Message From RIOC Board Of Directors - Status Of Transitional Management Going Well & Update On Various Roosevelt Island Projects
Image Of June 2010 RIOC Board MeetingReceived the following report from six of the seven resident board members of the Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC) regarding the status of RIOC's management following the departure/removal/firing/retirement of former President/CEO Steve Shane and an update on various present and future Roosevelt Island projects. It was emphasized that this statement:
... provides an update to which some Directors agreed to present, or sign, as individuals. This is not a "Board statement".Here is their statement:
We realize some residents may be unsettled by the change of administration at RIOC. First of all, we want to assure everyone that RIOC staff’s primary work, supporting our common community, continues unabated. RIOC’s services continue to maintain the basic fabric of our community while many improvement projects advance.RIOC Director David Kraut did not sign the statement.
With the transition currently going on right now in RIOC we want to take this opportunity to assure the residents that projects are going forward on schedule. Beyond the normal buzz of activity to support comfort and safety here in our village, its been a very busy summer.
Ongoing Projects
Many of the Directors have met with senior RIOC staff in recent weeks. We are all impressed by their efforts to bring all current projects forward with a great spirit of mutual support. Steve Chironis, CFO and Acting President, has created a very collegial atmosphere, with great interdepartmental cooperation among Fernando Martinez, Ken Leitner, Rosina Abramson, and the other department heads. We thank them and all their staff.
Their attention is spread across many projects and concerns all around the Island. Parks and ballfields are being developed. The Chapel plaza is being rebuilt. Good Shepherd Chapel itself will receive desperately needed heating and air conditioning, and plans advance to refurbish its roof. Better, highly efficient lighting is planned throughout the island. The AVAC system we all quietly rely upon has been repaired. Advanced wireless network infrastructure installation continues, in part to enable security systems supported by Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney’s funding efforts.
An incident tracking system is in development, like our own 311, so that there will be a uniform and transparent way to report problems and see their resolution. Motorgate is receiving a state of the art efficient led lighting upgrade, and installing solar panels and electric car charging posts is under consideration. The helix adjacent to Motorgate has been tested and found to be worn but serviceable, with some patching now, but with enough lead time allowed to permit an orderly, and much less intrusive repair process, to occur within the next five or six years.
Some issues, of course, receive our special attention, due to their great impact on our community:
Mitchell-Lama Housing
Three buildings with over 1,100 apartments are under this 30-year old housing program. Graceful exits from this middle-class housing program are sought. A variety of state and local agencies have input into a process of recreating a mix of taxes and fees that remain low enough to permit a next-generation template for affordable housing to evolve. RIOC has a direct role through its assessment of ground rents, and an indirect role as the local, but very junior, state authority, to influence the other authorities, and act as a focal center for discussions. The Board has lead RIOC to resolving to accept the state housing authority DHCR lead in determination that certain proposals are truly new affordable housing models. Accordingly, following our Master Plan and Mission, RIOC is resolved to grant affordable ground rents to enable affordable housing.
Main Street Retail Corridor
Accelerated activity has brought us to the final phase before release of a Request for Proposal (RFP) for a Master Lease. The benefit of this operational change is to seek an experienced operator who will work with current and future merchants to build a vibrant Main Street. We intend that merchant variety and locations may be reconsidered in creative ways so that an attractive and thriving town center may quickly begin development, to serve all our community. The Board has driven this effort, as the best means to solving this very long-term issue. Instead of clumsy efforts to make piecemeal utilization decisions and put leases through a lengthy RFP, review, and Board approval mechanism, we intend to have a professional operator whose incentive is focused on increasing our merchants‘ success and our satisfaction.
We intend increased community involvement as this process evolves.
Tram Upgrade
We continue to monitor this project, and now expect that the Tram will resume operation at the end of September. We are pleased that budgeted funds are sufficient to permit station improvements. Efforts have been directed to improve comfort and safety during waiting times with some refreshing of the basic station designs. These changes are within budget and may be accomplished in short order. We are also considering improving the existing ADA access, but permitting and budget issues may require a slower track to completion. Public meetings are planned to present the proposed station designs.
RIOC Board of Directors
A continued schedule of Committee meetings and a special Board of Directors meeting in August reflect our devotion to serving this community through directing RIOC. Please attend meetings. Speak to us through directors@rioc.com or through phone messages to the RIOC office at 212-832-4540.
