Repaving Roosevelt Island Streets and Pothole Repair - Bye Bye Z Bricks
RIOC President Steve Shane responds to the following two comments by readers of this recent post on Roosevelt Island Pothole repair and street paving:
Who is in charge of fixing potholes on RI? The NYC DOT or the RIOC? Can I call 311 and report a pothole or do I have to call the RIOC?And:
Bye, bye z-bricks. Little by little all the character is being sucked out of the Island.From Mr. Shane:
Call RIOC to report potholes. We are responsible for fixing them, hence the present advisory about street closings for such repair program.Five years ago the RIOC Board set aside funds for the maintenance of the Z Bricks in their 5 year Capital Plan. The April 3, 2004 Main Street WIRE reported on this exchange between previous RIOC Board Director Ponton and RIOC President Berman concerning the Z Bricks.
Repaving will ultimately do away with the z brick which are a constant source of problem and presently unreplaceable. We will continue their use in plazas.
Read More!
...RIOC President Herb Berman, responding to a question from resident Board member Mark Ponton, said that it is “absolutely not the case” that RIOC management has decided to discontinue maintenance of sections of Z-brick on the Island, and substitute asphalt or blacktop. Board Chair Mary BethLabate said the five-year capital plan includes funds for the higher cost of maintaining the Z-bricks....
Perhaps it is just not feasible to maintain the Z Bricks on Roosevelt Island streets any longer but what happened to those funds allocated during previous RIOC administration for Z Brick repairs in referenced 5 year capital plan? Were they spent and proved that Z Bricks on Roosevelt Island streets were not practicable?Other interesting items from the 2004 RIOC Budget include:
- ...Certain items of Island infrastructure, in particular the street lighting, will be maintained in the future by the City when and if all elements are converted to the City standard.
- Discussion indicated that RIOC will retain some control over commercial uses of ground-floor space in Southtown buildings #3 and #4. Berman indicated attention would be paid to the concerns of competition in the Island’s micro-economy.
- In his President’s report, Berman said RIOC is hiring an elevator expert to develop and implement a permanent solution to the problem of frequent elevator outages and erratic operation at Motorgate....
3 comments :
I think this is the paragraph from the Main Street WIRE that quotes RIOC as assuring the residents that the z-bricks would stay. Next time we won't breathe a sigh of relif when we get assurances from RIOC.
• RIOC President Herb Berman, responding to a question from resident Board member Mark Ponton, said that it is “absolutely not the case” that RIOC management has decided to discontinue maintenance of sections of Z-brick on the Island and substitute asphalt or blacktop. Board Chair Mary Beth Labate said the five-year capital plan includes funds for the higher cost of maintaining the Z-bricks.
Board Chair Mary Beth Labate said the five-year capital plan includes funds for the higher cost of maintaining the Z-bricks.
Considering that that article is from April 2004 I am very sure that 5 year capital plan has expired already. What's so special about the Z-bricks anyway?
Considering the money was not spent, but rolled over every year, until it sort of disappeared, I don't consider it expired.
What's so special about z-bricks? If you have to ask... They're part of the character and design of the Island, like "red" buses, the Tram, our AVAC system, our cultural and economic mix, and so much more. That's what the General Development Plan (our zoning) was all about - making us a terrific, unique community.
Every little bit that gets chipped away homogenizes us just a little more.
It's a tough economy and it costs money to keep things up and I could understand eliminating expensive repairs if we weren't spending ridiculous amounts on other things, like the $1.7 mil to renovate Public Safety. Why not spend $1mil and use the $700K to fix the z-bricks? And there are a dozen more places to cut before we need to take away the z-bricks.
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