Roosevelt Island Seniors Association (RISA) President Barbara Parker invites you to the RISA Black History Month Celebration on Saturday, February 24. According to Ms. Parket:
The Roosevelt Island Senior Association Black History Month Event
Celebrating History, Culture and Diversity
Spoken Word, Dance, Song, Art, Poems and History Trivia
Join Us!
Saturday, February 24th - 3:00pm - 5:30pm
546 Main Street Community Center
Refreshments Will be served
For information and to confirm your attendance contact
responding slowly to a resident's assistance call for a public lewdness incident and
not taking additional public lewdness incidents seriously
during a rally held last Sunday, February 18 in front of Roosevelt Landings at 510 Main Street.
The rally was organized by resident Joyce Short and attended by an estimated group of 10-14 people as well as off-Island media including NY 1.
Among the allegations made by Ms. Short at the rally:
... It's in RIOC best interest to show this community as being crime-less because that way Cornell can develop here, Related Hudson can develop here and they can attract people to the community by looking like we are a very safe place to live. The Public Safety Department, I'm not saying they're doing a terrible job, but they are not doing the job we need done in this community...
... They are not reporting these things as the crimes they are. The end results are the statistics don't give us the police protection we need because statistically we look like a very, very safe haven. We are not saying that we are loaded with crime here but we need more protection than we're getting. Don't tell us that we live in a safe place and don't ignore sex crimes that go on in this community....
I asked if any of the other residents attending the rally had personal experience with fudging statistics by PSD or any other problem with PSD.
One resident mentioned a suspicious Christmas Eve fire in her building that is unresolved, another indicated a belief that some residents are treated more leniently by PSD if they are known to the officers and another indicated safety concerns in the Roosevelt Landings building due to inadequate security such as unlocked doors and no front desk concierge.
Ms Short noted a recent incident when an assault case was classified as "aided".
Here is video of the Rally and statements by participants.
I asked Roosevelt Island Residents Association (RIRA) Public Safety Committee Chair Erin Feely-Nahem to comment on these allegations. Ms Feely-Nahem replied:
On Sunday, 2/18/2018 RIRA member Joyce Short held a public protest with about 10 people. The small action alleged a Public Safety Department (PSD) cover-up of a pattern of public lewdness, including public masturbation, as well as deficiencies in PSD handling in one specific case that occurred in 2017. There have been up to five reported cases over the past year that have been reviewed by PSD leadership and discussed with the RIRA Public Safety Committee (PSC). Their review counters and challenges the idea that a widespread pattern of behavior or cover up by PSD leadership has occurred.
The PSC has engaged RIOC, and the leadership of the PSD, in discussion of this issue extensively, including with the survivor present. There were several regular PSC meetings where the issue of sexual harassment and lewd pubic behavior was vigorously engaged. Dialogue, although tense at times, was not only possible but productive. Solutions to errors were found and changes have been and are scheduled to be made.
Although numerous mistakes were made on all levels, the RIRA PSC does not support the allegation of a PSD cover-up, or a widespread pattern of such behavior on Roosevelt Island, from the documentation we have seen.
During discussions, the PSD Leadership acknowledged deficiencies in numerous areas, initiated by the miscommunication of the Officer who answered and logged the original request for service incorrectly. Chief McManus and Deputy Director Brown have showed a willingness in dialogue as errors were discovered, as well as an openness to find solutions and take corrective actions.
The PSC has urged RIOC and the PSD leadership that there be, in collaboration, a Town Hall meeting where Islanders are provided with the opportunity to discuss this question and will continue to present RIRA’s willingness to host such an event.
While we defend all Islanders’ right to protest any grievances, we also feel that the broad charges thrown out by Joyce Short need to be backed up by fact. The PSC would point to the example of the successful effort in 2013-2014, which she opposed, where the Keith Guerra Administration of PSD was removed after the PSC and the community documented, with facts and testimony, a genuine pattern of abuse and brutality. Joyce Short has not shared with the PSC any documentation that justifies her allegations and appears to be swinging blindly.
The PSC would invite residents who have experienced acts of public lewdness, reported, or not, to let me know. Your confidentiality will be respected. This shouldn’t happen to anyone, and we must, as a community, be able to safely take actions to stop it. If this is a larger problem then it appears to be from the reported cases, let us gather testimony and facts so we can bring it to the PSD leadership and find solutions.
