Governor Cuomo and NY State Senate Spit In The Eye Of Roosevelt island Residents By Appointing Unelected, Conflict Ridden, Non Resident to RIOC Board of Directors -Horrible Way To Start Your Ethics and Good Government Agenda Mr. Cuomo

Image of Rotting Fish From NY Daily News

Something stinks like rotting fish in the way the New York State Senate and Governor Andrew Cuomo are attempting to bring back colonial rule to Roosevelt Island with the apparent naming of Salvatore Fererra, currently Executive Director of the Child School/Legacy High School, to the Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC) Board of Directors.

Mr. Fererra, who does not live on Roosevelt Island and has worked here for less than a year, is being shoved down the throats of Roosevelt Island residents as a RIOC Board Director without having been elected by the community as have 6 of the 7 current resident RIOC Board Directors. The only Resident Board Director not elected by the community is David Kraut who was an existing Board member before the new RIOC election procedure was implemented. The 2 other RIOC Board Members are representatives of NY State government. Notice how the non-NY State government RIOC Board members are residents of Roosevelt Island which Mr. Fererra is not.

I learned about the naming of Mr. Fererra to the RIOC Board yesterday. According to the NY State Senate Finance Committee

Senate Standing Committee on Finance
Senator John A. DeFrancisco, Chair
  Wednesday, June 15, 2011
MEETING WILL BE CALLED OFF THE FLOOR

The Senate Finance Committee will consider the following nominations (TO APPEAR):
... Salvatore Ferrera as a Member of the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation
(pending confirmation by the Committee on Transportation)...

Later that evening the Albany Citizen One Blog reported:

All of the appointments presented in the Senate chamber were confirmed, ... The following were confirmed...
... Salvatore Ferrera as a Member of the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation...

Last night, I sent the following inquiry to Mr. Fererra:

I understand that you were just appointed as a Board Director of the Roosevelt Island Operating Corp. (RIOC).

Do you wish to make any statement regarding your appointment that I can publish on the Roosevelt Islander Blog and share with the Roosevelt Island community?

For instance, as Executive Director of the Child School/Legacy High School do you think it is proper for you to be on the RIOC Board when the Child School/Legacy High School is a tenant of RIOC, may be seeking additional space on Roosevelt Island for an Arts Center, Equestrian Center and Boat House as well as being the recipient of an extremely below market rent for your school space of almost 50,000 sq ft. on the Waterfront Promenade at $6 sq ft.?

Do you think that such real estate entanglements represent a conflict of interest to your fiduciary obligations as a RIOC Board Member?  If not, why?

In the past, RIOC Board members had to resign from other Roosevelt Island organizations in order to be on the RIOC Board. Do you intend to resign from the Child School/Legacy High School in order to serve on the RIOC Board?

Do you think it is proper for you to accept an appointment to the RIOC Board without participating in the election process for a RIOC Board seat which many Roosevelt Island residents have fought so hard for many years to achieve at least a small measure of democracy on Roosevelt Island?

Roosevelt Island residents would be very interested in learning exactly what your qualifications are for being a RIOC Director.

As of this morning, I have not received a response from Mr. Fererra.

If Mr. Fererra's appointment to the RIOC Board is not reversed, that means that a current RIOC Board member will have to be replaced. Checking the RIOC web site it shows that the term of three current RIOC Board members have expired.

They are:

• Faye Fryer Christian - term expired May 19, 2010
• Jonathan Kalkin - term expired June 10 2011
• David Kraut - term expired June 10 2011

It will be outrageous if any of these RIOC Directors are replaced by the unelected Mr. Fererra but it will be a gigantic travesty and injustice if Mr. Kalkin is the RIOC Director replaced.

I may not always agree with Mr. Kalkin on a particular issue but he is an extraordinary public servant for Roosevelt Island devoting many hours of his time and innovative ideas for the benefit of our community and individual residents. Through his persistent efforts the Roosevelt Island Retail Main Street Master Leaseholder was accomplished, many companies think of Roosevelt Island as a place to experiment with innovative solutions to municipal problems and Mr. Kalkin is always ready to respond to questions from Roosevelt Island residents as well as this blog and to help residents with any problem or issue they may have.

