1. Sunrise on a clear day, yellow light igniting Manhattan’s towers in wash

2. The esplanade, in all its mixed states of repair/disrepair, a perfect runner’s trail

3. Blackwell house, dilapidated, deep in the past, gracefully persistent

4. The never-ending background rumble of the FDR

5. Matthew Katz, our most eloquent, insightful spokesman

6. The arc and fading beauty of the Queensboro Bridge

7. A view up the estuary into Hellgate

8. Taking time to tell newcomers the local scuttlebutt

9. The delicate glow of our Lighthouse late in the night

10. The Vass family

11. Judy Berdy, our local historian, still the only person ever to reach past my wife to shush me from commenting at a public meeting

12. David Kraut – Sorry, detractors, but the smartest, best informed person you’ll meet on Roosevelt Island

13. The Tram

14. Starbucks

15. Our promising future

16. So many beautiful children

17. We own the Fourth of July

18. Memories of the Q, our once almost-private train

19. Our arms more wide open to the disabled than any others’

20. Vicki Feinmel

21. Neighbors hauling massive loads of toilet paper back from Costco

22. Cumulus clouds rising straight up over Manhattan

23. The Roosevelt Island diaspora – our friends who’ve moved on to places all over the world

24. Our incredible string of City Council members, Charlie Millard, Giff Miller and Jessica Lappin – the best in town

25. Remembering the great Carolyn Maloney, in her first run for Congress, politicking through exhausted weekends on our old, rickety Red Buses

26. Speaking of that, our Red Buses, an utterly unique benefit for Roosevelt Island

27. Memories of Al Weinstein, the most graciously intense advocate the Tram will ever have

28. Djibril Diallo, a longtime resident you probably don’t know, a significant participant in the UN’s efforts for world peace, traveling everywhere, year after year

29. That we voted resoundingly in favor of Al Gore and John Kerry

30. Deirdre Breslin, proof that enormous energy and charm can come in the tiniest packages

31. Running past the late great Buddy Hackett very early one Sunday outside the deli, hearing his unmistakable voice: "Good mowrning! Good mowrning!"

32. Our wild south end, full of ruins and wildlife

33. Dogs on Roosevelt Island, one more incidental gift from our burgeoning population of new neighbors

34. Patrick Stewart, Irish intensity and good humor

35. Agree with its positions or not, The WIRE, setting a standard for community journalism vastly beyond anything a place our size ought to expect

36. The community ethnic rainbow, probably more densely mixed in populations, thanks to the UN, than any other place in the world

37. The joyful probability of meeting friends while walking to or from the Tram or the subway, both before and after work, sharing the news

38. The way a snowy day graces Roosevelt Island, the chance to walk a fresh path in unbroken cover

39. Our cat population, especially the late, much-loved Princess Yin Yang who so greeted us like an ambassador at the subway

40. The unmistakable air of a retreat from city life, sometimes faint, but always there

41. The audible gasp you hear when first-time Tram riders feel the cabin lift silently into the sky

42. Picnickers staking claim in Lighthouse Park early on summer weekends, sacrificing sleep for the pleasures we enjoy every day of the year

43. Gliding smoothly over the Queensboro Bridge at night, taking in the complexity of the greatest City in the world from the best vantage point in the world, gazing out any window of our Tram

44. Manhattan Park, for my money, the best deal for middle class living in all of New York, the best concierges, the best porters, the best handymen, the best management, etc., in the best neighborhood in the best City on Earth

45. Summer concerts along the river

46. That one perfect night in the year, windless, when the river pauses between breaths and makes a ripple free mirror for the graceful towers in Manhattan

47. The Farmer’s Market, bustling with residents and fresh produce every summer Saturday

48. The irresistible idea, always in the air, that as wonderful as this place is, almost everyone here has at least one idea about how to make it even better

49. My pretty wife and lovable cats waiting at the door for me when I get home

50. (This space reserved for you)