In response to my inquiry, RIOC Public Information Officer Alonza Robertson reports:
AN OPEN LETTER TO ROOSEVELT ISLAND RESIDENTS, BUSINESSES and VISITORS
A recent public protest concerning the Roosevelt Island Public Safety Department (PSD), its procedures for collecting crime reports and how it reports their statistics has generated questions requiring a response.
The allegations against PSD center around accusations of suppressing reports about public lewdness incidents on the Island.
On September 7, 2017, a resident called PSD to report a suspicious person masturbating in a 10th-floor hallway of the Roosevelt Landing housing complex. The complainant stood nearby and used her cellphone to take a four-minute video of the incident before the officers arrived. After interviewing the woman and canvassing the area, the alleged suspect could not be found.
In addition, once the video was turned over to PSD, and later to New York Police Department (NYPD) officers who also responded to the scene, it was not possible to identify the individual as there were no images of his face.
The subsequent report about the incident was filed as a suspicious person incident with a full description of the lewdness act of masturbation. The PSD computer report filing system did not include a lewdness category in its dropdown options at the time and accordingly, the incident was recorded as suspicious activity. That has since been corrected.
The PSD and RIOC spent more than 20 hours and attended a host of meetings with the victim, RI community-organization leaders and others discussing this incident, reviewing the video, discussing the dispatch call and response as well as a thorough review of all suspicious person reports since 2016.
Three other lewdness incidents were found to have been reported during that 24-month period. No suspects have been arrested in any the incidents, but per policies, PSD has submitted evidence to NYPD against a person of interest in one of the incidents.
Erin Feely-Nahem, chairwoman of the Roosevelt Island Residents Association’s Public Safety Committee and a participant in some of the previously-described discussions, recently said in a statement to The Roosevelt Islander news blog that she “does not support the allegation of a PSD cover-up or a widespread pattern” of (lewd) behavior on Roosevelt Island.
The PSD is committed to responding patiently and compassionately to all community concerns about this or any other incidents and is proud of its efforts to keep the community the safest place in the safest big city in America.
Ms Short adds:
NY One's report on yesterday's rally had several errors. More than a dozen people rallied to show their concerns about Roosevelt Island's public lewdness crimes and Public Safety's penchant for minimizing RIOC's crime statistics.
When one victim reported the crime and her concern that she may have been stalked, the female desk officer said, "Don't worry; it happens all the time." Two male officers expressed agreement. Yet when he was questioned about their comments, Chief McManus shook his head and said, "I don't know why the officer said that. It's not true. She shouldn't have said that."
In fact, four public lewdness incidents had been reported within a one year period. None of those four cases were recorded as Public Lewdness on the Public Safety blotter. One of the four victims said that when Chief McManus contacted her, he suggested she keep a lid on the information so as not to alarm the community. The fifth public lewdness crime took place the following month. It was the only one filed correctly because of the outrage demonstrated by members of the community.
Lt. Cabasso incorrectly characterized the same victim's behavior as "She refused NYPD and EMTs." On the night of the incident, PSD did not offer or suggest that she contact NYPD, nor did they contact NYPD themselves. The following day; however, when she returned to the PSD office to express concerns about having been stalked, they finally contacted NYPD. She waited 45 minutes for NYPD to arrive. EMTs came, not NYPD. She was not physically injured; therefore, she did not need the escort to the hospital that they offered. She had to get to work and could not wait any longer for NYPD. They finally came to her house three days after the incident.
Lt. Cabasso also adamantly insisted the victim had simply asked for an "escort,"instead of pleading for help during a sex crime. The victim did not even know that PSD provides "escort" services. What she said in her emergency phone call was "He has his penis in his hands and he's masturbating. Please help me!" Although the two responding officers were in 510 Main Street, and the crime was in progress right there in 540, just steps away, it took them 7 minutes to get to the victim. They casually strolled up to her with no urgency. She showed them the footage of the offender's actions caught on her camera while she crouched on the floor, paralyzed with fear. Her video clearly indicates the offender's actions. Never-the-less, PSD's report was filed as "request for service." It took several meetings with RIOC to convince them to change their report to Public Lewdness.
Today, rally participants demonstrated that the distance between 540 and 510 Main Street, is 19.5 seconds.
