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The Island in the Press
by Melissa Anelli There’s a small Island in New York Harbor that feels forgotten by the rest of the City. It has far fewer people than its great, bustling neighbor, and as such doesn’t feel it gets its fair share of recognition, power or simple respect. Roosevelt Island often sings the Staten Island tune of woe. A canoe-shaped hamlet off the shore of Manhattan’s Upper East Side, it’s most recognizable by the way people get to it, and is sometimes viewed by the rest of the City as an odd appendage to the inimitable Manhattan. And just like on Staten Island, to scorn its symbol is to raise the wrath of its residents. On April 21 and May 21, the Advance published editorials stating that the Roosevelt Island Tramway had outlived its purpose and should be shut lest the taxpayer be burdened with the cost of the repairs. Seen as the Island’s equivalent of the ferry, the Tram, which operates as a series of metal baskets traveling across wire cables from 59th Street in Manhattan to Roosevelt Island, suffered a much-publicized breakdown on April 18 and hasn’t been in service since. The response to the Advance’s position was loud and instant: It seemed as though every one of Roosevelt Island’s residents took up a pen to excoriate the Advance’s opinion. "The Advance erred by suggesting in an editorial that taxpayers subsidize Tram operations," wrote Dick Lutz, editor of The Main Street WIRE, the Island’s newspaper. "That has never been the case, and we haven’t yet seen your correction." Adriana Vink addressed her letter to the "uninformed and biased ... Staten Island Advance so-called journalists." "How much money do you think it has [cost] the taxpayers to pay for the Ferry and its accident?" she wrote. "It’s time you ... shut up, unless you know what you are talking about." With recent City budget reports pointing out that Staten Islanders get more transportation subsidies than anywhere else in the City, this was a point well taken. Residents With Little Say Roosevelt Island has one main street. It’s called Main Street. It cuts through the 2.5-mile Island, not that it truly needs to be divided; at most points, it’s possible to see both shores of the Island at once. They’re only, at most, 800 feet apart. It’s not difficult to walk around the entire area, and as Lutz does, he has to stop every few feet to say hello to a friend. At one spot a woman lounges in her car, wearing hippie beads and writing longhand on ruled paper; at another, 81-year-old Ethel Romm clips roses from her garden and pedals off carrying clippers, wearing a smock and tipping her wide-brimmed hat. With the ever-present river scenery and expansive greens, the Island feels more like a vacation spot or a time warp than a metropolitan district. Yet the sliver of land, home to at most 11,000 people, has problems that eerily mirror Staten Island’s. New York City owns the strip, but has leased the land to New York State; the State, in turn, has put the Island under the care of the public-benefit group Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation (RIOC), whose officers are appointed and have the notorious Islandwide reputation of being beneficiaries of political patronage. Meanwhile, the residents have no say over the decisions made for their home, and are often frustrated by RIOC’s decisions; they could do nothing when RIOC decided to install custom red trash cans at $2,000 a pop, which feature subtle and fancy illustrations of the Tram but don’t have holes large enough to fit the standard trash bag. As a result, black plastic bags often sit next to them on the street, canceling out any aesthetic value. A bill that would grant residents the right to elect Board members of RIOC has been introduced by State Assemblyman Pete Grannis (D-Upper East Side/Roosevelt Island) repeatedly, and was again two weeks ago. This time, constituents are slightly more optimistic for its passage. [Editor’s note: The bill was not brought up for a vote in the State Senate.] "Perhaps the Governor, on his way out, will be less reluctant," wrote Lutz in a June 17 article; he later clarified that he and fellow residents’ private hope is that the governor would want to deprive a potentially Democratic successor of the comfy patronage positions available on RIOC. So, despite being tangled in a political imbroglio in which it can’t participate, the Island runs completely on its own. Everything from its own underground sanitation system to the Tramway are subsidized by the common charges on residents’ rents, not by taxpayers. Only the Metropolitan Transit Authority’s subway presence comes from taxpayer funds. "We have no say," said Margie Smith, vice president of the Roosevelt Island Residents Association. In addition, Roosevelt Island residents, like people on Staten Island, are worried about crowding and overdevelopment. Builders have realized the real-estate potential of the Island, where a high-rise apartment could boast spectacular City and water views on all sides and places an owner a mere pond jump away from the middle of Manhattan. There are currently five apartment buildings under construction. Among them, they will house enough residents to increase the Island’s population by 50 percent. With such a plan in place, has anyone come forward with a plan to ease the transportation problems that are sure to follow? "The short answer is no," said Lutz, who guided the Advance around the Island. With the Tram out of service (though Gov. George Pataki has sworn to make sure funding appears to reinstate it), residents rely on buses and the subway to get to and from the City. Wait – a subway? How can anyone complain about their transportation woes when they have a subway to Manhattan, the commuting fantasy of every Staten Islander who has ever been gridlocked on the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway? It’s not so simple, says Lutz. During rush hour, the F train that comes through has tracked through all of Queens and, from the looks of it, has picked up everyone along the way. A select few Roosevelt Islanders are able to meld themselves to the living wall of people before the train speeds on into the City; the rest are left scowling and cursing on the platform. "I usually miss two or three trains," said Euralis Lopez, 40, whose hopes of getting on a recent morning train with her 5-month-old and stroller were futile. Penelope, her ten-year-old daughter, resigned herself to being late to school yet again. Yet those most heavily taxed by the Tram’s lack of function are the ones who can do the least about it. Roosevelt Island has long been home to hospitals and charitable care facilities; the Coler-Goldwater Specialty Care and Nursing Facility alone has 2,000 beds for geriatric and disabled people. As such, 10 to 15 percent of the Island’s population is comprised of mentally and physically disabled individuals. If the elevator and escalators in the subway break down – as they often do, says Lutz – the disabled cannot reach the platform. And those who do still have problems; the small gap between the subway and the platform can be like an insurmountable chasm to someone in a wheelchair. Heavier, motorized wheelchairs can’t be lifted onto the train, either. "People have discovered handicapped people in wheelchairs down here, crying," says Lutz. The service is much more stable on the Tram, say the residents; the elevators break far less often and there’s more room to maneuver in general. Even if the Roosevelt Island subway station were fixed, elevators in other subway stations all over Manhattan wouldn’t be, say the residents; with the Tram, there’s no worrying about another accessibility challenge like that once you enter the City. "I moved here for the Tram," Smith said. "If I wanted to stay in the City, I could feel safe going home. It was rare not to go on the Tram and not know anyone." And even if the subways were fixed, the residents say, the Tram isn’t just a pretty ride; the brightly colored carrier of visitors, residents and tourists is emotional and embedded, an indelible part of the Island’s identity, they say. To lose it would be like losing, well... the Staten Island Ferry. Melissa Anelli is a news reporter for the Advance. She may be reached at anelli@siadvance.com. © 2006 Staten Island Advance
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