Something really, really stinks here. Questions need to be asked and truthful answers obtained as to how Mr. Fererra, out of nowhere, managed to be named as a RIOC Board Director. Why? Whose interests does this serve?

UPDATE 1:25 PM - I am now advised that Jonathan Kalkin was the RIOC Director replaced. According to Assembly Member Micah Kellner:

I’m extremely disappointed that Jonathan Kalkin was removed from the RIOC board. Jonathans energy and ingenuity brought terrific innovation to Roosevelt Island and there’s no way that he can be replaced. This is a great loss for everyone who cares about Roosevelt Island.

This is disgusting and a blatant abuse of Roosevelt Island by the NY State Senate and Governor Cuomo. One can only ask WHY? What is going on?

Roosevelt Island Residents Association (RIRA) President Matt Katz adds:

Your blog says it all and in the appropriate outraged language.  Salvatore Ferrera’s appointment to the RIOC Board of Directors was a stealth campaign that maliciously and deliberately took place behind our backs.   Having been one of the workers who created and executed the highly successful elections that placed six Island residents on the nine-member RIOC Board of Directors, I am astounded at the arrogance of our colonial masters in Albany and the insult to this community that this step encompasses.  A decade’s slog towards democratic government has been upset in a day.  I await a response from the current resident Board members, whose seats are now all in jeopardy.  We will devise an appropriate community response as we learn the full import of this calamity.

          Matthew Katz

          President, RIRA 

UPDATE 2:05 PM - Sherrie Helstien, Secretary of RIRA Common Council and the person in charge of PR for Maple Tree Group’s (MTG) two Community Elections writes:

Those of us who have worked our asses off to get two impeccable elections created for, and on behalf of this community in order to bring us some small semblance of local, democratic governance, are stunned, disturbed, infuriated, and utterly nauseated by this turn of events.  We had the help and  support of the Spitzer and Paterson administrations, as well as former DHCR Chair, Deborah van Amerongen and RIOC President/CEO, Steve Shane in our election endeavors.  Former Governor Pataki (Rep.), initiated the concept of having local residents participate in determining the direction of the community’s development and  its varied issues in his “Open Spaces Law”, passed by the NY State legislature:  it states that the RIOC Board must be comprised of a majority of ISLAND RESIDENTS.  The current Governor and Senate Republicans who supported this nomination need to be reminded of their obligation to follow the law and to honor past precedents put into place by past Governors.

We have yet to find out exactly who else on the current Board this community chose may be getting replaced and by whom.  This is a continuation of past assaults on a community that has lived under the grave assault of “taxation without representation” for far too long and it is UN-DEMOCRATIC. 

We have troops in two countries (as far as we know), and if our federal reps vote on it, the (any) President of the U.S. may be given the right to decide unilaterally to declare war anywhere in the world, at any time, to “support democracy”—but what about here at HOME?  Where is this small community’s DEMOCRACY???   Will Roosevelt Island residents unite and start thinking like the people in Iran, Egypt, Syria, Libya, Yemen, & Bahrain? 

We need to open our eyes and see  ourselves as we are seen by these state legislators: as a housing development with people who have no legal standing which translates into having no local representative democracy.  It is that simple.  And it is that hard.  Will our new residents see and understand what this means to them when, for instance, the parkland they thought was theirs/ours, is given away (and for a pittance at that), yet again without meaningful community input?  We’ll have to see… 

Shame on this Governor and shame on the MONEY and deal-making  that has probably been behind this extremely aggressive act.

Sherrie is right - who economically benefits from replacing Mr. Kalkin on the RIOC Board? In almost every scandal involving government appointments - follow the money, follow the money and let's see where that leads. 

UPDATE: 11:55 PM - Roosevelt Island's NY State Senator Jose Serrano comments:

The controversy regarding the recent RIOC Board appointment highlights the need for legislation, like the bill (S4405) I’m sponsoring with Assembly Member Kellner, that would give Roosevelt Island residents a higher degree of self-governance. Roosevelt Island has distinctive needs that are specific to the area, and its residents uniquely qualified to play an active role in its leadership.

