Tonight, Another Small Step for Roosevelt Island Democracy

Another small step for democracy and direct elected representation for Roosevelt Island. A candidate's orientation meeting for those considering running for the Roosevelt Island Resident's Association nomination to the RIOC Board of Directors will be held tonight at 8 PM in the Westview Lower Community room at 625 Main Street. Here is link for more information on RIOC nomination process.
One of the current Roosevelt Island resident members of the RIOC Board, who are all volunteers, wrote the following in the November 3, 2007 issue of the Main Street Wire (PDF File) describing his take on some of the many important and difficult issues RIOC Board members must consider.

What I’m worried about is, how are we going to get a few thousand additional residents on and off the Island every day for work or school, when the current transportation is straining at its limits?...

We’re working to upgrade Tram service, and we can extend our rush-hour service period, but that still benefits those Islanders whose schedules are adaptable.

There is talk of ferry service, but that will serve only a few hundred Islanders a day at best, and is expensive, and only carries you to the edge of Manhattan in various places, not to your work or school...

The very southernmost point on the Island is to have some sort of FDR memorial on it and that will be very large or it will not, and it will fit into the rest of the Park’s master plan or it will not, and that's going to be a great argument.

There are three more Southtown buildings scheduled to go up. And that has to be properly handled to bring maximum return to the Island without allowing the buildings to get out of scale.
We have a Tram to rebuild.
We have seawall to repair and rebuild.
Main Street must be rebuilt.
We have recurring problems with
street light...

So he asks, who should run for a RIOC Board seat?

We want people of good heart, good soul, and good mind. A vision helps too, I suppose. At least people will ask you for yours if you decide to run. But it will be bound to change once you’re aboard and taking responsibility. And it will be real, actual, legal responsibility, bound round by law and the science of what’s possible, or what can be made to be possible. One of you, reading this, might end up with my seat. And then you’ll get to sit up late, wondering how the hell a few thousand new neighbors, mandated by the City, are going to get to work in the morning. I love it, and I’ll do it as long as anybody wants me to. But maybe I’ll be replaced by one of you.

Link to You Tube video of Leonard Cohen's Democracy sung by John Bliemer is here.