February 11, 2006

The RIRA Column

The Common Council of the Roosevelt Island Residents Association has adopted this Position Paper on RIOC’s Proposed Real Estate Initiatives:

Steve Marcus, President Roosevelt Island Residents Assn. e-mail: SteveAtRIRA@verizon.net

Overview

Roosevelt Island is a special community – an Island of calm in a busy City, a diverse community in a City of ethnic enclaves, and an affordable community in a City of increasing wealth. We are losing this character because we lack basic representation and zoning protections, or any control over the way we are governed.

RIOC [the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation], the Island’s governing body, is a State authority controlled by a Board appointed by the Governor. They have recently authorized a real-estate firm to formulate and market five proposals for Roosevelt Island.

The proposals include three development plans:

1) To erect a structure on the east parking lot of Coler hospital of up to 24 floors.

2) To raze the Steam Generation plant, Sportspark and the Tennis Bubble in order to build a commercial facility. The winning bidder can also incorporate the Tram station in its design proposal. "Big box" stores are specifically encouraged.

3) To develop the northern portion of Southpoint Park for a commercial or residential development.

Two additional plans involve removing RIOC from facilities management of almost any kind:

4) To sell RIOC’s entire interest (of 60%) in Motorgate garage.

5) To sell RIOC’s management and leasing rights to all storefront properties on Main Street.

The Residents Association, as an elected body representing the interests of the residents on Roosevelt Island, has serious objections to each of these proposals and to RIOC’s approach to its development and management responsibilities in general.

The General Development Plan (GDP) was the blueprint for Island housing, commercial development, and parkland for close to 40 years. Written in 1968 by the foremost city planners and architects of their time, the plan has well served the residents and the City that surrounds it. The plan stipulates that a maximum of 5,100 units be constructed on two defined areas of Northtown and Southtown. The rental mix was set at 80% affordable housing and 20% market.

In recent years, RIOC has chosen to entirely ignore these fundamental requirements. RIOC, a State authority whose board is appointed by the governor, successfully lobbied the Mayor to amend the GDP. The Octagon development was authorized for construction. Although the project restores a landmark, it also privatizes parkland. Most importantly, the development is only 20% affordable, a reversal of the GDP’s 80% requirement. In addition, Southtown was authorized, which has, to date, no provisions for middle or lower income residents. When Southtown is completed, there will be 6,000 units on the Island, and residents will have been stripped of any zoning protection once afforded by the GDP.

These new proposals have been formulated without any public discussion on RIOC’s vision of how the Island should finally be developed; how residents, workers, or visitors will access and exit the Island; or how its commercial property and public facilities should be managed. In other words, RIOC has chosen to ignore the GDP without ever discussing how it should be replaced.

In private discussions with some of the resident RIOC Board members, we have learned that these proposals were created and marketed without their knowledge or approval. One can only conclude that they were formulated as last-minute giveaways by the Governor’s office and the DHCR.

As residents and taxpayers, we have the right to demand that plans for our community be carefully thought out by those who want to make these changes. They should be endorsed by our political representatives, who, along with their constituents, should be given ample input and control over the final result.

1) Lack of an overall plan

Each of these development plans violates the General Development Plan. If RIOC chooses to ignore this plan, carefully formulated by world-renowned experts, they need to replace it with a comprehensive plan that defines their vision for permanent and untouchable open spaces, what sorts of recreational facilities are to be maintained, how residents and visitors will enter and leave the Island, and a complete plan for emergency contingencies. A reasonable plan would also clearly address their financial requirements, and how much they will be receiving for the land and facilities they will be selling off and, particularly, why it is necessary to take these steps immediately.

2) Transportation

As an Island, Roosevelt Island has limited points of access and egress. Transportation decisions need to be carefully thought through. In addition to concerns about emergency preparedness, it is apparent that the Island’s train, Tram and road facilities are severely overburdened during rush-hour periods. RIRA does not understand how our bridge and single-lane road can accommodate the deliveries and visitors to a "big box" store such as a Wal-Mart or Target.

