There's nothing like seeing Roosevelt Island come alive when summer ends and the demands of autumn energize this community's go-getters.
You can sense the action in Trellis when half the booths and tables seem to be occupied with planners eagerly exchanging ideas about how to move their own particular game ball forward toward some well-defined goal. You can feel it when you try to book a room for a meeting and you have to work around the needs of other groups who got there first.
Two Island-founded organizations are headed for important fundraisers soon: Orphans International will present Peter Yarrow (of Peter, Paul and Mary) on October 30 (see ComingUp, page 3), and the Icla da Silva Foundation will celebrate 15 years of saving lives with a dinner-dance on October 17 at Tavern on the Green (story, page 1). There was a Run for Congo Women last weekend (story, page 14). Toastmasters has geared up for its regular meetings, the Residents Association Common Council has had its second meeting of the season, and RIOC is in high gear with discussions and planning that will determine much about the short- to long-term future of the Tramway. School is deeply in session. Today is the Fall for Arts Festival. And, of course, The WIRE is back on its twice-a-month schedule.
But one activity has an overriding importance, and we eagerly direct your attention to it: RIRA is gearing up for a first-ever vote to choose the community's nominees for the Board of Directors of the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation. (You've read about this in these pages before, and you can be sure we'll be coming back to the subject.) In immediate prospect is a community-wide meeting Wednesday night (October 10) at 8:00 in the lower community room at Westview (625 Main Street). There, people who have been working on self-governance for Roosevelt Island for a decade-plus will describe, briefly, this process in which our votes will choose residents whose names will be put before the Governor with the morally compelling request that he appoint them to the RIOC Board.
Why is that important?
The RIOC Board is like our City Council here in this neatly defined river town where the State calls the shots and the Board sets policies and approves plans. Running for and serving on that Board is a chance for real impact. If you've ever contemplated government service or elective office, this is your crack at it, in a situation where the decisions you help make will have the potential for direct influence on your life and on the lives of your fellow residents - our safety, our recreational opportunities, our transit needs, our quality of life... our very future in this terrific community.
Wednesday night at 8:00 is a chance to learn more about putting your name on the February 5 ballot, or to find out how you can help the community take this important step. Come out of curiosity, out of concern, or out of determination to make things better... But come.