The RIRA Column

Margie Smith, Vice President Roosevelt Island Residents Assn. e-mail: MSmith@quintennium.com

Steve Marcus is still out of the country so once again I’m filling this space in his stead. However, even though he’s in Israel he heard about the Tram stoppage and if you read the last WIRE, you probably saw his letter. We’re making international news, unfortunately.

The New York City Council’s Transportation Committee held a hearing last Thursday to ask RIOC and Doppelmayr (the company that manages the Tram for RIOC) questions about what happened on Tuesday, April 18. They also questioned Con Edison, and they listened to testimony from some residents. At this point we don’t seem to have any answers. One thing is clear – Con Edison did not have a power surge that night, so the problem seems to be home-grown. The New York State Labor Department is conducting an investigation, but there’s no word yet as to when the Tram will be back in operation.

We owe a great deal of thanks to our City Councilmember, Jessica Lappin, for coordinating this hearing and for her testimony that day. Jessica, along with Assemblyman Pete Grannis, did an outstanding job representing our interests at a press conference prior to the hearing and at the hearing itself. Borough President Scott Stringer and Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney sent representatives to the meeting and also submitted statements to the Committee.

Of course, everyone’s first concern is safety. With that in mind, it was very encouraging to hear the comments of the committee members, all of whom were very supportive of getting the Tram back in operation as soon it’s determined to be safe.

The really disheartening thing, in my opinion, was to watch the RIOC contingent walk out of the hearing before the residents spoke. I can’t say I was surprised but, to me, at least, it spoke volumes about their lack of interest in the concerns of the people living on the Island.

By now you’ve probably noticed that the Red Bus is running into Manhattan. Some of you may remember that RIRA has been debating this issue with RIOC for several years now, since the blackout of 2003. Whatever supposed issues there were with sending the buses off-Island during an emergency have evidently been resolved. It’s a relief to know that we’ve got an alternate means off the Island and, presumably, if circumstances arise where we need to use these vehicles more frequently, we’ll be able to do so.

Speaking of buses, those of you who ride the Red Bus on the Island have taken the new route which goes down the east side of Main Street when it comes to the fork in the road at Blackwell House, then turns west and passes the Tram, then goes north along the west side of Main Street past the subway station. I’ve heard some positive reports, because this allows the bus to stop right in front of the station with the door opening on the subway side of the street. I’ve also heard some negative reports because it injects a delay by increasing the length of the ride. The change was made with no input from the residents and there were no notices posted on the kiosks to inform the public. Whether it was a good change or a bad change is debatable, but including the residents in the decision prior to implementation would have permitted both issues to be examined and probably would have garnered more support for whatever was eventually decided. I’ll just never understand why excluding the residents from these decisions ever makes sense.

You may also have noticed the new red trash cans. Admittedly, I’m no expert when it comes to trash removal. But $2,000 per can, for a total of $80,000, by any standard, is absurd. I still don’t know what was wrong with the ones we had. When the subject first came up, I made a point of looking at the ones on the street. Granted, some needed paint jobs and a few had some dents that could have easily been banged out but, basically, they were in good shape and could have been refurbished for next to nothing. I think if I were doing it I would have weighed the cost of doing this repair work against the replacement cost and, had we purchased cans for about $500 apiece, I probably would have splurged and gotten new ones. But given that the cost was $2,000 per can, there’s just no way to justify it.

Last, I’m putting in one more plug for RIRA membership. It was encouraging at the Tram hearing to meet a resident of Southtown. RIRA wants to include our new neighbors in its meetings. I’m urging any Southtown and Octagon residents reading this to think about running for the RIRA Common Council this year. But, in the meantime, just drop by one of our meetings. We’ve got seats open for your buildings and you can join mid-session to get a feel for what we do. But, be sure to come to the meeting on June 7, because we take a summer hiatus and won’t be back again until the fall.