Howard Polivy
Fay Christian
Katherine T. Grimm, MD
Jonathan Kalkin
Michael Shinozaki
Margie Smith
UPDATE 2 PM - Mr. Kraut explains why he did not sign the statement:
Me not signing that statement was no big deal. I just couldn't see the sense of it. We're not allowed to talk about the subject that is most on peoples' minds, so why fill up space with a laundry list of stuff the corporation was already doing anyway?
10 comments :
Kraut is the only Board Member that gets it - - moronic statements like this one, reinforce the image of the Board being a bunch of detached Soviet style bureaucrats, telling the peasants what to think: you may be starving, but WE ARE IN CONTROL.
Funny how they keep saying that their "supporting our common community continues unabated." but then don't explain one bit about what the hell happened. The community wants to know. The community knows what projects are going on and that they are looked after. Stop saying that you work in the community's interest if you don't have the guts to tell the community why you ousted one of the best RIOC presidents this island has ever seen.
Also, I'd like to see a statement promises that none of the Mitchell-Lama stakeholders will vote on or influence any of the votes that have anything to do with the housing issues.
Bravo, David Kraut, for standing up as much as you can. It's so sad that the island administration went back to old habits. Maybe it is true and nothing good will ever come out of this island.
I just saw tomorrow's WIRE online. Christian said "We are unable to discuss reasons for Stephen Shane's leave of absence, however we would like to have the material you received printed in the next WIRE." What the heck? Am I the only one who thinks the tone of this "request" is shameful? Yeah, let the WIRE print those meaningless snippets and not do what's right and explain what happened.
I just read through some of the view about the firing of Shane. The yay-sayers call us naive and applaud that the board is respecting Shane's privacy etc. and that's why they are not commenting. That's fine. The thing, though, is that after so many idiots in his place Shane did become some kind of a celebrity. He was a fresh wind for many of us residents. He was tough and opinionated, and misled, for the RIOC board and whoever is politically involved here.
That doesn't change the fact that we liked Shane. The board fired him for whatever reasons. It will have a backlash when elections come around again because if I feel misrepresented by you and you are unwilling to explain to me why certain things were done this way you will not get my vote. End of story.
I hope we will hear a little more from the RIOC Board next week.
I am puzzled that there is only one candidate for the president's position which looks like "sole source procurement". Does she have
experience in administrative planning? I would like the board to be more proactive and plan for new tram station(s) before the tram is operating and another school before an increasing number of island children need schooling.
What about transportation to/from Manhattan if the optional build-ings are ever built? Let's get pro-active.
What a mess. This Island, our home, is being run by a Board of residents, and each Board Member's primary qualification is that he/she can't afford to live in market-rate housing, rather, they live off of the public tit instead.
How can we expect these economic losers to run RIOC, a public benefit corporation?
They are drunk with power and evidently not very bright or strategic.
Here is an observation (former Board Member and 20+ year resident of a ML bldg): Islanders spent so much time and energy beating up the Pataki administration and all the republicans wanted to do was privatize the public housing. Then Spitzer comes in and appoints a DHCR commissioner and RIOC president with the marching orders to keep the public housing units as part of the affordable housing stock.
How ironinc, or telling, that the greedy residents killed all the proposed deals under Pataki because they believed that Spitzer would support an even larger transfer of wealth to their wallets. How wrong they were!!! I am laughing my a$$ off at how foolishly RIRA and the other self-appointed island leaders have approached privatizationl. With the global economic crisis, already, vast paper profits have been vaporized by greed.
"How can we expect these economic losers to run RIOC, a public benefit corporation? "
The funniest thing I've read all day. I dream of being able to buy into Rivercross at a low price and then find out 20 years later, while I've been able to afford a nice car, vacations and a vacation home, that my apartment is actually worth a ton of money... Seems like they've made better economic decisions than you if you're spending more than 30% of your income on your housing...
Dude, those people were lucky. Hardly a qualification for being "Economic savvy".
I hope they get their money and then leave the Board. I didn't know when I voted for them - that that's what their motivation was.
Getting rid of Mr. Shane may not have been such a bad thing, but the way they did it speaks volumes of the lack of professionalism they possess.
Just take your money and get off, so someone else who really cares about the whole island can get in there and guide RIOC into the next phase of our existence.
Notice I said "guide" and not "tell them what to do." They are paid to do a job. Let them do it. Just make sure the results are what are best for the island. No need to micromanage them or the President.
Work together for the betterment of our precious island.
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