I am happy to announce that Thursday, December 9, has been selected for the second annual holiday tree lighting on Roosevelt Island.  We are working with the Youth Center, several of the housing management companies, and the merchants association to make this event special.  We welcome any suggestions.  More details will follow.

Later that same evening (7:00 p.m.) the Trust for Public Land will hold a public meeting at Good Shepherd to present the preferred site plan for Southpoint.  They will be accepting comments at that time and they look forward to everyone's participation.  I urge everyone who is interested to attend and I look forward to seeing you there.

Land clearance has also begun at the open space at the other end of the Island.  As many of you may have seen, preparation work has begun on the Octagon site.  When that project is complete, there will be parkland at the northern end of the Island that is accessible to all.

A recent edition of Time Out New York focused on that northern end of the Island.  The issue, which focuses on the best places for kids in New York City, says that Roosevelt Island is fun for children for about three hours.  (This was one of the longest spans out of any place in the City, including parks and skating rinks!)  The article goes on to say that, after getting off the Tram, people should head north to the gothic lighthouse and stop at the statue of The Marriage of Real Estate and Money in the river near Manhattan Park.

More media attention was focused on Roosevelt Island when the episode of Fear Factor that was taped in New York City was aired last week.  Segments were taped at the Tram, in Times Square, and by the Statue of Liberty.  The Tram segment opened the show and was by far the longest, lasting for almost a full half-hour.  The fact that it was the 100th episode and that it was filmed in locations throughout the City also attracted some local newspaper attention.  They all mentioned the excitement generated by the Tram segment.

The Renwick Ruin at the southern end has also attracted outside attention recently.  We have been approached by a group of young architects that would like to use Renwick as the model for a theoretical ideas competition.  We do not have many details yet, but will share them as soon as they are available.  This group sponsored a similar competition last year that attracted international attention.

I want to take just a moment to thank the driver of the bus from Coler-Goldwater that caught fire last week.  From all reports, he worked hard to get all of the passengers, including some wheelchair passengers, off the bus and to safety before the bus was fully engulfed.  The smoke from that fire could be seen in at least three boroughs, and the fact that nobody was seriously injured really is amazing.

On that note I want to take this opportunity to wish everyone a very happy and healthy Thanksgiving.  Enjoy the food and the time that is spent with family and friends.