UPDATE 6/17 - Here is the video minutes for the meeting dated June 15, 2011 at 5 PM - 5:51 PM of:

SUPPLEMENTAL AGENDA*
The Senate Finance Committee will consider the following nomination:
Salvatore Ferrera as a Member of the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation 

The video shows at approximately the 31 minute 15 second mark,  that Mr. Fererra's appointment was withdrawn to be dealt with at a later time according to the Committee Chair. Nothing else was mentioned about Mr. Fererra for the rest of the meeting so unless there was another committee meeting later in the evening, I can't tell when the appointment to the RIOC Board was approved by the Committee.

Also, Mr. Fererra advises in response to a question from me:

As far as my appointment it went thru the office of Senate Majority leader Dean Skelos.

UPDATE 6/17 -RIOC Director Margie Smith comments:

Yesterday’s appointment of Salvatore Ferrera to the RIOC Board is outrageous on so many levels.  This community has worked tirelessly for over a decade to have elected representation on the RIOC Board.  In the last two rounds of board appointments, Island residents gave their neighbors a voice by running for election rather than just accepting appointments without any input from the community.  That set a precedent, or so we hoped, for future appointments.  Yesterday’s action ignores that precedent and shows a total disregard for the community’s wishes.

To add insult to injury, Mr. Ferrera will be taking the place of resident Board Member Jonathan Kalkin.  Jonathan has been one of the most active members in the history of the board.  He has initiated, and is currently managing, a number of crucial projects, and, because of his special expertise in technology, and his forward-thinking, these projects could be in serious jeopardy.  The remaining board members will do our best to see these projects through to fruition, but Jonathan will be sorely missed at the helm of these initiatives.

Bottom line, I personally believe it's a privilege being on the RIOC Board, but only if you hold that seat because the residents of the Island vote you in.

and so does RIOC Director Howard Polivy:

Without touching on all the issues of this recent Albany action, I just want to react to the end of Jonathan's tenure on the RIOC board.

He worked tirelessly to improve our shared quality of life. These broad efforts ranged from the details necessary to assure smooth operations of the complex urban ecology that this Island represents in miniature, with all the balancing of competing interests, to the notion that our community may model new interesting technologies to benefit all New Yorkers.

Most importantly, as Chair of the Real Estate Committee, he gave a great deal of his time and energy to two key developments. Much has been made of the Master Lease which will soon become effective. However, and much less in the public eye, Jonathan took the lead in efforts preserve effective affordable housing for the middle class. I am confident that as details emerge his vision will be vindicated and it's success will prove useful in other areas in the state.

UPDATE 6 PM - Roosevelt Island's New York City Council Member Jessica Lappin comments:

No disrespect to the new incoming member, but it’s outrageous that the Governor’s office didn’t consult or inform any of us before making this appointment.  I don’t understand why he disregarded the electoral process we had previously hammered out.  It’s sad to lose both Jonathan and the more transparent and democratic process we’d worked out for selecting RIOC board members.

UPDATE 10 PM - Jonathan Kalkin comments:

I appreciate the huge amount of support from the community that I have been getting not only today, but for the last several years. This decision is a threat to our democracy on Roosevelt Island and ignores the hard fought democratic process that so many have worked tirelessly for so many years. Roosevelt Island is closer than ever to having a vibrant Main Street and long term affordable housing and we must not let anything disrupt that progress. I challenge the current and incoming board members to continue and complete the reform initiatives I have fought so hard for and I know they are up to the task. Public service can take many different forms and I will continue to be a voice for a better quality of life and democracy for this community.

UPDATE 6/18 - Roosevelt Island Maple Tree Group met with Mr. Fererra to urge him to resign or not accept appointment as RIOC Director. More Here.

UPDATE 6/20 - Latest on whether Mr. Fererra will accept the appointment to RIOC Board or resign his seat.

UPDATE 6/30 - Roosevelt Island residents and RIOC Directors urge Mr. Ferrera to resign during June RIOC Board Meeting (includes video of statements)