The RIOC Column

First I want to thank all those who extended their good wishes to me after my recent surgery. I have been making a steady recovery and expect to be back at full speed in the near future.

Now that may be viewed as a mixed blessing by some of those who have been complaining about whether Gallery RIVAA was being pushed out of its Main Street storefront in favor of a Dunkin Donuts that has expressed an interest in the space. Since facts ought to count for something in public debates, let me report directly to you about the controversy.

As RIOC Board Chairwoman Judy Calogero said last week, the fact is that RIVAA leaders know that RIOC offered them the gallery space they currently occupy with the expressly stated proviso that they could remain there rent-free until we had a tenant that wanted the space.

The fact is also that RIOC officials tried repeatedly and unsuccessfully to get in touch with RIVAA’s president in the days leading up to the meeting to discuss providing the arts center alternative space at 503 Main Street, a far more visible location in the first storefront on the Manhattan side as you walk north from the tram and subway.

Another fact is that RIOC has long supported RIVAA, whether in providing the free rent on Main Street or providing RIOC staff to do sheet rocking and other infrastructure work on the mezzanine level at Sportspark for use by RIVAA – again rent free – on behalf of working island artists. .

Because RIVAA leaders were unavailable for discussion, and because we wanted to pursue further discussions with Dunkin Donuts, the item scheduled for the March 30 RIOC Board meeting was tabled. We are now in the process of engaging both RIVAA and Dunkin Donuts in further talks to resolve this controversy which has been fed by misinformation, whether intentional or accidental.

The WIRE attempted to link our move to rent out the space to Dunkin Donuts to a change in state law that went into effect on Saturday, April 1, requiring State authorities and public-benefit corporations such as RIOC to maximize return on its assets. But this is totally besides the point, since RIOC has already been operating as a financially self-sufficient corporate entity and is in fact a model for other authorities and public benefit corporations around the state that will now have to do the same.

That self-sufficiency is not an option, but a mandate. It is why we must insist on standard business practices in ensuring that retail establishments pay their rent. It does not lessen our commitment to supporting RIVAA in its continuing presence on the island, as is evidenced by our encouragement to the developer of the Octagon project that he make available free gallery space within that project when it is completed.