC agencies, police, etc.

My thoughts are founded on history – that when the original bombing took place at the World Trade Center, the trials that followed brought out future dangers of similar attacks.  The country presumed the Government, CIA, RBI, etc., were building strategies based on that information.  We found out on September 11, 2001, they had not.

The residents of Roosevelt Island will become much more comfortable with RIOC and Public Safety when our "Special Needs" are being covered pursuant to our "Disaster Plan" and this cannot and should not be a guarded secret.

Ronald T. Vass