The RIOC Column

Herbert E. Berman President Roosevelt Island Operating Corp. e-mail: HBerman@rioc.com

Roosevelt Island is, of course, an Island and that requires special attention in preparing for emergencies that might hit us. Emergencies come in all forms, including the kind of power outage that recently afflicted our neighbors in western Queens. One of the most important obligations that our Public Safety staff and others at the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation undertake is effective planning in case an emergency occurs.

This comes to mind because we are now in hurricane season. We want to urge you to read the RIOC newsletter recently dropped in each of our residential buildings for a detailed explanation of provisions of that plan, but also want to take this opportunity to reiterate some of them in The WIRE.

RIOC staffers worked closely with officials from the City’s Office of Emergency Management (OEM) in the Coastal Storm Plan issued on June 28. In the event of a Category 2 (or above) hurricane bearing down on New York, Roosevelt Island would be evacuated to protect residents against the prospect of a storm surge washing over our seawalls. It is expected that we would have 48 to 72 hours warning in advance of the storm hitting us, allowing enough time to carry out an evacuation in an orderly manner.

The best scenario for residents is to seek shelter with family or friends in areas outside an evacuation zone. RIOC will use its Red Buses to transport others to designated City reception centers, with the closest one to Roosevelt Island being Newcomber High school. All transportation and other activities will be coordinated with OEM.

The plan takes special note of the special needs of the elderly and disabled communities on the Island. The City’s 311 call center will be equipped to ascertain what kind of assistance is needed by those residents and send appropriate transportation for them.

Most importantly, the OEM plan urges all residents to keep a "Go Bag" handy in case of an evacuation. Such items as personal documents, a flashlight, battery-operated radio, medical needs, child care supplies, bottled water and non-perishable food items all should be part of that preparedness.

Information on these and other preparedness tips are available on the RIOC website at www.rioc.com or through an information hotline (212-308-6608), which will be constantly updated through an emergency situation.

I want to assure you that RIOC staff has worked in constant cooperation with OEM and other City agencies to prepare for an emergency. A constant state of readiness is the key to a safe implementation.

We hope we never need to implement the plan, but obviously, we have to be as prepared as we can be.

Tram update: Let me also take this opportunity to give you an update on the Tram. The main operating system which failed during the April incident has been returned from Europe where it was undergoing repair and has been installed. Similarly, a secondary primary drive, which would allow the Tram to be fully operational in case the primary drive is taken off-line, is also installed. Tests are being done on those systems, and the emergency back-up systems are slated to be re-installed for testing as well. It is our hope that Tram service can resume in early September. In the meantime, we are still running express buses to Manhattan and Queens to assist residents during the Tram’s downtime. We will post more information as it becomes available.