Winter Ice Skating May Be Coming To Roosevelt Island Next Year, FDR Memorial Construction Phasing and Other Notes From 2/19 RIOC Board Meeting
At last night's RIOC Board Hearing, RIOC President Steve Shane reported that the operators of the Bryant Park Skating Rink have expressed an interest in setting up a facility on Roosevelt Island.
The Roosevelt Island location for the Skating Rink mentioned was Firemen's Field.
I think a better place for a skating rink would be the southern tip of Southpoint Park which has these fantastic views of the NYC Waterfront and Skyline but is the controversial site of the proposed Kahn/FDR Memorial Boondoggle.
The supporters of the Kahn/FDR Memorial gave a presentation at last night's RIOC Board Meeting on their proposed construction phasing and of course they said that they had to build the granite room first despite the overwhelming objections of Roosevelt Island residents as expressed in the referendum held last November. (830 votes in favor of building the park before the granite room memorial and 247 against the resolution)
Some good news is that the RIOC Board will have another vote sometime this summer, probably in June, on the proposed construction phasing so there is still an opportunity to stop this unwanted and out-of-date project. Also, approvals/permits still need to be obtained from the NY State Department of Conservation, the Army Corp of Engineers, Coast Guard, NYPD, Homeland Security among many others, and there is time to register our objections with these agencies. Much more on this soon.
Other highlights of the RIOC Board meeting include:
- approving the deferral of certain payments due from Hudson/Related, developers of Riverwalk Buildings 5 & 6, due to slow condo sales and rentals
- approving of the building renovation for the Public Safety Department and
- disclosure of a "temporary" parking lot for the customers of the Roosevelt Island Tennis Club to be located adjacent to the Riverwalk Sales Office in Southtown during the time of the Tram outage.
