Report From RIOC President Leslie Torres - Roosevelt Island Fall For Arts Festival, Halloween Parade/Safety Event, Dancing At Sportspark and Cornell Horticulture Training Program

You Tube Video Of 2010 Roosevelt Island Halloween Parade

Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC) President Lesie Torres sends the following report to Roosevelt Island residents.

From festivals to parades to plantings, fall is always a busy time on the Island. Here’s the latest fall news:

6th Annual Fall for Arts Festival

I was really happy to see so many residents and their families come out for the Fall for Arts Festival this past Saturday. Though it was windy, the weather cooperated for the most part.

Everyone got a chance to enjoy the wonderful outdoor activities including interactive arts, crafts and free dance classes for adults, while children enjoyed storytelling and music by Louie.

And two of our elected officials, Jessica Lappin and José Serrano, stopped by to enjoy the festivities. It was great to see so many friends and neighbors at the Festival and look forward to seeing you all again on Halloween weekend.

Halloween Safety Event

Speaking of Halloween, while you and your families take care of the fun stuff – costumes, candy, parties, and tick-or-treating – we’re making sure you stay safe.

Our Public Safety Department will host its 4th Annual Halloween Safety Day at the Roosevelt Island Public Library on Friday, October 28th from 5:00pm-6:00pm. The event is co-sponsored by Safe Kids NYC, a coalition of public and private organizations working together to prevent injuries to children. Representatives from both agencies will provide important safety tips and goodie bags will be distributed to the children. We hope you can join us.

Dancing at Sportspark

We are excited to begin offering Argentine Tango classes at Sportspark beginning on Thursday, November 3rd from 6:30pm to 7:30pm. The classes are $3 per class and are taught each week by Leonardo and Olga Suarez Paz – visit their website for more info about them - www.suarezpazdance.com.

Residents who are interested in signing up for classes can call 917-767-6714 or email info@suarezpazdance.com.

This class is part of our ongoing effort to expand programming at Sportspark. Other classes are available, as is open swim at our new pool. Individuals and families can also apply for pool memberships. For more information, visit http://www.rioc.com/Sportspark.htm

Horticulture Training Program

Fall is also a time for planting, and this season our grounds and maintenance staff worked with the Cornell University Cooperative Extension-NYC Urban Environment Program to complete their second year of landscape horticultural training. The workshops included lessons on botany, plant and weed identification, soil and plant nutrition, turf management, and tree and shrub planting and pruning techniques.

Several members of our staff told me how much they enjoyed the training, and they’re looking forward to another season of Island beautification and maintenance. Thanks from all of us at RIOC for their hard work and dedication.

Open House NY

Last weekend, visitors and Island residents had a chance to visit the AVAC System on Roosevelt Island through Open House New York, which engages the public in the built environment by offering free access to hundreds of sites that exemplify New York City's diverse architectural, design, engineering and cultural heritage.

More than 100 people showed up Saturday for a tour that included a system overview, along with stops in the control room, silo separators and turbines.

Roosevelt Island’s AVAC System is one of the only such systems in the country and it helps keep our Island green by keeping residential garbage trucks off our roads. It’s just one of the ways we at RIOC help protect our environment.

For those of you who missed it, Jerry Sorgente, Chief Engineer of AVAC, recently gave a tour to WNYC, which you can read about here (link)- http://culture.wnyc.org/articles/features/2011/oct/ 13/open-house-weekend-features-garbage-collection-vacuum-roosevelt-island/.

Upcoming Events
We have several events coming up:
• Halloween Day Parade, Saturday, October 29th, 12pm Main Street
• Tree Lighting Thursday, December 1st at 7pm Blackwell Plaza

Click here for scenes from Roosevelt Island 2011 Fall For Arts Festival referenced by Ms. Torres and Roosevelt Island Halloween Parades from past years.