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Brief Items
New Bill for
Self-Governance;
Maloney Running
for 8th Term;
Tram Staff
Layoff... and
more
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Assemblymember Pete Grannis introduced
legislation on Wednesday that would put control of Roosevelt
Island governance in the hands of residents. The bill,
A11865, will be sponsored in the State Senate (as S8235) by
Senator José Serrano, who also represents the Island. It
provides for Island-wide election of five members of the RIOC
Board of Directors, with the mayor of the City filling any
vacancies by appointment. It also gives the Board the authority
to issue bonds to raise up to $25 million. The WIRE will
provide a major wrap-up on the proposed legislation, which has
been introduced before in slightly different forms, in the July
1 issue.
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Rep. Carolyn Maloney chose Roosevelt
Island and last month’s Senior Day to announce her bid for
relection to Congress for an eighth term.
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Kids at PS/IS 217 are helping Darfur
and New Orleans. They’re doing it with a grant of $500 to the
Save Darfur coalition, to put supplies in the hands of the
refugees of that savaged region of Sudan, and another grant of
$500 to the St. Bernard Parish Schools of Louisiana, to help in
the rebuilding necessary after Hurricane Katrina.
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Working with the community, the students
raised about $1,000 in this year’s Penny Harvest. The grant
decisions were made by a council of middle school students.
Another Penny Harvest is planned for next year.
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The majority of Tramway employees have
been laid off by the Doppelmayr Corporation, which runs the
conveyance for RIOC.
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Red Blomer, the Doppelmayr employee
responsible for Tramway operations, sent an e-mail to four
station and nine cabin attendants last Friday; three temporary
employees had already been released on April 19, the day after
an equipment malfunction made it necessary to bring police and
fire personnel in to rescue passengers stranded in the cabins.
(There’s a related story.)
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Four mechanics and four supervisors remain on
the payroll, six of whom are currently working.
- f you’ve found a $1.50 transaction fee when using
a Chase card at New York National Bank’s ATM recently, you’re
seeing the results of a programming glitch. Former RIRA
President Matthew Katz reports that steps are being taken to
restore free queries, withdrawals, and transfers.
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