Matthew Katz, President Roosevelt Island Residents Association e-mail: MatthewKatz@verizon.net

I want to devote most of this column to the extraordinary opportunity we’ve been afforded, at long last, to affect the administration of Roosevelt Island and to impact our future here through an elected RIOC Board of Directors. The parameters were discussed in the last WIRE, both as a news story and in my column, and the hard work of devising an election mechanism and anticipating glitches has begun.

First, the basics: Why, if the Governor is appointing Island residents to this Board anyway, is an elective process so important? Well, it’s about control, about political power, if you will. For over two decades, New York’s Governor has placed his choices on the Board and they served at his pleasure. For the last twelve years, a Governor who had never set foot on Roosevelt Island controlled the development of this community through his appointments and, to my mind, did a horrifically bad job of it. Even if we elect the same folks who currently act as RIOC Directors, the control shifts to We the people. We elect those whom we consider most likely to serve the community well, and (this is the key point) we can remove them through our votes if they disappoint. That’s only all the difference in the world, it seems to me.

Make no mistake: The process would be served better if the statutes that created RIOC were amended to include an elected Board. The Maple Tree Group (MTG), which has espoused this fundamental premise for well over a decade, will continue to push for legislative reform of RIOC’s leadership by changing the 1984 law that created RIOC. But the chance to alter the process now, to give political clout to this community now, is just too good to pass up.

The long-dormant Maple Tree Group will create a working plan that we can offer to RIOC. As an ad hoc subcommittee of RIRA, the group will present its recommendations to the Common Council for their approval. What we’ve been offered now is the chance to finesse a thus-far unsuccessful legislative approach in favor of a plan that will informally empower residents to choose their own leadership where it counts – on the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation Board of Directors.

Now, some things will remain the same. The Island’s choices will still be required to undergo a thorough background check. This is hardly surprising; after all, the Board will oversee a budget targeted at $32 million in expenditures for FY 2007-2008. Also, the winner(s) of RIOC elections will still require confirmation by the Governor and the State Senate. Therefore, your Residents Association will require a memorandum of understanding, assuring us that our efforts will be endorsed by RIOC, by DHCR, by the Senate, and by the Governor, all things being equal. All things being equal includes the same guarantees that Presidential appointments must have before Congress approves them, i.e., no skeletons in the closet. I think that all parties understand the necessity of this. RIRA is certainly not willing to invent a sui generis election procedure for RIOC without a guarantee that politics and patronage (a/k/a business as usual) won’t befoul our efforts. Also, we need to understand that the procedures we invent will outlive this RIOC President, this DHCR Commissioner, and this Governor. If we establish an elected RIOC Board of Directors, there must be an understanding that the enfranchisement of this community will endure.

For many years now, RIRA elections have been impeccably run and the results universally accepted. However, we can’t just use RIRA elections as a template for RIOC. The RIRA Constitution requires us to elect building delegates according to a weighted schedule, so that each residential development seats a number of Council Members commensurate with its population. The result is a Common Council composed of 35 members when all the seats are filled. With the potential for electing only seven of the nine RIOC Board members, out mutual goal of widespread diversity – of representing each building group, each organization, each interest group on Roosevelt Island – is untenable.

While we surely will attempt to continue the building representation that the current Board enjoys, I believe that RIRA has a higher priority – to attract the very best and brightest residents to the job. We are asking our neighbors to take responsibility for a $19 million annual operating budget and a $13 million capital budget, and to make decisions that affect the lives of 12,000 residents (and counting). Now, more than at any time in the previous 23 years of RIOC’s existence, and by virtue of the ballot box, we are asking them to accept more visiblity and accountability, not just to the Governor, but also to friends and neighbors.

Will the present RIOC Directors campaign to keep their Board seats? I don’t know. Will others in the community volunteer to run for this essential task? That remains to be seen. Will RIRA be able to attract candidates Island-wide while keeping the quality of the individual Board members high? Again, we’ll have to see. I know that MTG and RIRA can produce a flawless election based on mutually agreed-upon criteria.

But you, the residents, can make or break the process by providing or withholding your participation and support. If the community endorses the effort with quality candidates and strong participation at the polls, then we will have truly brought democracy to Roosevelt Island and made an enduring contribution to Island life. If the apathy prevails that sometimes destroys our best intentions and our best efforts, then the powers that be can say, "We gave them a shot and they simply weren’t up to it. We’ll have to continue imposing Board members on them in order to run the Island." That would be a shame, wouldn’t it?

Look, I understand the pitfalls of democracy as well as anyone. As E.B. White said, "Democracy is the recurrent suspicion that more than half of the people are right more than half of the time." Sometimes you get an Abe Lincoln; sometimes you get a George W. Bush. If any resident over 18 can run (we haven’t considered prerequisites for Board seats – education, job experience and the like – and I’m not sure we should), then utterly unqualified residents could conceivably be elected. It will be RIRA’s job to vet the candidates’ credentials before the public, in Town Meetings and in candidates’ written communications and campaign signage, but it will be your job, the community’s job, to pay attention and to vote for the very best men and women on Roosevelt Island. For this opportunity to work, you must stay attentive and you must stay committed. So, stay tuned.

A strange thing happened a few weeks ago. I was walking north on Main Street at just about twilight, and I passed a gray SUV parked in front of the cleaners. The smoked windows were closed, and so I couldn’t see who was inside. Emanating from the interior was some loud music and the sweet odor of a certain proscribed herb; we’re all familiar with that smell, right? Now, by itself this is not unusual and I really don’t get bent out of shape if someone wants to take a toke or two some place quiet. What I found remarkable was that they chose to park directly opposite our Public Safety office. Apparently, they considered this location to be the safest place to do a dooby on Roosevelt Island, and indeed, there was no one patrolling the street as I passed. Curious, no?

And finally, this from the Department of Transportation, which has started the three-year renovation project on the Roosevelt Island Bridge. Tuesday saw the beginning of work to remove the two toll booths and toll islands adjacent to Motorgate and to level the roadway. This will improve the traffic lane’s width for vehicles leaving the Island during the upcoming reconstruction project. Contractors will be working between 7:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m., but we are assured that these operations will not affect vehicular traffic on the Bridge. NYC DOT has hired a Project Community Liaison, Eric Deutsch, to provide the community with information and respond to any project-related questions, comments, or complaints, and he may be reached at 212-799-8803, ext. 24, Monday through Friday between the hours of 7 a.m. and 3:30 p.m.