December, 3 2005

To the Editor:

I have read the analysis of Lillian Shuey Picchione in the last WIRE regarding the problems we are having with the overcrowded transportation to and from the Island. While I completely agree with her analysis, I will disagree with her conclusion that "there are no obvious answers" that could at least alleviate the problem. As any Islander who rides the F to Manhattan below 50th Street, I see the obvious solution every day: it’s the V train, almost empty even at rush hour! If the V train would be the one going through Roosevelt Island, instead of the F, our problem would be solved. The Queens riders who want to get off upwards of 50th Street would have to change trains at Roosevelt Avenue in Queens, and switch from the F to the V. I am counting these people each morning when I ride the F and there are very few of them, compared to those who get off at Rockefeller Center. My point is that there would be a lot fewer people from Queens affected by this switch (those who get off at Lexington or 57th) than people from Roosevelt Island who would benefit from a much less crowded train.

I don’t know how to petition the MTA to at least look at this solution, but maybe you could transmit this to Ms. Picchione and she could help. I am certain that this is a real problem that will be impacting more and more on our quality of life on the Island.

Ruxandra Predescu

To the Editor:

Subway service from and to Roosevelt Island during weekday rush hours is already a problem and will become a much more serious one for existing residents as new housing develops. It will also be a significant impediment to future sales and leases to new residents, as reported in The WIRE’s last issue.

But the otherwise comprehensive article did not explain why a "shuttle" could not be instituted between 21st Street/Queensbridge and 47-50th Streets/Rockefeller Center. Thus, the F train would operate as an express and proceed directly from Jackson Heights-Roosevelt Avenue in Queens to Rockefeller Center, speeding its Queens residents into the heart of midtown. Between the headways required for the F trains, those living in Queensbridge, Roosevelt Island, 63rd Street-Lexington, and 57th Street, would commute into midtown on the "shuttle," which would be a local train stopping only at those four stations.

I do not know of any reason why such a "shuttle" run could not be instituted. There are no other trains, other than the F, now running between 21st Street/Queensbridge and Rockefeller Center, so coordination between the two should be simple enough.

Robert Chira

To the Editor:

I was quite shocked when I received a letter offering affordable housing in the Octagon Apartments. The rents are substantially higher than those listed in a past issue of The WIRE, and not much less than rents at Manhattan Park, a market-rate building.

I was under the impression that the purpose of the affordable housing was to accommodate individuals such as teachers, firefighters, police officers, etc., who serve our communities. Perhaps real-estate tycoons now view these service professionals as low-income individuals, since the starting salary for all of them is significantly below Octagon’s guidelines. I was also under the impression that Island House and Westview were also for middle-income individuals and, if one looks at the income-range guidelines for renting an apartment in one of these buildings and the initial rent for an apartment, both are far less than Octagon’s offerings. Although the minimum income required to gain entrance into either Island House or Westview is significantly higher than what it was a few years ago, the minimum income requirement for a one-bedroom in Island House is almost $20,000 less than that required for Octagon, and the minimum rent for a one-bedroom in Island House, including utilities, is $500 less than the posted minimum rent for a one-bedroom in Octagon, not including utilities. Since the Octagon building is located on Roosevelt Island and not the Upper East Side, why did the Octagon management not use Westview and Island House as models for affordable middle-income housing?

Many of us are very concerned about the middle class and lower-middle class being pushed out of the City. The original purposes of the planned community on Roosevelt Island was to allow these income groups to stay in the City in affordable housing. This "experiment" was highly successful. I am grieved at the greed I see in the real-estate market. We need to see compassion, fairness, and justice in the housing market and I wonder if there are leaders in the real-estate community who are brave enough to exhibit those character traits and accept less of a profit margin for that which is right. Honestly, no one is going to take this wealth with them when they die and the relationship each of us has with God is far more important. I personally do not want to live in a city that houses only the rich and the very poor. Such a city loses its texture, vibrancy, strength, and character.

Katherine Teets Grimm

To the Editor:

I am extremely uneasy over the RFIPs that RIOC has posted in the appropriate State periodicals and developer house organs. The new, more open RIOC failed to inform the community of these Requests For Initial Proposals on five Roosevelt Island sites. We would still be blissfully unaware of these initiatives were it not for the front-page stories and editorial in this newspaper on October 8 and 22, and the commentary in The RIRA Column written by Steve Marcus. I seriously doubt that there would have been any comment at all at the last RIOC Board meeting were it not for The WIRE "outing" the story. There has still been no comment regarding these inquiries for further development in the RIOC column written by RIOC President, Herb Berman; perhaps he intends to hold his comments for the first issue of the promised RIOC newsletter, due any time now.

Herb has stated that these are simply requests for ideas to build on the sites of the Coler Hospital parking area; Motorgate; our Main Street commercial strip; the steam plant, Sportspark and tennis bubble, and, most egregiously, Southpoint Park. Apparently, RIOC’s sales representative, Paul Mas of Jones Lang LaSalle, has been given no parameters by which to judge what is appropriate and, most importantly, what is not. This fills me with dread for the following reason:

We remember Mr. Mas’s brilliant choice of a DVD rental store for the site of the old Montauk Credit Union. This at a time when U.S. Alliance Credit Union, a well-established institution with huge assets available for Island mortgages, has shown interest in that site for over a year! The RIOC Board voted down the DVD vending machine by a four-to-four vote (one member being absent), suggesting that future bright ideas would be dependent on a very slim margin. And further, RIOC Director and Island resident Deborah Beck stated that the vote was "unprofessional" in that Mas had made a "handshake deal to accept the DVD store!" At the November Board meeting, Director Michael Shinozaki assured the community that any deal would require Board approval to be implemented. At least one other Board member feels that this Board of Directors is bound by any deal their sales rep chooses to make.

What is one to make of these developments (in the non-construction sense of the word)? First, this RIOC continues to operate in secret just as the two previous administrations did; second, this RIOC is willing to give carte blanche to a sales representative whose commission depends on the size, not the quality, of his sales; and third, the only thing standing between this community and the further rape of Roosevelt Island is the RIOC Board of Directors.

I am extremely uneasy.

Matthew Katz