Calling Roosevelt Island a "severe casualty of the Pataki administration’s incompetence and indifference," the Common Council of the Roosevelt Island Residents Association (RIRA) has written Attorney General Elliot Spitzer, who is a candidate for Governor, asking for strong measures of redress early in his term – presuming he is elected.

"Most of the problems visited upon this community over the past twelve years [are due to] poor decision-making and a literal rubber-stamping of Pataki’s wishes by a Board of Directors hand-picked by the Governor," the letter says. It goes on to praise Assemblymember Pete Grannis and City Councilmember Jessica Lappin (as well as former Council Speaker Gifford Miller) for their efforts on behalf of the Island, but says the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation (RIOC) has largely ignored them, including their offers of financial assistance for Island needs.

The letter asks Spitzer for three things. Quoting directly from the letter:

• Immediate replacement of the current resident Board members with individuals democratically elected by Island residents.

• An immediate moratorium on all development, and resident approval of leasing and sales efforts until [Spitzer] has filled positions on the RIOC Board.

• Support for legislation to insure that Island affairs continue to be managed with substantial resident control.

These would "put us back on the democratic map of the U.S.A.," says the letter (see below).

Most members of the Residents Association Common Council have been alarmed by recent RIOC moves toward possible construction of additional apartment complexes beyond Southtown buildings 5 through 9, which have already been approved in a deal with the Related Companies and the Hudson Companies, which are now building the fourth of nine apartment buildings in the area immediately north of the Queensboro Bridge. Earlier this year, RIOC issued RFIPs (Requests for Initial Proposals) for land within Southpoint Park and just south of Lighthouse Park, which is at the north end of the Island.

"The 500 new apartments at Octagon Park are not yet half occupied," said Residents Association President Steve Marcus, "and there are over 1,200 apartments coming in Southtown, and already the F train is filled to capacity at rush hour." Marcus and the elected members of the RIRA Common Council have called for an updating of the master plan for Roosevelt Island as a precondition for any further development. "RIOC has found ways to circumvent and violate the terms of the General Development Plan, and the result has been opportunistic development without the necessary planning. This is a narrow Island, already over-trafficked, already unable to meet the transportation needs of residents." Marcus says that the letter to Spitzer is an effort to rein in "haphazard development."

Full text:

RIRA Common Council Letter to Elliot Spitzer

Dear Mr. Spitzer,

As you know, Roosevelt Island has been a severe casualty of the Pataki administration’s incompetence and indifference toward this State-controlled community. We are confident that, if elected, you will take far greater care that this bold and unique experiment in community planning is put back on the proper track. Toward this goal, we of the Residents Association (RIRA), a body elected by all voting-age residents of the Island, request that you consider and enact the following proposals, very early in your term of office.

1) Immediate replacement of the current resident Board members with individuals democratically elected by Island residents.

Most of the problems that have been visited upon this community over the past twelve years can be attributed to poor decision-making and a literal rubber-stamping of Pataki’s wishes by a Board of Directors hand-picked by the Governor. These individuals are charged with overseeing the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation (RIOC), which completely controls the Island. Although we have had excellent representation by our State Assemblyman, Pete Grannis, and on the City Council by Gifford Miller, and now Jessica Lappin, RIOC has chosen to ignore their offers of financial aid or requests. Members of the board have publicly identified their role as "essentially a real-estate marketing operation." We have real issues on this Island and most of these board members have neither the desire nor the ability to properly perform this vital role.

Current legislation requires that nine people serve on the Board – two are appointed by the Mayor, two are representatives from the Division of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR) / Budget office, and the remaining five are appointed by the Governor, of whom at least four must be residents of the Island.

Our main request to you is to permit the selection of all Board members who are not ex-officio to be made through democratic elections by resident voters. This will insure that Board members perform their jobs competently, and that they fulfill the needs of those they serve, or they won’t be re-elected.

Thanks to giveaways of open space to developers, we have a budget crunch. We believe that we deserve the same rights as citizens anywhere else in this country to pick the representatives who will allocate our scarce resources and recommend the sacrifices we must make. The current Board did nothing when our Tram failed last September and, as a result, it failed again in April and is still not operating. We are sure that an elected board would have had an active oversight role in this area as well as all the vital services that residents depend on RIOC to perform – such as making the Public Safety Department effective and truly useful, ending the warehousing of commercial spaces, consulting with traffic experts to ease the flow of traffic, optimizing our local bus service, conducting serious discussions with NYPIRG officials who have offered to upgrade our power plant, and establishing an effective program of street and sidewalk light maintenance.

These are just a few of the areas that have been either ignored or bungled by Pataki appointees that can be quickly remedied by a board and management that is capable and motivated.

2) Immediate moratorium on all development, and resident approval of leasing and sales efforts until you have filled positions on the RIOC Board.

Virtually every decision made by RIOC in that last twelve years has been beneficial to outside interests and harmful to the residents. The Residents Association has participated in suits to stop two disastrous development contracts that gave land (in one case parkland) almost free of charge to real-estate developers. Additional plans currently include the development of one-third of Southpoint Park – one of the last remaining parcels of open space on the Island.

We have no zoning regulations on Roosevelt Island, but we do have a General Development Plan (GDP), created in 1969, which was meant to provide legal protection from overdevelopment. However, RIOC has been successful in getting the Mayor’s approval to amend the GDP when it chose to violate the spirit of the original plan. (Your office is well aware of this – they were extremely helpful in our lawsuit to protect our open space.)

We request that you order an immediate cessation of all of RIOC’s plans to further develop or sell off assets. Additional initiatives should be promoted only after a comprehensive review of the Island’s needs, via a RIOC Board, elected by, and in consultation with, the residents it serves.

The expiration of Mitchell-Lama contracts represents another major problem for the Island. Tenants in these buildings are faced with two alternatives – either the landlords privatize and raise the rents to market rates, or the tenants purchase their buildings and form a co-op. RIOC can play a vital role in offering ground-lease terms that favor tenant ownership, but it has not chosen to do so. Your swift intervention into this process would permit many hundreds of families from being priced out of their homes and would help protect middle income housing in New York City.

3) Support for legislation to insure that Island affairs continue to be managed with substantial resident control.

While we are confident that you will manage Roosevelt Island with fairness and competence, as residents, we would like some legislative reinforcement to keep future administrations from using this community as a dumping ground for lucrative patronage positions.

Several times in the past, Assemblyman Pete Grannis has introduced legislation that details procedures for formal elections to RIOC Board membership. If such an elected Board were able to select the RIOC President, we would not have the disgraceful parade of hacks and cronies that have served the Island so badly over the past dozen years.

For this reason, we request that you promise to support legislation that will protect our community during harder times, and put us back on the democratic map of the U.S.A.

Mr. Spitzer, we are very pleased that you have agreed to visit our beleaguered little Island during your summer campaign. We respectfully offer these proposals as a basis for talking points during your visit.

Yours truly,
The Roosevelt Island Residents Association