The proposed Roosevelt Island bus route will travel on 36th avenue to and from Roosevelt Island bringing better access to Astoria but will no longer travel the current circuitous route to Queens Plaza.
It appears that the new Roosevelt Island NYC Bus Service does not cover area north of the Roosevelt Island Bridge including Coler Hospital and the Octagon Building or south of the Tram Station as the current Q102 service does
I asked Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC) President Susan Rosenhtal:
... Is RIOC giving any input to the MTA on proposed new route?
Any statement from RIOC on the proposed new MTA Bus route?...
RIOC Public Information Officer Terrence McCauley replied:
RIOC staff is in contact with the MTA to discuss these proposed changes. We certainly do not want to see any reduction in service. We also encourage our residents to contact the MTA directly to voice their concerns.... The map you got from their website certainly looks like there are
changes to the route on the Island, but those maps aren’t always
accurate.
Longtime Roosevelt Island resident and retired Public Transit advocate Nina Lublin responded to the MTA's proposed new Roosevelt Island NYC Bus route:
My rage towards the MTA, Mr. Byford & the dopes who came up with this plan is the seemingly total lack of regard -- or knowledge -- of the Roosevelt Island community, and the many LIC & Astoria folks who depend on the Q102 to get to Queens Plaza (or RI) for both Bus & Subway access to Queens, Brooklyn, & especially the 3 buses that go to & from Manhattan.
Coler Hospital employees without cars? Or the folks who visit them? I'm sure HHC & 1199 are not happy
What about the many folks from who depend on wheelchair-accessible / disability friendly bus service to & from Roosevelt Island -- especially when there is no F Train service?
The folks at the Queensbridge Houses will be impacted severely as for many of them the Q102 gets them to & from shopping, doctor appointments, the F train at 21st street & much more.
Let your voice be heard! On Wednesday, January 8, 2020, from 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM, RIOC will be sponsoring a workshop about the planned work for Lighthouse Park. The workshop will take place at the Good Shepherd Community Center (Upper Level) 543 Main Street. Please share this with all of your neighbors. Children are welcome! Please take the survey by clicking here:
and some background about the project from this October 7, 2019 memo excerpt to RIOC President Susan Rosenthal from RIOC Assistant VP Of Capital Planning & Projects Jonna Carmona-Graf:
... Lighthouse Park is a 3.5‐acre passive park that provides panoramic views of New York City. The park offers barbeque grills, a picnic grove and rolling lawns with mature canopy trees. The park also includes the historic light house designed by James Renwick and erected in 1842.
Recent improvements to the park include upgrades to the seawall railings, reconstruction of the foot bridges and general repairs of damage caused by Superstorm Sandy. However, many areas of the park including the adjacent parking areas have deteriorated over time and need repair. We are committed to investing approximately $11M in transformative capital improvements to the park and its’ parking area. As a result, RIOC sought for design services to repurpose the parking lot into useable park space that better serves the community, as well as, complete needed upgrades to the existing park amenities. When complete, the park will expand to nearly 7 acres of passive and active space....
Queens! The proposed #queensbusredesign draft plan is here, and we need your feedback. See the new route profiles, check out the interactive maps, and most importantly, share your comments with the planning team here 👇https://t.co/yls4EMOH1u
For the last few months, we’ve been diligently working to completely redraw the Queens Bus Network to create a faster, more reliable system of interconnected routes. To do this, we wiped the map clean and started from scratch, which means there are a lot of changes proposed in this proposed Draft Plan. Read it carefully, and make sure to review the new routes, see what your commute would be like in the new network, and most importantly, let us know what you think
Read the introduction and next steps, and download the entire Draft Plan here....
Length: 7.1 miles
Number of turns per mile: 0.6
Priority Corridor: No
Route Summary
We propose the QT78 - Roosevelt Island-Middle Village route, the purpose of which is to link neighborhoods, key transit connections and important destinations. It operates between Middle Village/Fresh Pond Road and Roosevelt Island....
