RIRA President On Roosevelt Island Gristedes Complaint, Red Bus Rerouting & Upcoming Meetings

Image Of RIRA Common Council Meeting

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

1. Happy Holidays! Enjoy the holidays and Think Spring!

2. Dear Mr. Gristedes. On the evening of March 13, I spent over $300 on groceries and had them delivered, however, the delivery arrived an hour later with the frozen food melted and the rest of the items spoiled. I spoke to the manager who did not understand why I was upset (this is not the first time I've had spoiled food delivered). It seems that Gristedes' staff believe it is acceptable to deliver spoiled groceries, they would not replace the spoiled items, and the refused to refund the money when the spoiled items were returned. At least the purchase was made on credit card and they are fighting with Gristedes for the refund.

3. Rerouting the Red Bus. Matt Katz (Chair of RIRA Planning Committee), Aaron Hamburger (Chair of RIRA Island Services Committee), and I have been meeting with RIOC staff and engineers on the red bus. Southtown resident Stephan Silverstein suggested some good ideas, including having two routes: a commuter route (bus-only traffic during rush hour on the West Channel Drive with the buses operating two-way) and a non-commuter route (a clockwise loop route on Main Street and West Channel Drive). It turns out that this dual-route system is the safest plan (safer than RIOC), especially once the tram operation returns. This will require further analysis and comparison of the several plans. While RIOC staff have included RIRA in the meetings, (so far) RIOC staff do not seem open to considering solutions outside of the one they have proposed. The RIOC Operations Committee weighed in last week and, in consideration that the present RIOC plan does not address the needs when the tram returns, the committee recommended to RIOC staff that no significant/permanent rerouting occurs until the tram returns when tram operations can be fully considered.

4. Upcoming RIRA meetings. The next Common Council meeting is April 7 at 8:00 p.m. in the Good Shepherd Community Center. Upcoming RIRA meetings are on May 5 and June 2.

The RIRA President's message is also published as the RIRA column in the 3/27/10 Main Street WIRE.