Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Roosevelt Island Fall For Arts Festival October 5, A Mystical Island - Call For Artists To Paint Outdoor Murals At Southpoint Park

Roosevelt Island's 2013 Fall For Arts Festival is coming up soon.


Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC) President Charlene Indelciato reports:
The date is set for our annual Fall for the Arts Festival. In partnership with Gallery RIVAA, RIOC will be hosting the Festival on October 5th at Southpoint Park and on the lawn south of Rivercross. There will be music, art, food and fun for all!

I understand that the painting of large outdoor murals is the Festival’s most loved tradition. I look forward to viewing them both in the Park and later at the Motorgate Gallery.

The theme for this year's event is "A Mystical Island." It is free to participate - paint and brushes are provided!

We invite you to submit a sketch of your design or any inquiries to Anna.Rankin@rioc.ny.gov along with a title and short description. The deadline for sketches is September 21, 2013....
RIOC has put out a call for artists to show their works.

According to Arthash, RIOC is seeking:
... several artists to each paint a 6 ft x 8 ft mural outdoors at Southpoint Park during the 2013 Fall for Arts Festival. Every year, the Fall for Arts Festival inspires and engages Roosevelt Island's creative community with music, displays of art and interactive workshops. One of the festival's most-loved traditions is the painting of large outdoor murals - a large and enthusiastic audience comes out each year to watch these paintings take shape. After the festival concludes, the murals are left on display in the park for a short time, then moved into the Island's Motorgate Gallery for display through late 2014.

The theme for this year's event is "A Mystical Island," so designs should reflect a sense of magic or fantasy in some form. It's free to participate, paint and brushes are provided!

We invite you to submit a sketch of your design or any inquiries to Anna.Rankin@rioc.ny.gov along with a title and short description. Deadline for sketches is September 21st, 2013. Good luck!
More info on 2013 Roosevelt Island Fall For Arts Festival here and scenes from 2012 Fall For Arts

Murals From 2012 Roosevelt Island Fall For Arts Festival

at this previous post.

4 comments :

YetAnotherRIer said...

You are doing it again. You make up stuff and make it sounds like facts. And you'll try to wiggle yourself out of it.

CheshireKitty said...

The minibus system was set forth as a transportation system in the GDP, but nothing was said of a fare. Charging a fare was optional since minimal infrastructure other than the buses/bus garage was required.

Because there is a lot more infrastructure required to build an aerial tramway, RIOC had to not only charge a tram fare but to have had the fare, for so many years, slightly more expensive than the subway fare, so as to offset the expense of building the tram, buying the gondolas and so forth, until, as we know, Matt was able to get the MTA to agree to add the tram to the Metrocard system, thus saving RI residents probably millions of dollars in additional tram fare money by now.



What was the alternative? Should the State have spent millions to build and run the tram and not have charged a fare? That would not have made sense IMO. However, for the convenient minibus, almost a shuttle bus connecting Northtown to the tram originally, almost an adjunct to the tram, it was deemed OK to offer that service free.


Of course, now that the tram is in place and paid for (presumably) it could also be made free of charge, just as the Staten Island Ferry is free. However, we all know why Giuliani made the SI Ferry free - to thank his political (conservative) base on SI, since their votes were instrumental each time in him getting elected Mayor. RI with far fewer votes just doesn't have similar clout. I don't see why the Gov would ever make the RI tramway free, although it would certainly be nice if he did!

CheshireKitty said...

If there's nothing in the GDP about a fare, then that means it could be free. That's all I'm saying. The GDP didn't specify the bus had to have a fare. Those that started RI like me, interpreted that to mean "free". The proof is, the fare was nothing for the first 15 years or so of RI's existence. (Or maybe more than 15 years if it was free up until 1991 - depends on when RI actually started - could have been sometime in the mid 70s.)


Let's not forget too that at first RIOC or UDC was following the GDP, it wasn't considered obsolete or just a suggested plan of development as it later was treated under Pataki. To me, the fact that they (RIOC/UDC) were following the GDP and they made the bus free, indicates that they interpreted the language in the GDP to mean the bus was to be a free amenity, a kind of shuttle bus so that residents wouldn't have to schlep back and forth from the tram.


There was also a time on RI before the tram. Frank, you were living on RI in those days. Did the red bus have a fare back then, when it was running to transportation links (subway) in Queens?

Frank Farance said...

CK, your logic is flawed again: "Charging a fare was optional since minimal infrastructure other than the buses/bus garage was required", but the garage was built with significant cost, and they charged parking fees (which aren't mentioned). There's no consistency to your logic.

There is no basis for your statement "You may not realize that the minibus system was planned and originally implemented as a free service. This is all explained in the GDP.". There was no planning for free/fared service in the GDP, it doesn't mention it either way. And your explanation of "minimal infrastructure" does not correlate to free/fee services.

Another erroneous point is your statement "RIOC had to not only charge a tram fare but to have had the fare, for so many years, slightly more expensive than the subway fare, so as to offset the expense of building the tram, buying the gondolas and so forth, ...".

Your statement is not true. For many many years, the tram was the same fare as the subway. Then in the Cuomo years, everything needed to increase revenues, so the Tram was increased to $1.40 in October 1990 while the subway was still $1.15 (my memory is fuzzy, someone please correct me if I'm wrong). By November 1995, both the Tram and the subway had the same fare ($1.50), but different tokens. So for the 37 years of the Tram, only 5 of them had a 15-25 cents higher fare.


Furthermore, the extra fare (and they fare itself) never paid for the original Tram, that's part of the billion dollars of RIOC debt/liability owed towards ESDC.


The Tram tokens disappeared because of RIOC's poor financial controls, NOT because of Metrocards:

[April 4, 1998 WIRE] "Check your pockets. You may have a piece of history there. Tram tokens are no longer for sale. “The agency can no longer account for all the tokens minted by previous administrations,” according to RIOC Communications Director Michael Greason, “meaning that parties may have improper access to tram tokens. RIOC has received over a thousand tokens from out-of-state agencies, and it is clear that they are being used on a regular basis elsewhere in the country. It is unlikely that someone would purchase a tram token for $1.50 and then use it on the Garden State Parkway in lieu of 25 cents! In addition, token vending machines and turnstiles are frequently given to RIOC at little or no cost by the MTA. The system of using tram tokens does not meet with the scrutiny applied to it by financial auditors and the State Comptroller, and this RIOC administration, in an effort to strengthen the weak internal controls it inherited, has increased the usage of MTA tokens while we take a closer look at this situation and the controls governing the tram tokens. MTA tokens are also more practical since they can be used elsewhere in the City.”"


CK, you're reporting of the facts is way off.