The proposed Roosevelt Island bus route will travel on 36th avenue to and from Roosevelt Island bringing better access to Astoria but will no longer travel the current circuitous route to Queens Plaza.
It appears that the new Roosevelt Island NYC Bus Service does not cover area north of the Roosevelt Island Bridge including Coler Hospital and the Octagon Building or south of the Tram Station as the current Q102 service does and:
... Bus stops on the QT78 - Roosevelt Island-Middle Village are spaced approximately 1,325 feet apart, excluding non-stop portions of the route...
The Draft Plan also eliminates the Q103 Vernon B'lvd route that has a stop at the foot of the Roosevelt Island Bridge on 36th Ave.
We're havin' a party
Everybody's swinging
Dancing to the music
On the radio
So listen, Mr. DJ
Keep those records playing
'Cause I'm having such a good time
Dancing with my baby
You Tube Video of Southside Johnny and Bruce Springsteen Having a Party in 1978
... As part of that effort to stay ahead of the competition, Catsimatidis revealed he is switching some of his Gristedes stores to the D’Agostino brand — and vice versa.
In addition, the company may decide to open more Foodtown supermarkets, a brand Catsimatidis doesn’t own but does license in suburban areas....
... Catsimatidis said, “It’s getting tougher and tougher to do business and the community should support their local supermarkets, because if there’s no supermarkets at all, it’ll get much worse.”
Stay tuned for more info on the Roosevelt Island Foodtown Supermarket coming soon.
Last Friday, a Roosevelt Island Southtown resident took this picture of human excrement
on a Riverwalk Commons bench and sidewalk noting:
... This is a significant health hazard for the public community....
The feces remained thru at least Sunday afternoon,
before being washed away by the rain.
Another Southtown resident reported on Saturday:
The last four days as I have been leaving the island, there has been human excrement on the seats of the benches that flank the walk to the subway.
Apparently a number of homeless have stopped using the bushes due to the rat population and are now using the benches at night.
This is what we're up against with a growing homeless population and no social service to speak of. The same gentleman (who was seen doing this) spit at me Wednesday, ... he screamed, "what, you too good for me now?" He also urinated in front of a young child, and became menacing when asked by the parent not to. Public safety declined to take any action, under DeBlasio's policy of not intervening unless they witness the event. video/pictures are not sufficient.
RIOC has done nothing to clean. There is also accumulating litter to the north of 475, and the cigarette butts in the Commons between 425 and 455 are in the thousands last time i photographed.
The dog run is never cleaned, and more folk are not cleaning after their dogs elsewhere.
Cleaning is not a priority on this Island: the Commons is never cleaned, the area north of 475 is awash in litter, the fruit stand has grease stains and food that attract rats,
... I pulled a boat load of Starbucks trash out of the West Garden yesterday (the reason we have rats).
RIOC saw fit to spend $225,000 on useless holiday decorations, but can't clean or re-plant damaged grounds.
I'm not sure how to approach this, but i believe some action (beginning with a public discussion) is preferable to none.
The homeless issue was discussed during October 22 Roosevelt Island Residents Association (RIRA) Public Safety Committee (PSC) meeting with Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC) Public Safety (PSD) Chief Kevin Brown and Deputy Chief Anthony Amoroso
UPDATE 9 PM - Comments from readers:
I have asked the homeless outreach team responsible for RI , to try to engage with the few homeless we have here. Sadly the homeless here are generally going to be 'hard to reach' and difficult to house/move on for various reasons. Stop and talk to them to find out why, they are all happy to chat (except the lady in black 😟) they are also happy to receive some food. We have no proof who 💩 on that bench ,it could have been someone drunk or an animal ?
We seem to have more homeless people in the train station! This needs to be a topic for discussion in our community.
Homelessness is a SEVERE health hazard for the homeless.
Maybe there should be more public restrooms?
UPDATE 12/31 - More reader comments:
A while back I asked a PSD officer what he was going to do about 2 homeless persons sleeping on the benches under the arcades. The answer was: As long as they don’t bother the others, we’re not doing anything about it. What do you think, PSD, are we bothered now?
