Tuesday, April 30, 2019

RIRA Refuses To Allow Roosevelt Island Media To Attend SC&E Committee Meeting Discussion Of Cherry Blossom Festival Transportation Planning Disaster - Fear Of Public Humiliation And Misrepresentation Cited As Reason

The April 13 Roosevelt Island Cherry Blossom Festival was a transportation planning disaster for Roosevelt Island residents and visitors. We are fortunate nobody was seriously injured or even killed by the overwhelming number of people waiting on very, very, very long lines at the Tram, Subway, Ferry and Roosevelt Island Bridge.



To date, not one of the Cherry Blossom Festival organizers, the Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC), Roosevelt Island Residents Association (RIRA) and the FDR Four Freedoms Park have apologized, taken responsibility or explained what they will do to prevent future similar occurrences from happening.

On Thursday April 25, I learned that the RIRA Social Cultural & Education (SC& E) Committee was meeting that evening and among the items to be discussed was the Cherry Blossom Festival. RIRA Committee meetings are supposed to be open to the public so I showed up for the meeting to ask about the Cherry Blossom Festival and give RIRA the opportunity to explain what happened and why Roosevelt Island was so unprepared to handle the enormous crowd of people. (RIOC estimated crowd to be approximately 30 thousand people, though I have heard estimates of 40 thousand.)

Upon arriving for the meeting, I was told that I could only attend if I agreed not to report on what was discussed. I objected saying that the meeting was open to the public. I pointed out, and the committee members agreed, that persons attending the meeting can inform their spouses, neighbors or anybody else what happens at the meeting so why couldn't I report the same information to the community on Roosevelt Islander news web site? The SC&E Committee members insisted that nothing discussed at the meeting could be reported in the "press" so I left.

According to the SC&E Committee Code of Conduct:

2. All committee members will be required to adhere to responsible representation and reporting.

Our committee deals with the most inventive and creative aspects of the Common Council. We need to be able to present ideas, projects and concepts within our committee meetings without the fear of public humiliation by unauthorized publication misrepresenting committee work....

... Anyone releasing committee information to any of the Island media/or any other entity without the consent of the committee will be asked to step down immediately....
Before I left, I was told that the SC&E Committee would have a statement on the Cherry Blossom event during 8 PM Wednesday May 1 Common Council meeting at Good Shepherd Community Center which the public is invited to attend.

Had I been allowed to attend the RIRA SC&E Committee meeting, I would have sought answers to concerns such as these expressed by resident Joseph Williams in an email he sent to Cherry Blossom organizers and shares below:
To whom it may concern,

I have been asked to email you directly as you are rightfully embarrassed by the negative publicity around this event and the terrifying ordeal it incurred for residents and attendees.

I was hosting a party for my mother's 65th birthday in my apartment. The overcrowding, transit and security failures caused immense distress to me and my family, in particular to my elderly and disabled relatives, several of whom spent hours attempting to get here and either failed or suffered as a result.

I have a number of questions. I would like answers from the responsible parties.

1. Who is responsible for this event? The poster indicates RIOC, RIRA and Four Freedoms were all participants in the organization. Based on this I am astonished to see the Festival disclaim responsibility for transit and operations...

2. The security checkpoint at the bridge. This was extremely disruptive and poorly organized and managed. My understanding was that Main Street would be open to traffic north of the tram. Cars were being stopped -- causing massive delays -- and turned away for no reason. There was a callous disregard for the needs of the elderly and disabled: my 89 year old grandfather, his wife and my uncle were instructed to abandon their car in Astoria and walk across the bridge rather than being permitted to drop my grandfather at my building. My mother's cousin who is paralyzed on his left side by stroke waited two hours at the checkpoint and ultimately had to go home after being turned away by security. This is not acceptable.

2. What is the intention for future events, and in particular the even larger Cherry Blossom Festival planned for 2020... ?  I would like to discuss this with the responsible parties and please see point 4 below. Comment to RIOC -- I will be phoning your office tomorrow during business hours to discuss this further.

3. The situation in the subway was appalling. My cousin brought her eight month old baby and was on the escalator that stopped with no warning and suffered in the crush to get out. She arrived visibly shaken and afraid that she was going to be injured, trampled or suffocated. She chose to leave almost immediately by ferry and waited three hours.

This volume of people was totally mismanaged. You are lucky you narrowly avoided the absolute catastrophe of a human crush. Please educate yourselves about the dangers of overcrowding in confined spaces --
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillsborough_disaster.

Comment to RIOC -- The Festival organizers blame the MTA and disclaim responsibility for transit and operations (see RICBF Comment 2, attached). The MTA doesn't operate the tram or the bridge or the ferry. As far as I can tell, the MTA had to twice divert the entire New York City subway system to accommodate your failures. I need to know who is ultimately in charge of operations and security for the island, if not your organization. Should I be contacting our representatives in Albany?

4. With regard to future events:
  • There should be no future unticketed events on Roosevelt Island. Attendees should be required to register for any event.
  • Residents and workers must have access and priority with regard to transit. We are tired of suffering the long delays with tourists clogging our ailing infrastructure and getting trapped in our own homes or turned away trying to gain access.
  • Accommodations must be made for disabled and elderly people to ensure they can access the island when needed, regardless of what events you intend to have here.
This is our home. Roosevelt Island is a quiet, close-knit, residential community with a high proportion of families, elderly and disabled residents. It is not like the uninhabited Randalls or Governors Island that you can use as you wish. Future intentions to treat it as such will be met with intense resistance from those of us who have made this our home. All of the organizations listed have failed the residents of this island.

I look forward to a public apology to residents from the responsible parties, and to discussing a constructive solution for the future.
RIRA responded to Mr Williams as follows:
Dear Mr. Williams,

On behalf of the Cherry Blossom Festival Committee, we were saddened to learn that the special family gathering you had planned on April 13, the day of the Cherry Blossom Festival, turned out so disappointingly for you and your visiting family members.

We apologize for any misunderstanding regarding the activities that the Committee planned that interfered with or disrupted your celebration.

In addition, we are sorry about the delay in responding to your detailed letter of complaint, which was relayed to us on April 14th ; preparations for our own family celebration of Easter impeded an earlier reply.

As you may be aware, the Committee was solely responsible for the performances held at Four Freedoms Park and activities held at Gallery RIVAA and South Point Park. It also coordinated with other community groups and merchants.

To the best of our knowledge, RIOC communicated with the MTA regarding transportation arrangements and with Public Safety regarding local traffic.

Improvements in communication and anticipation of difficult scenarios, however unlikely, will certainly be part of the planning for future events.

Thank you for calling these issues to our attention.

More on the Cherry Blossom Festival transportation disaster




at prior posts.

This screw up belongs not just to RIRA but to RIOC as well.

By ROOSEVELT ISLANDER at 5:08:00 PM

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