Watershed

Living on Roosevelt Island, you learn to be cautious about hoping for too much.

But the change of administrations in Albany, and the resulting changes here on Roosevelt Island, provide reason for a revival of long-dormant hope.

Islanders who really care about this place probably fall roughly into three categories. There are those who’ve been around so long that they’ve had hopes crushed and have disengaged, unwilling to fight for something only to fail again. There are those who have been around long enough to get upset, yet still have a goal or wish a wish, but have been disappointed by the decay and the difficulty in perceiving the wherefore of much of what government chooses to do here. And there are relative newcomers – the folks who haven’t yet figured the place out, but would like to, and still have the energy to shake off the disappointment or the cues to disengage.

After a while, though, it’s hard to rally the interested for yet another try at something.

Last week’s RIOC Board meeting, in which Board members hired Governor Eliot Spitzer’s choice for the Presidency of the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation, seemed to be something of a turning point. Perhaps, as yet, not enough of a turning point to cure all cynicism. But certainly a start.

In the transcript that you’ll find in this issue (page 6, and in a word-for-word version on Website NYC10044 at nyc10044.com), there’s cause for optimism. At the Board meeting, chairing for the first time, Deborah VanAmerongen (Commissioner of the Division of Housing and Community Renewal, or DHCR) spoke of something better in the way of representative government. And the new RIOC President, Steve Shane, frosted that cake by inviting Residents Association (RIRA) President Matthew Katz to "look at the constituency of the Board and how you would arrange for staggered terms and elections where RIRA could forward candidates." Shane observed that changing the law is difficult, but cooperation on finding new members for the RIOC Board is certainly possible.

It’s not direct election, which we would prefer. But it’s a big step in the right direction, especially if all seven of the RIOC Board’s "non-statutory" members (that is, those not on the Board by virtue of the law’s requirements) are eventually Island residents chosen for their love of this place and their willingness to dig in and serve the greater good for the greater community.

A watershed? We may certainly hope so.

Steve Shane says he keeps one, so here’s an item we hope he’ll add: The Steam Plant.

Energy costs are only going up, and the Steam Plant, with its potential for co-generation, could be a port to the sea for Roosevelt Island. Past RIOC Presidents have feigned interest, then have quietly dropped the idea.

There are powerful possibilities there that could mean much for the future of affordable living here.

DL