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 February 5, 2005 |
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February 5, 2005 |
To Pay for Octagon Litigation,
by Dick Lutz Members of the
RIOC Board of Directors went on a public-relations offensive last week
in a Board Chair Mary Beth Labate suggested dire consequences might arise from RIOC budget adjustments to allow for a legal defense fund. "I think we have to look at everything on the table - all the services that we provide. I, for one, would be interested in taking a look at even an increase in the [Red] Bus fare to pay for the cost of this litigation." Labate's comment followed a discussion of RIOC's financial state. "We just got through talking about the [monetary] reserves that we have on hand and that we need to start implementing our capital plan," she said. "I think it's very important that those funds be used to the benefit of the people on the Island, and I just think it would be a crime if a lot of it needed to be spent on our defense of this [Octagon] litigation by RIRA... I, for one, do not want to see it coming out of our reserves, 'cause that's one less dollar that's going to re-pave the roads, it's one less dollar that's going to maintain our parks, it's one less dollar for any capital needs of the Island." After raising the possibility of a hike in the Red Bus fare, she added, "It's unfortunate. The defense fund has to come from somewhere. In suing Roosevelt Island you are in fact suing the people of Roosevelt Island." Labate's statement was presumably not meant to suggest that Island residents are actually being sued, which they are not; rather, she was warning that RIOC budget adjustments necessary to defend the Article 78 suit could have an impact on services residents have come to expect, or on capital improvements that would benefit residents. There was no
executive session associated with this Board meeting, which is highly
unusual. Actual corporation business taken up in the session was all
of a mundane nature that might easily have been delayed to its scheduled
March meeting. The number of times Herb Berman's President's Report
was interrupted for comments, and the amount of praise Board members
heaped upon the corporation and upon PSD, while warning of budgetary
peril arising from RIOC's need to defend the Octagon suit, made the
meeting appear to be one called primarily so that RIOC could mount the
P.R. offensive.
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Wednesday
morning meeting, scolding the Residents Association (RIRA) for suing
to stop an apartment development at Octagon Park while lavishly praising
both RIOC and its Public Safety Department (PSD) and chiding residents
who complain too often about PSD and RIOC performance.