Get ready for fun at our Winter Holiday Camps at Roosevelt Island Racquet Club (RIRC). Come for the day, choose a week, or two – it’s up to you! There are two levels of instruction:
QuickStart Camp for younger players
Ages 4-8 (Red ball level)
Perfect opportunity to get your little one more time on the court
Games and drills improve kids’ agility, balance and technique
Junior Tennis Camp for tennis lovers
Ages 8-17 (Orange, green, yellow ball level)
Designed for players seeking fun and intensity!
Girls and boys develop proper tennis technique, improve rallying and point play skills
Cold weather? No problem! There's no better time to play tennis. Come check out Roosevelt Island Racquet Club, located steps away from the Roosevelt Island Tram! pic.twitter.com/rBuOIqxn38
Yesterday afternoon was one of the rare times when both Roosevelt Island Tram cabins were traveling in the same direction at the same time over the East River to Manhattan 2nd Avenue Station.
One cabin was being used by passengers and the other was being used by the Tram staff for maintenance inspection with a worker riding on top of the cabin and Tram employees in the cabin waving a friendly hello to passengers in the passing cabin.
OPEN DOORS would be honored by your presence at our FIRST ANNUAL NHLM
GALA!
Featuring performances by the Reality Poets and our community, join us for an
evening of poetry, mingling, and celebration as we look to the future of
#NursingHomeLivesMatter!
Wednesday, Nov 29th, 2023
5:00PM ET
TATA INNOVATION CENTER, 1st Floor
11 E Loop Rd, New York, NY 10044
(Cornell Tech Campus on Roosevelt Island)
Attire: Come as you are!
There will be light snacks and drinks, and the Reality Poets and featured
guests will perform between presentations. We can't wait to see you there!
NHLM Gala is free to attend. However, we encourage attendees with financial
means to consider making a donation to OPEN DOORS to help us offset cost of
the event and continue to provide support for the Reality Poets, educational
workshops, and community activism.
Even if you cannot attend, you are still welcome to make a donation!
Before we officially came together as the Reality Poets, we were a loose group
of wheelchair users who would sit outside the massive brick building at the
tip of Roosevelt Island, smoke and share stories. Many of us were gun violence
survivors and all of us felt there was nothing to do living in the nursing
home. In 2016 a local artist started a project for us called OPEN DOORS, and
from there the Reality Poets were born. Thanks to our vision and leadership
OPEN DOORS is now a dynamic creative collective, educating our youth and
producing artistic collaborations, including a
poetry anthology,
original play
and
hip-hop album.
During the pandemic we were dehumanized and confined inside our nursing
home. Realizing we had the microphone at the center of the storm, we began
advocating for all those living and working in long-term care, particularly
Black and brown nursing home residents who saw twice the amount of COVID
deaths as their white counterparts. In 2020 we launched the Nursing Home
Lives Matter movement and are now warriors with a mission to end racism and
ableism in long-term care.
Powerful a nursing Home Lives Matter Message Projected on wall of Roosevelt Island Coler Nursing Facility last night at end of vigil remembering those who died and in support of those still in lockdown during Covid 19 pandemic. pic.twitter.com/95xPgWNhKT
... Coler residents and
Open Doors Reality Poets
teamed with documentary filmmaker
Alexis Neophytides to show what it was like at the Coler nursing home during the early
days of the Coronavirus pandemic.
Fire Through Dry Grass
is a documentary film about the experience of residents and workers at the NYC
Health & Hospitals Corp
Coler nursing facility
on Roosevelt Island during the Covid pandemic....
In 2021, urban explorer Andrew Wonder made a late night visit to Roosevelt Island and took us inside the Renwick Ruins Smallpox hospital. Follow along.
NBC New York reporter Ryan Baker visited the Roosevelt Island Smallpox Hospital Ruins earlier this year. He
reports on the fascinating history of the Smallpox Hospital and a
possible future use of the site being proposed by Friends Of The Ruins as a Memorial to:
... those we lost to COVID-19 as well as scientific advances and the frontline workers fighting viral and infectious disease....
Learn more about the mysteries of the Roosevelt Island Smallpox Hospital and Friends Of The Ruins proposed memorial from this prior post.
VOLUNTEER ORIENTATION, 11:00 am - 12:30 pm: Haki Compost Collective is hosting
a volunteer orientation during the Saturday food scrap drop-off-for-compost
hours. Please swing by anytime from 11 am through 12:30 pm to find out how you
can be a part of it.
