Island Appearance
Spitzer Promises Better Days for Roosevelt Island

Says He’ll Appoint The “Right People”
by Dick Lutz

Eliot Spitzer was applauded repeatedly Thursday night in his Roosevelt Island campaign appearance, especially when he made a promise in his opening remarks:

"It is great to be here. I mean that very sincerely. First and foremost because I need to show you something that is very real – that I care about Roosevelt Island and that we will pay attention. You deserve our attention.

"I do not pretend, as I stand here right now, to have all the answers to the issues and concerns that you have, or the issues and concerns that I will hear about in the next couple of minutes. But the reason that I wanted to be here was to hear from you what those concerns are – whether it is preservation of open space, preservation of affordable housing, transportation – all of the concerns that are very real. The one thing that I want you to understand is that the concerns that you have may be more acute here on Roosevelt Island because of the unique character of the Island, but you are not alone in having these concerns. When I travel across the State – certainly our urban areas – the concerns everywhere are about open space, housing, transportation, affordability – a government that, through its authorities, has completely and totally lost touch with the public, completely and totally." Residents applauded that characterization of authorities, which in Spitzer’s vocabulary would include the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation (RIOC).

"I’m not going to pass judgment on the incumbent Governor right now, for only one reason – he’s my client – and there are enough lawyers in the audience to know that it wouldn’t be ethical and smart for me to sort of heap abuse on my client. It’s not that I’m worried about his firing me – he can’t do that. He’s stuck with me. But having said that, it’s not the sort of campaign I’m running. I’m not speaking ill of people and their performance. What I’m focusing on is how much better we can do." [Applause.]

Housing

"Housing is a crisis in the City, an absolute crisis, and I know many of you are worried that you are going to be priced out of your homes. We’re not going to let that happen. One thing we’re going to do is get hundreds of thousands of units built." He said the number of needed units "is so big that it is like quenching a thirst that cannot be quenched. We have got to build more, more, and more housing. Otherwise, the price will continue to go up."

Open Space

"Another thing we’ve got to do is preserve your open space. You moved here for a certain lifestyle, for a certain nature of living, so that if you have kids they can go out and play, that there’d be green space, open space... We’re not going to let that open space disappear. We’re just not going to let it happen." [Applause]

Comparing the two potentially conflicting needs – housing and open space – Spitzer said, "That’s where smart government comes into play. That is where planning comes into play. That is where you have to begin by saying, ‘What is the layout of this Island? It’s not that big. What are the areas we are going to preserve? What areas do we want to develop... and how dense should it be? I’m not the master urban planner. I didn’t come out here to tell you what the answer is. I came out here to tell you that I care enough to focus on the issue, get the right people to make the decisions, and make sure that we pay attention."

As planned, Spitzer invited questions and comments from the audience. The first came from the President of the Roosevelt Island Residents Association (RIRA), Steve Marcus: "On behalf of everybody, we’re deeply grateful that you could make it out here."

Self-Governance

Marcus then framed a question that blamed the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation for "every single problem that we have on this Island." Marcus said that self-governance legislation – popular election of the RIOC Board of Directors – "has been knocked down several times." He said, "This legislation will enable us to elect some of the Board, so that [if] we don’t like the job that they’re doing, like everybody else in America we can fire the bums. When and if you are in office, will you put a stop to whatever RFPs (Requests for Proposals), policies, development plans these guys come up with, and have already come up with, so that no further damage is done to the Island, until people that you trust can evaluate it and see if it makes any sense?" The question received applause.

"Here’s what I can say on that," Spitzer began. "First, as I said, I begin with the premise [that] the Operating Corporation is not being run by the people I would like to appoint, and we will begin immediately by putting the right people in charge." The audience applauded. "Second, I will look very hard at the legislation that’s there. I support the concept of your choosing-slash-electing – the mechanism we’ll sort through – some of the representation on the Operating Corporation. Third, in terms of stopping in its tracks what is ongoing, I can’t promise that because I don’t know what the legality of that would be. Anything that is not at a point where it binds successors, of course, we will take a very hard look at, because we want to make sure that it is in keeping with what we believe the right development strategy should be."

Self-Sufficiency

Frank Farance asked for a "reframing" of the discussion of Roosevelt Island’s needs – not "do we deserve it or don’t we deserve it." Referring to the fact that Governor George Pataki has taken all support for the Island out of the State budget, he said, "When you look at what’s happened here over the last eight to twelve years, at the ground rents and other financial matters here, we’re paying for everything here under some misguided sense of self-sufficiency. Can we reframe the discussion to getting the services that we deserve like every other citizen of the State, not just because we’re ‘special’ on Roosevelt Island?"

Spitzer agreed. "You’re right. That is not normally a way that we calculate the costs that we impute to individual communities, and when there is a larger capital investment that has to be made, such as [extension of] the number 7 [subway] line, nobody is saying that particular community has to pay for it on its own. If your premise is correct, we’ll see if we should challenge it and revisit it. A very fair point." Again, applause.

Again, Housing

The former president of RIRA, Matthew Katz, read his question, which dealt with the potential conflict between the Public Authorities Accountability Act, which requires State agencies to maximize financial return on State holdings, versus RIOC’s mission as a public-benefit corporation. "As residential buildings come out of the State Mitchell-Lama system here," Katz said, "they will be negotiating ground leases with RIOC, and the ability of tenants to become first-time owners will depend in part on affordable ground leases. RIOC has never resolved this question for the Roosevelt Island public and, while we believe that there are provisions in the law to protect us, will you, as Governor, make sure that the Public Authorities law will be interpreted so as to allow me and my neighbors to keep our housing here?" The audience applauded the question.

"You’re right," Spitzer said. "There is a tension there between the stated obligation to maximize revenue and also the obligation to pursue public purpose, because maximizing revenue may not always be public purpose, and that is obviously what breeds the tension and the inability sometimes to figure out what the best public policy should be. We’re going to do everything we can to insure that Mitchell-Lama residents are given an opportunity to maintain residency where they are. The City has begun, and the State will participate in, trying to extend the participation of the owners in the Mitchell-Lama program or in their effort to keep rents at an affordable point by extending loans which will be conditioned on certain obligations on the part of the landlords to act in a certain way."

Trucking Chlorine

RIRA Secretary Sherie Helstien asked about the City Department of Environmental Protection’s request for a vastly expanded security area at Water Tunnel #3, near the community gardens, and DEP’s plan to truck liquid chlorine onto the Island twice a week. "This community has been given no assurances," she said, "as to the safe transport or the contingency planning in case of an emergency... for the transportation of this highly caustic material through this small residential community. As Governor, will you require that RIOC perform the due diligence necessary to make this process safe – and share that due diligence with the community?"

"It certainly sounds very reasonable," Spitzer said. "The expectation is that the community would know what practices are put into place to protect you. We’ll find out."