RIRA President on Upcoming MTA Meeting, Resident Transportation Meeting With Building Managements, RIOC and City Officials & Blackwell Park Planning

Image of November 2009 RIRA Meeting from Jonathan Kalkin

Roosevelt Island Residents Association President (RIRA) Frank Farance sends the following report to Roosevelt Island residents.

1. Meeting with MTA on December 1. We will talk about improving the subway service, especially during the tram outage. I expect representation from the offices of RIOC, Stringer, Lappin, Serrano, and Kellner. I will report the results at the monthly RIRA Common Council meeting on December 2 and also in my next column.

2. Summary of November 10 Ad Hoc transportation meeting at Octagon. This was convened by Francisco Bozzano-Barnes, RIRA representative from Octagon. All agreed "improved subway services and the creation of ferry services between Roosevelt Island and Manhattan are an urgent need for this island". Matt Katz, RIRA Planning Committee chair, provides the following report (great report Matt!).

PARTICIPANTS

Francisco Bozzano-Barnes (Convener, RIRA), Matthew Katz (Chair, RIRA Planning Committee), John Renner, Jr. (Becker + Becker), Paul Paul J. Gabriel (MSKCC), Paul Curtis (for Assembly Member Kellner), Kevin P. Rakowsky (Cornell-Weill), Barbara Clark (Octagon Management), Jennifer Jones (R-Y Management), Rick O'Conor (Roosevelt Islander blog), Margie Smith (RIRA, Rivercross Board), S. Bermon (RIOC waterfront rep?), Steve Shane (RIOC), Fernando Martinez (RIOC), Sandra Holden (Manhattan Park), Brian Weisberg (Manhattan Park), Andrew Jackson (Hudson Company), John Moore (for Council Member Lappin), Howard Polivy (RIOC Board), Adam Zaranko (NYC EDC/Maritime), James A. Harris (Asst. VP NYC Economic Development Corporation).

SUBWAY SERVICE

Shane stated that the Red Bus would run every half-hour to Queens Plaza during the morning rush hour while the Tram renovations are underway. He said this would be more than adequate. Smith noted that, during the test period in which the Tram was out of service, many people did not know to catch it at Gristede's and that the pick-up point should be at the subway station. She recommended using a Queens subway stop closer to Roosevelt Island, such as the #7 Court House Square stop, to shorten the turn-around time. Shane explained that the Queens Plaza station is more accessible for the disabled.

Bermon noted that often people congregate around the doors in subway cars, leaving the center of the car relatively empty. She asked if TA employees could move people away from the doors. O'Conor noted that, at the Roosevelt Island southbound subway platform, people congregate where the elevator and escalators drop them, often leaving the middle of the platform less congested. He suggested that signage directing riders to less crowded areas might help. Others noted that the increased ridership throughout Queens made the trains uniformly overcrowded upon arrival at our station.

Bozzano asked if any building managers were hearing transportation complaints from their residents. Rakowsky said that Cornell-Weill provided Southtown residents with a shuttle bus in the evening and Holden said that tenants in Manhattan Park had expressed a fear of difficulties during the six-month Tram outage beginning March 2010. Bozzano asked all the housing managers if short- and long-term transportation issues were likely to affect their occupancy rates; all stated that it would. The consensus was that this would manifest itself in a reluctance to enter into lease agreements. Holden said that the accident that denied tenants the use of the Tram for five months affected lease renewals

Holden asked about the feasibility of using the other subway lines underneath the Island. Katz and Shane noted that the cost of a new station has been quoted at one billion dollars. Bermon asked about bicycle access during the morning rush hour and Shane stated that bikes are not allowed on the Tram during that period.

FERRY SERVICE

The EDC reps reported that the City is moving toward approving a landing barge for Octagon and also are examining sites on the south shore nearer to the Island transportation hub. Katz noted that the Coast Guard opposed any west channel site other than Octagon, and mentioned that RIOC VP, Rosina Abramson, had conducted a survey of east channel southern sites that included the participation of the Queens DOT Commissioner. Shane recalled that, twenty years ago, Abramson, then RIOC President, had organized ferry service using the oil dock on the east channel. He said it was temporary and inadequate. Shane noted that Manhattan is organized through a central spine and so, ferry riders would be obliged to continue their commutes from the shoreline. He said that the "spud barge" idea for the pier at the subway would not work, as that site would require considerable drilling, but that the old oil dock was under consideration. Someone noted that ferry service to 71st Street would convenience workers at the East Side hospitals.

Bermon mentioned the "Eco Dock" planned for Bay Ridge, spearheaded by the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance and funded by the City Council for $300,000. She distributed a news article on the project and asked if a similar Eco Dock could meet our short-term needs.

OPERATIONALIZATION

Curtis cited the December 1 meeting with the MTA to address specific solutions to the Roosevelt Island transportation bottleneck and mentioned station skip-stops as one item of discussion. Bozzano suggested that ferry providers bid on the City contract to keep the price down. Shane said that Tom Fox, New York Water Taxi President, thought he could get permitting for a temporary dock at the oil dock in the southern area of the Island. Bermon asked if the hospital housing representatives thought their institutions would be interested in subsidizing a ferry site near their institutions at East 71st Street. Shane noted that RIOC would offer $100,000 to subsidize short-term ferry service while the Tram was being renovated.

3. Blackwell Park planning. There appears to be some movement within RIOC to accept the fact that the expanded committee of Island residents is *the* committee to define the plans for Blackwell Park. At the time of this report, I have no official confirmation from RIOC on this. I will report further in my next column.

The RIRA President's message was also published as the RIRA column in the 11/21/09 Main Street WIRE.