Today, I spoke with Roosevelt Island resident and Haki Compost Collective
volunteer Melissa Wade. Ms Wade describes how the Roosevelt Island Haki compost food scrap site got started and the need for new volunteers to keep it going for the Roosevelt Island community. According to Ms Wade:
Haki was started as an all volunteer
effort three summers ago when the
City cut the budget the first time
during the pandemic. Danica Lam lived
here on the island and worked with Big
Reuse as a staff member. She
thought that we would have enough people
who were interested to pick it back up
and get it started again as volunteers and she was right, we did.
Since
that time we have trained 77 Roosevelt
Island members over the years to
participate as the volunteer force who
keep Haki going from the setup to the
maintenance to the tear down working
with our Big Reuse Partners.
But as
everyone knows New York is a transient
place and Roosevelt Island is a pretty
transient place too so over the years
we've had many people come and go and
right now we're a little light on
volunteers 3 years in.
So my hope
in speaking with you today is that people
who have thought about it, who use Haki,
who bring us our scraps and who
want to see this keep going would come
out and participate as volunteers...
If you wish to help Haki continue the Roosevelt Island compost food scrap drop off site, come to their orientation meeting tomorrow at the Motorgate Plaza and learn more. You can also contact Haki through their Instagram Page.
The Haki Compost Collective thanks you for dropping off your food scraps on Saturdays. Since November 2015, we have collectively diverted over 341,017 pounds of food scraps from landfill, or 170 tons, equivalent to 85 SUV's in weight!
Several dump truck loads of nutrient-rich compost have come back to the Island trees, flowers and gardens and been given back to neighbors for their house plants.
Compost boosts storm water absorption in soil to reduce flooding. Compost-amended soils also aid tree growth which increases their CO2 capture and oxygen release amounts.
Even the Great Pumpkin Event is part of the Big Reuse, Haki supported, compost outreach for islanders!
BAD NEWS:
Last week on Thursday, Mayor Adams !!! ELIMINATED !!! Community Composting in NYC as of January 2024.
What does this mean for Roosevelt Island?
Big Reuse, one of the several community composting organizations in NYC and the one that serves Roosevelt Island, will have to CLOSE DOWN its composting plant underneath the Queensboro Bridge and will stop picking up our food scraps on Saturdays.
So far, over 24,000 people have signed the petition.
We need your signatures, too!
More Bad News:
We heard that the orange sidewalk "Smart" bins which accept plastic and food scraps for methane gas capture at the Newtown Creek wastewater plant will NOT be connected to the grid to heat 1200 homes as was the case during their pilot program. The facility will continue to get energy to operate from the burning of food scraps and other waste.
Haki volunteers hope to see you Saturday as we continue to serve neighbors with this human-led waste reduction program that mirrors nature’s no waste system.
Happy Thanksgiving Day wishes to everyone out there in Roosevelt Island
land and elsewhere.
I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!!
Since Thanksgiving is a day all about about Tradition, here is my traditional
Thanksgiving Day post started in 2007:
In addition to family, great food, the Macy's Parade, Miracle on 34th Street,
March of the Wooden Soldiers and football, listening to
Arlo Guthrie's rendition of
Alice's Restaurant on WNEW-FM was, for me, a wonderful Thanksgiving tradition.
A former station DJ remembers Thanksgiving and Arlo Guthrie this way on the
blog
All Mixed Up Radio.
Every year a couple of days before Thanksgiving, it starts. It's slow at
first, and then turns into a non-stop avalanche of phone calls. And no
matter how many times a station runs promo announcements telling people
exactly when it will be played, the calls still come.
"What time are you playing 'Alice's Restaurant?'"...
Yes, in the olden days people used to listen to music on the radio. Imagine
that!...
Here's how Alice's Restaurant became a Thanksgiving tradition:
One of the nation's newest settlements, a small
community of pioneers, is about to celebrate its first Thanksgiving Day
on its rockbound island home in the East River.
The situation on Roosevelt Island, which separates midtown Manhattan
from Queens, is not quite the same as the one that faced the first New
England homeowners centuries ago. The 170 rent‐paying families, the
first in the ambitious planned development being built on the island,
have not been undergoing hardships. Maybe inconveniences here and there,
but not questions of life and death.
Heat comes up (with or without banging the radiator to alert the super,
New Yorkstyle). There is light and shelter and the natives are rather
nonexistent.
Last night, the new islanders fed one another at an ethnic buffet
representing the many diverse strains of humanity they stem from.
Tonight there will be an ecumenical service at the Chapel of the Good
Shepherd, the church built in 1889 and now put to work as a community
center. Tomorrow will be a family day, when people may talk turkey
around their tables.