I have seen a quite sick homeless man for long time. He is installed between the subway building and Starbucks, leaving dirty clothes and belongings on the Starbucks outdoor chairs and tables, so no more enjoying that for me.
That bum has been there since September. I have complained specifically to sbux. No action. I m going to start calling 311 soon. It is a disgraceful corporate policy to permit vagrants to domicile in the cafes. Nothing humane about it. They are mentally ill and should be removed. I don't care where to, just not sitting among paying customers. When public order is not maintained, your entire elected local and state government has failed. How these people use the franking privilege to boast about their dubious legislative achievements is beyond me. We also pay for our own 'public safety ' force, which is utterly ineffective. A pox on all their houses.
I hope you never find yourself in such circumstances.
BTW who do we speak with about all the people who let their animals pee and poop in the commons. There are kids and humans that lay down on the grass as well as play😣.The tiny no animals on the grass is not working. Perhaps some tickets are needed.
... What should I do if I see an individual or a group of individuals that appear to be street homeless?
For the most immediate response, New Yorkers who see individuals they believe to be homeless and in need should contact 3-1-1 via phone or mobile app and request outreach assistance. You should call 911 if the individual appears to pose an immediate risk to themselves or others or there is criminal activity.
What happens when I call 311 to report a homeless New Yorker in need of assistance?
Individual calls 311 and a Service Request (SR) is created
SR is evaluated and assigned to a service provider or a partner Agency, like NYPD, as needed
If assigned to a service provider, outreach team is dispatched within an hour of receiving the request
Service provider outreach teams attempt to locate that individual and if found directly engage the individual, assess for safety and encourage them to accept services and transition off the streets.
How do outreach teams engage a homeless New Yorker in need of assistance?
Experienced outreach teams from not-for-profit service providers canvass the five boroughs 24/7/365 as part of our citywide effort to identify and engage individuals who may be homeless, encourage them to accept services, and ultimately help them transition off the streets. Additionally, DHS performs joint outreach operations with community stakeholders and Agency partners, including the NYPD, the Parks Department, the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, and the Department of Transportation to utilize each Agency's expertise, engage more New Yorkers, and offer more supports. Outreach teams have helped approximately 2,000 homeless New Yorkers off the streets citywide, thanks to new investments and a doubling of the size of those teams.
There are restrooms open to the public on the island at both ends right? Can there be more signage to let the homeless population know they have options?
beginning January 1 for renovations. Roosevelt Island Sportspark Pool swimmers were unhappy to learn that there were no other pools available during the time Sportspark Pool was closed unless they lived in one of the indoor building pools in Rivercross and Westview buildings.
A Roosevelt Island Tiptster reported last Saturday that the Sportspark Pool renovations were being delayed and would not close this winter for renovations. According to the Tipster:
... the pool will close on January 1 and re-open about a week later. The locker room renovations have been postponed until April.
I asked RIOC today about the status of the Sportspark Pool. RIOC Public Information Officer Terrence McCauley replied with good news for Roosevelt Island Sportspark swimmers:
After reviewing responses for the Requests for Proposals (RFP) it received for the planned Sportspark renovations, RIOC has made the determination to re-issue the RFP. This will delay closure due to renovations until later in 2020. Sportspark will remain open until then.
However, the east side (pool) of Sportspark will be temporarily closed from Wednesday, January 1, 2020 through Sunday, January 5, 2020 so that our staff may undertake extensive cleaning of that part of the facility. The west side (gym/multipurpose) will operate on a normal schedule throughout this time.
The Pool
The pool is now available for permitting from Monday, January 6, 2020 through Wednesday, April 1, 2020. Please contact Lt. Wanda Coleman or Stephanie Patino at PSD at 212-832-4545 for details.
Open Swim hours:
Monday – Friday 7AM – 11AM
Saturday – Sunday 12:00PM – 7:00PM
We thank you for your cooperation and apologize for any inconvenience.
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.
