RIRA Council Meeting

I went to the Roosevelt Island Resident's Association Common Council meeting Wednesday night.
The meeting started with a presentation by Thom Sokoloski and Jenny-Ann McCowan of the Encampment public participatory art project that will be installed at Southpoint Park during Open House NY from October 5-7. They gave a well received presentation to the Council members and reiterated their call for creative collaborators from the Roosevelt Island community as well as sponsors for individual tents. They are currently on Roosevelt Island so if you are interested in participating in this project they can be reached here.
Assemblymember Micah Kellner then reported on matters of interest to the Roosevelt Island community including a potential new buyer for Island House but not Westview as well as his Roosevelt Island office hours. A recent Main Street Wire article on issue of the sale of these buildings is here.
A long and fascinating conversation among the Council members then ensued regarding whether or not RIRA should accept unrestricted funds from the RIOC President's discretionary allotment that would be used for financing the RIRA sponsored plebiscite, but not election - repeat not election, of the Governor's nominees to the RIOC Board of Directors. Issues involving the balance between pragmatic local politics, governmental transparency and ethical considerations were robustly and vigorously debated. The motion to accept the funding was passed. Unfortunately, after 2 1/2 hours I had to leave while the meeting was still in progress so I do not know if there were any subsequent developments. Check out this week's Main Street Wire for more comprehensive coverage of the meeting.
The main impression I walked away from at 10:30 PM was that the RIRA Council members, all Roosevelt Island residents and our neighbors, are performing a great public service and deserve our respect and thanks for their service to the community. Perhaps they are not on par with the Founding Fathers pictured above, but if they are able to accomplish the plebiscite, a wonderful demonstration of democracy in action.