Current residential growth is also of concern. Commuters know that they frequently cannot get into packed F trains, and Main Street is choked with traffic when school buses arrive and hospital shifts change. Furthermore, a small change made to the Red Bus route last year caused the quality of this service to significantly degrade. Although the Octagon developer has discussed building a ferry pier near his site, it is not clear whether such a service is likely to be instituted, or how much relief it could provide.

RIOC has never offered a plan to ameliorate these problems, to quantify the negative consequences of additional population, or to explain how it intends to transport people to and from the developments that are distant from the current Red Bus routes.

3) Loss of Recreational Facilities and Parkland

Three separate RIOC plans include commercial development in Southpoint Park, the area east of Coler, the land under Sportspark, the steam plant, and the tennis club. Such initiatives run exactly counter to reasonable public planning, which attempts to create more recreational options as the population increases.

Open space on Roosevelt Island, due to its proximity to Manhattan and spectacular waterfront vistas, is extraordinarily valuable. Were RIOC to reach out to qualified professionals, they might discover better ways to develop such land than with a 24-story building next to Lighthouse Park, a "big box" store next to the Tram, or a commercial and/or residential development in Southpoint park. Careful and creative planning could find solutions that are "tourist- and resident-friendly," and that make the Island a desirable destination for visitors.

4) Loss of Steam Plant

Several energy experts that live on Roosevelt Island have pitched to RIOC a plan to refurbish the steam plant with State funds. It may be possible to build a modern low-emissions 30 MW plant, with NYSERDA funds, that provides low-cost steam to Island residences and hospitals for heating, that can work "off the grid" to provide energy to the Island even in a blackout. Such a plan merits serious consideration before the plant is razed for a "big box" outlet.

5) Parking concerns

Whereas most communities in the five boroughs offer a variety of parking facilities or street parking options, Roosevelt Island has a single option – Motorgate. The fact that this facility is reasonably priced, and offers a discount for rooftop parkers and non-reserved spaces, was an important consideration for many residents who have moved here. Privatizing such a facility will result in higher rates. Car owners will have little or no recourse if the owner fails to provide proper maintenance and security. In this case, RIOC’s sale of this monopoly to private interests represents a significant abdication of responsibility by a government agency that should have a charter to protect its constituents.

6) Possible loss of vital commercial services

Roosevelt Island has a high proportion of disabled and/or elderly residents who depend on the local stores to provide for their basic needs. If RIOC contracts out full control of commercial real estate on Main Street, then, as with the privatization of Motorgate garage, we lose any ability to ensure that they will be sufficient to provide for the basic requirements of the most immobile of our neighbors.

7) Reduction in economic, racial and ethnic diversity

One of the things that sets Roosevelt Island apart from other neighborhoods is that our Island is economically and racially mixed. While New York City is known for its diversity, individual neighborhoods tend to be divided into ethnic and racial enclaves. This is not so on Roosevelt Island, where each building has a mix of people from around the world. It is known as a safe, lovely place to raise children in an atmosphere of tolerance, and we wish it to remain that way. Changing the affordability mix from 80% down to 20% or less materially changes the face of our community, and exacerbates the City-wide crisis in middle and lower-middle class housing.

The residential community on Roosevelt Island was established thirty years ago under a visionary plan that served the community with great success. Those who moved here were willing to cede their rights of direct local representation for benevolent State management.

However, under the current administration, RIOC has chosen to privatize land and facilities, while at the same time denying residents any form of zoning protection.

While RIOC may see its primary or sole role as "real-estate management," it is, in fact, the sole form of government for Island residents. Ideally, RIOC would open its decision-making function to genuine input and control of the residents that they are charged to serve and protect. However, if RIOC feels that governing the Island is too onerous a task, we prefer that they permit elected City representatives to take over, rather than simply selling off large pieces of our community to private interests.

We are reaching out to our elected representatives and all other interested parties to help preserve the promise and ideals upon which our community was founded.