RIRA Island Service Committee Chair Reports on 1/13/09 RIOC Operations Committee Meeting

Image of RIOC provided services of Red Bus, Tram, Blackwell House, Seawall and Good Shepherd Community Center from RIOC

Aaron Hamburger, Chair of the Roosevelt Island Residents Association (RIRA) Island Services Committee attended the January 13 Roosevelt Island Operating Corp's Government/Operations Committee meeting and forwards the following summary of the meeting.

Information from RIOC Operations Committee, 1/13/09

Meeting concentrated on capital projects – present & future.

º RIOC looking into the possibility of moving the Public Library to 504 Main St. Original plan was to move Library to Riverwalk Bldg. #7. However, due to current economic conditions, it’s unlikely that #7 will be constructed anytime in the next 8 – 10 years.

º Blackwell playground project will be completed before spring.

º Lighthouse comfort station project is completed.

º Poor lighting at Motorgate will be completely replaced by “green” lighting fixtures. The fixture will have a low light bulb, which will generally be on, and a high light bulb which will be activated by a motion sensor. If there is motion in the area, from a car or pedestrian, the high beam will go on and stay on so long as motion is detected.

º FDR Memorial – They now have $16M in funds; $8M from private/foundation donations, $4M from New York City and $4M from New York State. This is enough to do Phase I of the project, which will involve site preparation, foundations and most, if not all, of the “room”. There will be no park development/landscaping as the NYC and State funds can only be used for capital projects. Landscaping, etc is not considered a capital expense.

Red Bus Morning Rush Hour

ISC is gathering “on-site” information on the number and time of “incidents” primarily at the Manhattan Park bus stop.

Credit Card Theft

We are obtaining specific information on each known credit card theft at the Octagon and elsewhere before going to Post Office officials.

Disabled Accessibility to “F” Train

Regulations covering this issue are being researched.

As this report is being issued 1/18/09, there may be additional items to report on at the RIRA 2/4/09 meeting.

Aaron Hamburger, Chair, ISC

For those that want to watch the web cast of the meeting it is available here

UPDATE - 1/30 - RIOC President Steve Shane sends the following message regarding the Operations Committee report:

You posted Mr. Hamburger's report on the proceedings of the 1/13 Ops Cttee. In his first bullet point, he stated "However, due to current economic conditions, it's unlikely that #7 will be constructed anytime in the next 8-10 years." Nothing of the kind was said. I have just watched the entire 2:15 of the netcast to verify. Please ask Mr. Hamburger to report what was said and to identify his opinion as opinion.

I replied:

I forwarded your comment to Mr. Hamburger and will post your comment as an update to original. I repeat my offer to you to publish your President's column on the blog so that fully accurate information on Roosevelt Island affairs is available to residents and all others concerned.

By the way, during the OPS committee meeting you indicated that the $4 million allocated for the FDR memorial by the City of NY cannot be spent on landscaping but must be spent on the granite, foundation and room because only capital expenses can be funded with the City money. You had also said this to me personally during our trip with Jon kalkin and Fernando Martinez to Southpoint last month.

I inquired of City Council Person Jessica Lappin if this is accurate and received a response from John Moore of her office that the money could be spent in any manner and the phasing of construction could be undertaken in any order that RIOC sees fit including landscaping the park grounds before building the foundation and room. Below is Mr. Moore's message.

Obviously, Council Member Lappin would like to see the entire project completed. As for the phasing of the project, that is dependent upon the agreement reached between FERI and RIOC and what makes sense in terms of engineering and planning. The money is available for the entire project and does not specify in what order the project should be completed.

Any comment on the use of City Council funds for landscaping the park instead of building the room and foundation. As you know a recent RIRA referendum indicated overwhelming preference on the part of the community that should the FDR memorial be built, landscaping for the park grounds occur before the building of the granite room so that Southpoint is not stuck with an incomplete memorial blight should the project supporters run out of money.

Mr. Shane replied:

I spoke to Mr. Moore today and while he repeated that the City has no opinion on the Phasing order, he had not considered the City's legal problem with capital funds and would check back with his source. From our experience with Corp. Counsel and the funding for the Smallpox Hospital stabilization, also by way of Councilmember Lappin's member item, I know that we could not be reimbursed for any "soft-money" items including design, supervision, etc. because of the need to maintain the "capital" nature of the improvements to qualify the City Bond issue under federal tax rules without running into bond cap issues. So while it seems byzantine, not surprising in bond land.

Will continue to follow and pursue the FDR memorial story.

UPDATE - 2/2- Mr. Hamburger acknowledges that Mr. Shane was correct in regard to the construction of Riverwalk building #7. From Mr. Hamburger:

The delay, 8 to 10 years, was my estimate (guess) not something that came from Shane or other Operating Committee members.