RIRA Island Services Committee Reports On Roosevelt Island Tram Station Elevator, Control Of Rats, Sportspark, New Public Library, Boy Scouts, Post Office Customer Service & Enhanced Services At Senior Center

Below is Roosevelt Island Residents Association (RIRA) Island Services Committee (ISC) Report

Image From RIRA

to the October 7, 2015 Common Council (CC) Meeting submitted by Chair Aaron Hamburger.

RIRA – ISLAND SERVICES COMMITTEE (“ISC”)

REPORT TO COMMON COUNCIL – 10/17/2015

ISC met 9/28/15 with 11 members present from a membership of 13.

Tram Old & New Elevators – The old elevator was finally repaired at the end of August after an eight‐week outage. However, during September, this elevator experienced 4‐5 shutdowns, each lasting 1 – 3 days. At the beginning of October, the elevator was operating.

The project for the new elevators is being held‐up because the firm handling the design went bankrupt. RIOC can’t proceed with the project until the court handling the bankruptcy case transfers the design contract to a different design group. RIOC estimates it might be another six weeks before this situation is resolved. RIOC still estimates the new elevators will be in operation by the fall of 2016. ISC’s pessimistic estimate is operation in the first quarter, 2017.

Control of Rats – Commercial Trash – The Southtown commercial trash yard finally seems to be up to Dept. of Sanitation standards.

The trash bins at Wholesome Factory are not meeting regulations. ISC met with the store’s Manager, who promised that this situation would be corrected within a week. ISC will continue to occasionally inspect the site.

Sportspark – Pending a new inspection by ISC to determine how this facility is measuring up to correcting all its deficiencies, a meeting will be scheduled with RIOC officials.

New Public Library – Outside design work is completed. Design of the interior is underway. Estimated opening of the new library is still sometime during 2018.

Boy Scouts – ISC has been told that the Youth Center is working on re‐establishing a troop on RI. ISC’s project will remain “on hold” pending a discussion with the Youth Center on how the Boy Scout program will proceed.

Management of the RI Garden Club – ISC voted to deactivate this issue.

Two new issues were adopted:

Post Office Customer Service – Many residents have complained that customer service has deteriorated since two long‐ term counter clerks retired. ISC is meeting with the Post Office Supervisor to assess how this situation can be corrected

Enhanced Services at the Senior Center – There are a range of services that could be provided to the Senior Center by various NYC agencies. ISC will investigate what services are available to the Senior Center that can enhance its programs and activities.

Respectfully Submitted, Aaron Hamburger, ISC Chair