Lt. Wanda Koleman spoke with the victim on the morning she returned to the Public Safety Office. The victim expressed concern about PSD's slow response. In her description of the victim's behavior, Lt. Koleman tried to cover up their delay by stating that the victim refused to cooperate because the responding officers were female. When Chief McManus told me this, he also said that the two female Officers, under Lt. Koleman, corroborated Koleman's story.
I went back to the Public Safety Department with the victim to review the video of the lobbies, which, in fact, PSD only secured at the victim and my request. Because Chief McManus had told me the victim had not wanted to speak with female officers, I asked her, whether she wanted to request speaking to a male officer when we returned to see the footage. She looked at me puzzled and said, "No, I'd rather speak with a female officer. I think they'd be better at understanding how I feel." It was only then that I informed her about what Koleman and the two other officers claimed. She was astounded that they'd say such a thing and it totally destroyed her trust in the Public Safety Department. Cooperative duplicity about a victim's behavior puts every Roosevelt Islander at risk.
One of the public lewdness crimes took place in the Westview courtyard. PSD filed that report as "trespass." They apprehended the offender and got his name. He bolted. They have either not subsequently arrested him or have not disclosed his arrest to the community. We are entitled to know what measures are taken to insure our safety here.
I am aware through, a Commander at NYPD, and through a former PSD Officer, that the Public Safety Department under-reports crimes on Roosevelt Island. Enough is enough. We are growing in population. We need at least one police booth on Roosevelt Island, manned 24/7 by an Island-assigned NYPD officer. Stabbings, shootings, assaults, domestic violence, public lewdness and other crimes all have taken place multiple times on Roosevelt Island within the past year. They happen intermittently, and when they do, we need real and immediate police presence, not a response coming from somewhere in Queens.
RIOC President Susan Rosenthal has said time after time that we don't need additional PSD staff, even though Cornell Tech will expand our population by 7,000 people and Related/Hudson is building two more buildings. In my discussion with her about the public lewdness problem, she showed me the crime statistics for the community in order to back up her claim. I indicated that if you can turn a "He's got his penis in his hands and he's masturbating," into a "request for service," I can't believe a single statistic on that report." The recent assault of a 16 year old girl on Main Street, that the PSD blotter reflects as "Aided," not "Assaulted," is another example of RIOC's continued interest in under reporting crimes stats in our community.
I filed a complaint with the Inspector General. I'm sure RIOC will do everything they can to get this case dismissed. A petition will be circulated here in the community. Please sign it.
It may be necessary to continue demonstrating in our streets until RIOC, The State of NY, and NYPD get the message; Roosevelt Island deserves appropriate police protection. Please come out and help when the next rally takes place.
Join Green Park Gardeners NYC and Monarch advocate and master environmental educator Christina Delfico for a fascinating look at the longest insect migration in the world, that of Monarch butterflies. Learn about their marvelous 3,000-mile flight, their impressive life cycle, and the plants needed to survive their journey from Mexico through New York City to Canada and back. Discover amazing facts about these beautiful creatures and how we can create habitat to welcome them to our East River corridor.
Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC) Public Information Officer Alonza Robertson reports today (pictures are from Roosevelt Islander):
Roosevelt Island residents can now park their cars overnight for free in any of the Islands’ 225 street parking slots.
Free off-meter parking will apply to any vehicle parked on the street from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m.
During daytime and early evening hours, drivers must still pay and display a parking slip, from a parking meter machine,
on their dashboard. The cost will remain 50 cents for each 15 minutes Monday through Saturday; free all -day Sunday.
The MotorGate garage, which has more than 1,300 parking spaces, will continue to host monthly and daily parking customers at its current rates.
Mr Robertson adds:
Parking Spaces on Main Street, Roosevelt Island
West side of Riverwalk buildings
31 (out of 34, 3 spaces being designated loading and unloading) parking spaces on the West side (From meditation steps to the tram) These spaces are currently at the rate of two dollars per hour (15 minutes for 50 cents) with a Maximum 2 hour limit.
From 501 Main Street to 625 Main Street, there are 40 parking spaces with a Maximum 45 minutes limit at a rate of 15 minutes for 50 cents.
It a nice warm day today so difficult to think about having fun in the snow.
