Governors Island & Brooklyn Bridge Park Returned to New York City - How About Roosevelt Island?
The NY Post and NY Times are reporting that New York City will take back control of Governors Island from the State of New York. From the NY Post:
The city is taking control of Governors Island from the state and can now move forward with plans to turn the prime, if underused, real estate into a lush park and major destination for tourists and New Yorkers alike.The NY Times adds that not only will NYC take back control of Governors Island from NY State but also:
Under a deal with Albany, the city will put up $41.5 million for the initial work on the island and in return will control nine of 13 appointments to the Governors Island Operating Entity...
... Last month, the city reached a similar deal with the state to take over Brooklyn Bridge Park.Now can anyone think of another piece of land or neighborhood in New York City controlled by the State Of New York which should be returned to the City of New York? Come on, you can do it.
Other prospective deals being discussed in the Bloomberg administration include exercising the city’s right to buy Battery Park City from the state and negotiating a takeover of the state-run City University of New York system, according to city officials...
That right, the answer is Roosevelt Island, which while technically part of New York City, is leased to the State of New York through the year 2068 and run by our friends at the Roosevelt Island Operating Corp., a NY State Public Benefit Corporation created under these NY State Governing Statutes.
In 1999 former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani
visited a Roosevelt Island Town Hall Meeting and seemed to support the liberation of Roosevelt Island from the State of New York as recounted in this 2007 post:
... returning control of Roosevelt Island from the State of New York to the City of New York. This may not be as far fetched as it first appears. Politicians rarely give up power to others but remember that Mayor Bloomberg was able to gain control of the City's school system when most observers thought that it would be impossible. Perhaps the Mayor can accomplish the same thing for Roosevelt Island that he did for the NYC Public school system - return it to the control of the City of New York where it belongs!Some in RIOC assert that liberation from New York State would be detrimental to Roosevelt Island residents. They say we are much better off being governed by RIOC due to RIOC staff being intimately aware of our local problems and concerns which would not be addressed in the larger NYC bureaucracy.
As reported in the Main Street WIRE, former Mayor Rudy Giuliani took some baby steps toward the liberation of Roosevelt Island in 1999 during a Roosevelt Island Town Hall Meeting when he proclaimed:"I'm very much in favor of the City controlling our own destiny... Ultimately, you'll be better off when you can touch it, scream at it, deal with it. The Commissioners are accessible... You're much better off moving more of this back to the City. We'll try."According to the same article this comment from a Roosevelt Island Resident:"What we're looking for here is democracy," and an escape from the "bureaucratic quagmire" that is RIOC.drew this response from former Mayor Rudy Giuliani"I would be very happy to work with you to liberate Roosevelt Island."Will Mayor Bloomberg take on this challenge.
4 comments :
It would be interesting to see a graph showing the cost of RIOC/PSD which seems to grow even though new construction has stalled. RIOC maybe aware of what is needed but they do not share our priorities.
Speak for yourself!
Most of the island's problems stem from the fact that it is in New York City, but not of it. If we were just a normal NYC neighborhood, maybe Main Street we would have some retail that didn't look like it belongs in a third-world country. Maybe some of the empty stores would get rented. Maybe a real restaurant would open here. Maybe other residents of the city would realize that we are just a stop on the F train. Naybe RI residents would realize that they live in a housing project in New York City and not in an isolated small town in the middle of nowhere.
My biggest problem with Roosevelt Island is the RED BUS. I feel like no one supervises, and the drivers just make it up as they go. Say what you want about the MTA, but I feel they are more reliable. Yes, the trains my go down, and they buses may get stuck in traffic, but come on, the RED BUS only has one street. I can depend on the MTA bus to be where they say they will be, at the time they say they will be there. The MTA is more constant. I feel the MTA is more constant, because the MTA has supervisor that actually stand on the street (not sit in their office), and supervisors ride the buses, just to make sure they're constantly ON-TIME. I have seen them with my own eyes. Unlike the RED BUS, where you never know what you're going to get. I never see a supervisor, or anyone with a pin and clip board documenting the efficiency, or lack of. Not only that, the RED BUS is so freaking slow (referring to the driving speed, coupled with the amount of stops). Their has been many time that I have gotten off the RED BUS mid-trip from the Octagon Stop to the Subway, and walked the rest of the way. Only to see that I have either beaten, or arrived at the same time. That is crazy. I know that Roosevelt Island may want to keep that small town charm, but If you are going to build luxury apartments that draw more people from the Main Island (Manhattan), then you will need to bring a little city to the small town. You can't have one without the other.
OKAY! I'm done venting. Their needs to be an overhaul of the RED BUS.
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