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December 3, 2005 |
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The RIRA Column
Those of you who saw "Mars Attacks" probably haven’t
forgotten how the Martians kept calming beleaguered earthlings with the
announcement, "Do not be afraid, we will not harm you," as they were
gunning them down and destroying their neighborhoods. I was reminded of
this scene when I read Mr. Berman’s column in the last issue of The
WIRE, where he claimed that RIOC’s plans to sell every remaining
valuable piece of the Island to private interests are merely a harmless
"request to see what kind of ideas are out there for the sites." The
fact is that the very thought of constructing on Southpoint Park, or
razing everything by the bridge for a big box retail center, or
privatizing the garage is totally repugnant to almost every resident and
absolutely contrary to what Berman identifies as "the guiding principles
of the General Development Plan that guide our progress." RIOC is
charging interested parties $4,000 to $8,000 each to file their "request
for initial proposal" (RFIP). Of course there are no strings attached,
and these friendly "interested parties" don’t at all expect to be
granted any special consideration. I wonder how Manhattan residents
would react to an innocent request to convert Central Park to a shopping
mall. Any politician who proposed it would rightfully be ridden out of
town. But we are stuck with these aliens in RIOC who tell us, "Do not be
afraid, we will not harm you," while they proceed to wreck our
community. In actuality, RIOC has farmed out all of its real-estate marketing,
including the negotiations with Sheldrake for Island House/Westview
ground leases, to a private real-estate company called Jones Lang
LaSalle. This company will get a nice percentage of every contract
negotiated and, of course, shares Berman’s overwhelming concern for "the
guiding principles of the General Development Plan." I also think it is disgraceful that RIOC will be spending the money we
give them to put out a publication explaining what a great job they are
doing. RIOC has always had an opportunity, graciously provided by The
WIRE, to say whatever they wanted. I’ve been reading the RIOC column
ever since Mr. Berman came into power here, and given the small amount
of actual information he has chosen to provide, how can a separate
publication, at our expense, be warranted? Why is it that, in the Cuomo
years, when RIOC had a good relationship with the community, they never
felt the need to issue a separate newsletter? But, when they fail to
perform to standards set by the community, all of a sudden it’s because
the community is uninformed. To Mr. Berman: RIOC has been an extraordinarily secretive organization
for many years. So, let me make a few helpful suggestions for topics in
your informative newsletter. Please explain your vision for the future.
Explain how much money and concrete is necessary before you decide that
our community is developed enough. Explain how you intend to charge
residents in Island House, Westview, and Rivercross to extend their
ground leases and how much you intend to charge Jerome Belson, who has
already privatized Eastwood and raised tenants’ rates, for the same
extension. Explain why you went to Mayor Bloomberg to amend the General
Development Plan to build the monstrosity at Octagon, and under what
circumstances you want to mangle the GDP again. Discuss your planning
for traffic and transit to and from the Island. (You may want to read
Lillian Picchione’s excellent article on this topic in the last edition
of The WIRE.) Tell us how many more people you think our Tram and train
can accommodate during rush hours. Share with us your Capital Plan. Tell
us what you expect from Public Safety. Perhaps you’d like to tell the
residents what role you envision for their input, or do you and the RIOC
Board intend to continue to make decisions by fiat? Since you claim that
your publication will educate us on the "legal underpinnings" of RIOC,
then explain why your highly paid lawyers aren’t finding a way to
renegotiate the remaining six buildings of Southtown that your
organization uniformly condemns as a financial disaster for the Island. Finally, how about detailing your relationship with the real-estate
company, Jones Lang LaSalle, along with the financial considerations
they get for all their great initiatives. So, folks, when you read the stuff that RIOC puts out, remember that a)
they are writing it on your dime, b) "Do not be afraid, they will not
harm you!" In the movie, the aliens are finally repelled by the yodeled melodies of
Slim Whitman. I don’t know what the formula is to keep the aliens at bay
who have been dumped in our midst by Pataki and Co. But, I am certainly
open to suggestions.
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