| Contents |
February 10, 2007 |
|
Having returned from a week in frigid Denver, Colorado, I am inclined to return there simply to warm up. The Big Apple has become the Big Popsicle and I’m not amused.
I’ve kept warm this past week catching up with all the breathtaking news reported in the last issue of this newspaper and trying to respond appropriately. I was flabbergasted to learn that our Assemblymember, Alexander (Pete) Grannis would be moving to Albany to take up his new position as Commissioner of the Department of Environmental Conservation. I sent Pete the following note:
"Dear Pete: You have been my Assemblyman for (hard to believe, I know) most of my adult life including my fourteen years as a bachelor on 87th Street and York Avenue as well as Sherie’s and my eighteen years here on Roosevelt Island. The thought of someone not named Grannis representing me and my neighbors is hard to encompass. We have fought many battles together defending Roosevelt Island, some successful and some, including our RIOC self-government legislation, less so. I’ve always appreciated your efforts and respected your dedication to Roosevelt Island as well as to the rest of your constituency.
"I know you will insist that whoever replaces you take the same care and effort on our behalf. I want to wish you every success in your new role as Commissioner of DEC and urge you to continue supporting a green Southpoint Park as well as the innovative plans for an underwater ‘turbine garden’ to create a source of sustainable, non-polluting energy in our East Channel.
"Best wishes, Matthew Katz, President, RIRA"
There will be an election some time in March to fill Pete’s seat (but certainly not his shoes) and Micah Kellner, one of those candidates, took time at Wednesday’s RIRA Common Council meeting to introduce himself and take questions from the members. Micah is a State Democratic Committeeperson who has worked for Rep. Carolyn Maloney and currently works for New York City Comptroller Bill Thompson.
Our own City Councilmember, Jessica Lappin, also graced our meeting and spoke regarding the Town Meeting she has organized to bring this community up to speed on the Southpoint Park development plan. This meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, February 13, at 7:00 p.m. in the Good Shepherd Community Center. Working, as I have, for six years and counting on this project is probably the most important and satisfying task I’ve addressed during my years on Roosevelt Island. I very much would like to leave a legacy of having contributed to the creation of a new New York City park and a humdinger of a park at that. Please make it your business to attend this meeting, to ask questions of the officials charged with building Southpoint Park, and to assert your opinions as to what this park should contain, should offer and should accomplish.
I want to take a moment to acknowledge my RIRA Common Council colleague, Eric Stocker of Manhattan Park, whose wife suddenly and tragically died last month. Erik’s is a new face on the Council and I know he and Winkie have been committed to their life together here on Roosevelt Island. We send our condolences to Erik with the hope that he finds comfort over time and that he will return to the Council when circumstances and his heart permit.
Did you attend the Town Meeting held last Thursday to address the Northtown housing questions that hang over many of us? Produced by State Senator Jose Serrano, the agenda and appropriate agencies to invite were determined at an earlier meeting convened by the RIRA Housing Committee. I’m writing this prior to the meeting date, but I trust that there is ample reportage on the program in the news pages of The WIRE, and I trust the meeting was well attended and useful to all concerned.
We have a new Commissioner of DHCR, the parent agency responsible for RIOC. I sent the following note to Commissioner VanAmerongen:
"Dear Commissioner VanAmerongen: My name is Matthew Katz and I am the president of the Roosevelt Island Residents Association, elected last November in Island-wide elections. I hope this e-mail address, intuited from your predecessors’ addresses, reaches you. I wanted to introduce myself and to congratulate you as you assume your duties at DHCR.
"As I’m sure you are aware, Roosevelt Island is in a critical stage in its transition from a primarily Mitchell-Lama enclave to something new. Those of us in the older Northtown residential complexes are striving mightily to preserve the affordable nature of our housing while our buildings negotiate their way out of Mitchell-Lama with the goal of maintaining our apartments and our quality of life well into the future. This task has not been easy for a variety of reasons including the political transition that New York State is currently navigating.
"We are anxious to meet with you and to learn whether you will assume the chair of the RIOC Board of Directors or delegate that task to someone else. Our future, through the ground lease extensions necessary for our privatization efforts to continue, is in the hands of the RIOC Board and, until the Board and its Real Estate Committee are reconstituted and ready to act, that future is uncertain.
"I hope you will use me as a source of information—historical, contact, organizational and community—as you familiarize yourself with the Byzantine complexities that Roosevelt Island entails. Again, my best wishes, Matthew Katz, President, RIRA"
Commissioner Van Amerongen responded to my message, saying she would make contact soon, and I hope to meet with her shortly. I want to begin the process of introducing her to the key resident leadership responsible for all our issues, especially housing privatization.
The next critical change in Island leadership will be the President and CEO of RIOC. Herb Berman serves at the pleasure of the Governor and the speculation as to whom Gov. Spitzer might send us to run this critical component of our lives has included everyone with the possible exception of George W. Bush. This crucial appointment will affect all the issues noted above and many others as well. We urged the Governor during his campaigning here to choose well on all his Roosevelt Island-centric selections, and we will learn during the coming weeks and months whether he was listening.
Stay tuned.