Roosevelt Island Residents Plan Revolt Against Albany Colonial Master In NY State Government - Reject Non Elected, Non Resident, Conflict Ridden Appointment By Governor and Want Return of Effective RIOC Director

Roosevelt Island residents gathered together last night to devise a strategy that would prevent Child School/Legacy High School Executive Director Sal Fererra from serving as a member of the Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC) Board of Directors. The reasons expressed during the meeting for opposing Mr. Fererra's appointment as RIOC Director were not personal against him or out of any antagonism towards the Child School but are based upon the following facts:

• he is not a resident of Roosevelt Island,
• did not participate in the election process for RIOC Board Nominees which was only recently established after more than 15 years of hard work by the Roosevelt Island community. Mr. Fererra's appointment and acceptance of the RIOC Board position will kill any hope for Roosevelt Island residents to be governed on a local basis by elective representatives. Instead, Roosevelt Island will once again be controlled by appointees of our Albany Colonial Masters in New York State Government. Roosevelt Island will again be a dumping ground for political cronyism and hacks,
• the enormous conflict of interests that will be set in motion by having a RIOC Director who also works for an organization that leases more than 50 thousand square feet of space from RIOC and is seeking even more real estate on Roosevelt Island. Also,
• Mr. Fererra is replacing Jonathan Kalkin as RIOC Director who is an extraordinary public servant for Roosevelt Island devoting many hours of his time to bring innovative ideas for the benefit of our community and individual residents.

There was a remarkable collection of Roosevelt Island residents present in this meeting, many of whom have had past disagreements with each other, but all united on this issue - Sal Fererra and anyone else must not be appointed to the RIOC Board without going through the Roosevelt Island community nomination election process and Jonathan Kalkin must be returned to the RIOC Board. It was really quite extraordinary to observe the passion and determination of this group of Roosevelt Island residents.

Roosevelt Island resident Denise Shull was present and shares these thoughts:

It is clear from the attendance, the ideas expressed and even how late the meeting went, that a whole new group of Island activists came together to retain our emerging right to elect the people who have so much influence on our lives. New and young voices from both ends of the Island joined those who have fought this fight for 14 years.

This group will not stand for backroom, late-night deals that can impact our lives - particularly in light of the June 7 announcement from the Governor's office the "Public Integrity Reform Act of 2011". This is a new Roosevelt Island and neither Governor Cuomo, nor the republicans in Albany nor anyone who circumvents our move towards democracy should think that can do so without an enormous community response.

This is in contrast to where a similar group - the Southern Development committee - is planning to work with NY City on the re-development of the Goldwater Hospital site.That group is thrilled with the way the city is moving forward and looking forward to a joint furtherance of the island's progress.

In short, if you care about Roosevelt Island and/or you care about democracy, stay tuned! 

What is the current status? Well, as reported earlier, Mr. Fererra had previously promised to inform the community whether he intends to remain on the Board by Monday June 20. However, he has not yet made a decision advising yesterday in an email to RIRA President Matt Katz:

 I did tell you I would let you know my decision re: my appt to RIOC however I have received many phone calls and emails. I need some more time to consider

The consensus of the meeting was that residents should continue to send him emails and phone calls politely informing him that he should resign from the RIOC Board. RIRA President Matt Katz writes to me:

... you might include his phone number (212-223-8276 and ask people to call Monday morning requesting his resignation from the Board.  I intend to ask the Common Council to do the same...

If you have not already called, do so today or tomorrow.

Another idea was to call the Child School Board of Directors to encourage them to ask Mr. Fererra to remove himself from the RIOC Board for all the reasons stated before.

Here's some of what happened at the meeting.

Replaced RIOC Director Jonathan Kalkin explains what the consequences of Mr. Fererra's appointment to the RIOC Board may entail.

Here is the link to the video Mr. Kalkin describes showing how the NY State Senate Finance Committee made various appointments last June 15. Note the video shows at approximately the 31 minute 15 second mark, that Mr. Fererra's appointment was withdrawn to be dealt with at a later time according to the Committee Chair. Nothing else was mentioned about Mr. Fererra for the rest of the meeting. Later that night, he somehow got appointed to the RIOC Board - imagine that.

Roosevelt Island residents express their opinion on what to do next below



and here as well.



RIOC Director Doctor Kathy Grimm describes the non-elected appointment of Child School's Mr. Fererra to the RIOC Board and the removal of Mr. Kalkin from the RIOC Board as a "travesty".  RIOC Dirctor Doctor Grimm said that Mr. Kalkin always goes the extra mile and that losing him on the RIOC Board is a major loss to the Roosevelt Island community. Doctor Grimm wonders, as do many of us, whether there is something else going on in Albany that is behind all of this due to Mr. Kalkin's effectiveness as a RIOC Director. Doctor Grimm also offered to resign her position if she would be replaced with Mr. Kalkin who she feels was stabbed in the back by somebody. Bottom line from Doctor Grimm:

We don't know what is going on behind the scenes. We don't know if money is being placed in one pocket into another pocket. We don't know what deals are being made.

The events surrounding Mr. Fererra's appointment to the RIOC Board are a disgusting abuse of power.