However, Roosevelt Island kids anticipated a fun day of sledding for last Saturday at the Southtown Hill based upon weather predictions of up to 7 inches of snow.
We did not get much of a snowfall but that didn't stop some adventurous Roosevelt Island kids from sledding on the Souththown Hill snow/dirt mixture.
It’s been a disappointing winter in NYC for snow. These kids will sled on anything at this point pic.twitter.com/rBHl72y7uj
Cornell Tech Director of Operations Floyd Young replied that the grass on the campus hills are still developing so they need to keep people off the grass.
But once they are developed in a year to a year and a half, Cornell Tech will revisit the idea of sledding on the campus hills.
PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that a meeting of the Operations Advisory Committee Meeting of the RIOC Board of Directors will be held on Tuesday, February 27, 2018 at 5:30 P.M. at the RIOC Administrative Office, 591 Main Street, Roosevelt Island, New York.
Agenda:
1. Discussion of Modification of Public Purpose Fund Grant to RIVAA Gallery.
Chair’s Motion for Executive Session to Discuss:
Legal Matters in Connection with the Youth Center Operator Contract Award
Seawall Repair Negotiations.
It is essential to the maintenance of a democratic society that the public business be performed in an open and public manner and that the citizens of this state be fully aware of and able to observe the performance of public officials and attend and listen to the deliberations and decisions that go into the making of public policy. The people must be able to remain informed if they are to retain control over those who are their public servants. It is the only climate under which the commonweal will prosper and enable the governmental process to operate for the benefit of those who created it....
... §103. Open meetings and executive sessions.
(a) Every meeting of a public body shall be open to the general public, except that an executive session of such body may be called and business transacted thereat in accordance with section one hundred five of this article....
... §105. Conduct of executive sessions.
1. Upon a majority vote of its total membership, taken in an open meeting pursuant to a motion identifying the general area or areas of the subject or subjects to be considered, a public body may conduct an executive session for the below enumerated purposes only, provided, however, that no action by formal vote shall be taken to appropriate public moneys:
a. matters which will imperil the public safety if disclosed;
b. any matter which may disclose the identity of a law enforcement agent or informer;
c. information relating to current or future investigation or prosecution of a criminal offense which would imperil effective law enforcement if disclosed;
d. discussions regarding proposed, pending or current litigation;
e. collective negotiations pursuant to article fourteen of the civil service law;
f. the medical, financial, credit or employment history of a particular person or corporation, or matters leading to the appointment, employment, promotion, demotion, discipline, suspension, dismissal or removal of a particular person or corporation;
g. the preparation, grading or administration of examinations; and
h. the proposed acquisition, sale or lease of real property or the proposed acquisition of securities, or sale or exchange of securities held by such public body, but only when publicity would substantially affect the value thereof.
2. Attendance at an executive session shall be permitted to any member of the public body and any other persons authorized by the public body....
UPDATE 2/26 - According to RIOC:
PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that a meeting of the Operations Advisory Committee Meeting of the RIOC Board of Directors will be held on Tuesday, February 27, 2018 at 5:30 P.M. at the RIOC Warehouse, 680 Main Street, Roosevelt Island, New York.
from Roosevelt Island to Manhattan this weekend and the MTA did not inform us.
According to the Roosevelt Island Twitterverse:
Hi Bill, R trains will be stopping at Roosevelt Island all weekend including tomorrow President's Day. Please note: R service does not operate late nights. See here: https://t.co/vUEG44MGtM ^JG
Good morning Eric, after Roosevelt Island, the next stop on the Bay Ridge-bound R train is Lexington Av-63 St followed by 57 St-7 Av. At Lexington Av-63 St, the free walking transfer is available to the 4,5,6 trains. ^JG
Good morning, Manhattan bound F trains are running on the E line from Roosevelt Av to Canal St until Tuesday 5am, so it would not be stopping at Roosevelt Island. ^AM
Roosevelt Island is a mixed income, racially diverse waterfront community situated in the East River of New York City between Manhattan and Queens and is jurisdictionally part of Manhattan. The Roosevelt Island Tramway, which connects Roosevelt Island to the rest of Manhattan, has become the iconic symbol of Roosevelt Island to its residents.
The Purpose of this Blog is to provide accurate and timely information about Roosevelt Island as well as a forum for residents to express opinions and engage in a dialogue to improve our community.
