Roosevelt Island Community Update From RIOC - Infrastructure Improvements Underway For Roads, Street Lights, Wireless Devices, Lighthouse Park Foot Bridges, Landscaping Upgrades & Sportspark Pool Temperature Fluctuations

According to the Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC):

Island’s Infrastructure Rebuild Gains More Momentum

ISLAND ROADS

Several critical areas of Roosevelt Island’s asphalt roads in need of repairs to cracks, potholes and collapsed drains are being addressed by our road contractor that has started milling work and will continue with paving, rolling and striping today, October 30 through Thursday, November 1, the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation said Tuesday.

The identified areas include West Road, by the MTA Subway Station; Main Street, by the Community Garden and The Octagon entrance; and the NYC Health + Hospitals/Coler loop. Four crosswalks, located on Main Street by the shops and Chapel of the Good Shepherd are to be restriped next week as well. The work is being performed by Rosemar Construction Company, of Long Island, N.Y, which specializes in a range of commercial, municipal/industrial and residential road work services.

LIGHT FIXTURES

Some 108 light-head fixtures on Roosevelt Island have been repaired and retro-fitted in the past 90 days including the replacement of old inefficient, incandescent light bulbs around the Island and at Sportspark pool with new LED bulbs and the rewiring of corroded electrical panels including at the Chapel of the Good Shepherd.

The new LED bulbs - which are activated by photoelectric sensors and timers - use less energy and last up to 50,000 hours as compared to the incandescent bulbs that used more  electricity and only had a light life of 10,000.

RIOC maintenance staff and Ral-Bar Electric of Long Island City, N.Y. have completed most of the work.

RIOC staff will also be applying identification stickers on each light fixture to help streamline the process of identifying which fixtures are out or experiencing problems in the future. If you see a light out, you now can simply tell us its number. That work is expected to be completed by the end of November.

(Pictured in the photos is Luis Fernandez, a member of RIOC’s Facilities Maintenance Department).

WIRELESS SMALL CELL ANTENNAS

Wireless device connectivity on Roosevelt Island is about to be vastly improved, and less congested, during the next few weeks.

Crown Castle International Corp., the nation’s largest provider of shared communications infrastructure, will be installing 22 unique small cell locations on the Island covering from north to south. The antennas and fiber-optic cable-based networking will provide coverage and capacity for up to four data/phone service carriers including Verizon

Small cells are important wireless infrastructure that increase capacity and connectivity for mobile devices. They are small, low-powered antennas that can be installed on light and utility poles, street signs, and even on rooftops. Crown Castle, under a 10-year licensing agreement, will be building and maintaining this fiber ring around Roosevelt Island to supply various locations with better connectivity.

As the Roosevelt Island community continues to grow, more residents, businesses, students and visitors are relying on wireless devices to connect to the Internet and communicate (more than 50 percent of all U.S. households rely only on wireless phones; and some 80 percent of all 911 calls are made from wireless devices). When too many people try to use their mobile devices, the network can become overloaded: calls drop or don’t connect.

Small cells, like the ones being installed around the Island, can and will relieve this wireless congestion.

LIGHTHOUSE PARK

Roosevelt Island’s Lighthouse Park will soon be receiving some direly needed repairs. RIOC recently announced it has hired an architectural firm to design renovations to the two pedestrian footbridges in the area, adjacent pavement work, park landscaping upgrades and the creation of a salt riparian habitat as part of a natural floodable landscape adjacent to the Lighthouse tower. The Lighthouse tower is now closed off to visitors until that work is completed by next Spring.

SPORTSPARK POOL

In recent weeks, we’ve received a few complaints that the pool water at Sportspark is too cold, although our goal is to keep the temperature in the vicinity of 84 degrees which sometimes fluctuates + or – 2 degrees. From our regular maintenance checks, we’ve determined that Sportspark’s recently-installed boiler is working fine, so we are continuously monitoring the temperatures and sensors and will work with the contractor (who installed the boiler) to determine how we can prevent future temperature fluctuations. We will provide an update once we’ve resolved the situation.

If You See Something, or Have a Question About Something, That Needs Fixing

The Community Request Tracker system is a new feature on the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation’s website. The system allows RIOC to track and address maintenance, grounds and facilities issues submitted by Island residents, businesses and organizations.

For non-emergencies during the week and weekend, Island residents should not call the Island’s Public Safety Department (PSD) but rather submit a FIX IT ticket (click the link provided or go to the “Report A Problem” icon at the homepage of rioc.ny.gov,) and the request is immediately routed to the correct department.

If you need help navigating the system, call Alonza Robertson, RIOC’s public information officer at 212.832.4540.

Residents can report problems involving animal control, electrical, Island infrastructure, parks and recreation: dead trees, garbage, grass or landscaping; facility cleanliness, field damage and transportation: Red Bus service or the Tram.

For emergencies, during the week and weekends – electrical outages, flooding etc. - residents should immediately call PSD, at 212.832.4545, and PSD will call the appropriate Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation department to respond.

Again, if you see something, that’s a non-emergency, say something to us directly via a ticket and not to PSD.