The Roosevelt Island Saturday Farmers Market is relocating from Good Shepherd Plaza to their temporary winter home under the Motorgate Helix starting this Saturday, November 25.
According to Farmers Market vendor Israel Wengerd of Wengerd Farms:
The annual move is necessary to be out of the inclement winter weather.
The Roosevelt Island Farmers Market at Motorgate Plaza under the Helix
is open early morning to mid afternoon on Saturdays in good weather
and bad offering a wide variety of healthy and delicious tasting fruits,
vegetables and much more.
Also, relocating to Motorgate Plaza for the winter is the
Last Friday morning November 17, a Roosevelt Island resident asked:
I live in the Octagon and in the middle of last night, I heard what sounded
like several gunshots. I went to Citizen
this morning and found this post:
Have you heard anyone else report anything? Very unsettling.
A Roosevelt Island Manhattan Park resident reported:
Gun shots at 30 River Road
At approximately 2:44AM on Friday morning we were awoken by what I thought
was a loud banging on our wall. Then we heard nearby gunshots maybe six,
fired from below our open window, near the entrance of Manhattan Park, at
30RR. Looking out the window, we saw no one, no police, no cars, nothing.
So we went back to bed only to be awoken about 15-20 minutes later to more
distant gun shots. What on earth is going on here? Can you report on this
incident?
Other residents heard the commotion and apparently someone called police.
Another Manhattan Park resident reported:
I'm at 30 RR, and my wife and I were awakened around 2am by the very
distinct sound of gunshots (our window was open). We heard 6-8 gunshots
followed by a pause and then another 6-8 gunshots.
After about 15 minutes or so, there was another series of gunshots that
sounded a little more distant, though I'm not really sure. I don't know
where exactly the gunshots were, but definitely in the north side of the
island around the Manhattan Park apartments or the soccer field...
I'd be really interested in an update, to see if shell casings were
recovered.
Just to be clear, my wife and I both know what a handgun sounds like, and
this was definitely it. I suspect that the shooter emptied two clips and
then emptied a third clip later as he was walking around. We didn't hear any
yelling or commotion of any kind.
At least 3 other residents heard what they thought were gunshots at that time
too.
On November 18, I asked Roosevelt Island Operating Corp
(RIOC) Public Safety
Chief Kevin Brown:
Several Roosevelt Island residents reported to me hearing gunshots early
Friday morning ... about 2 AM in the vicinity of 30 River Road and 888 Main
Street....
... Do you have any information on this important matter of concern to
Roosevelt Island residents?...
I asked NYPD too. A NYPD spokesperson replied they had no information on any
Roosevelt Island gunshots at the time reported.
During the November 21 RIOC Public Safety Department Community Engagement
meeting, Chief Brown and
NYPD 114 Precinct Commander
Deputy Inspector Kenneth Gorman said they received no reports and had no
knowledge of any gunshots on Roosevelt Island at that time.
ShotSpotter is a gunshot detection system. ShotSpotter uses acoustic sensors
to quickly detect and alert New York City Police Department (NYPD) personnel
of confirmed gunfire incidents. The system reduces gunfire incident response
times, provides valuable evidence for investigations and criminal
prosecutions, and enhances both public and officer safety.
The NYPD produced this impact and use policy because the gunshot detection
system processes acoustic data, and shares acoustic and location data with
NYPD personnel...
Emails show that ShotSpotter shared locations of where it wanted to place
its gunshot detection sensors in one Upper West Side precinct with the NYPD
https://t.co/NlzXnm4DSz
Here's the full November 21 Roosevelt Island Public Safety Community Engagement
meeting.
According to RIOC:
Deputy Inspector Gorman from the 114th precinct also spoke on the precinct’s
domestic violence unit and highlighted the prevention of car theft,
particularly concerning catalytic converters, Hyundai, and Kia vehicles.
pic.twitter.com/JcBe9rw2Yl
— Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation (@RIOCny)
November 22, 2023
Sgt. Spencer's proactive engagement with the Roosevelt Island Youth was also
brought to the fore. These meetings are an open platform for everyone to
engage in candid discussions concerning the Roosevelt Island community. We
plan to convene the next PSD meeting on Dec 12 at 6PM.
pic.twitter.com/KOIt5Ybn5t
— Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation (@RIOCny)
November 22, 2023
The Graduate NY is your home away from home. Join us for a thankful dinner at
our family-friendly lobby restaurant AAA.
22 North Loop Road on the Cornell Tech campus.
Want to host Friendsgiving? Let our culinary team worry about the mess
while sipping and spilling all the tea. If food is your love language
then join The Graduate family as we celebrate Thanksgiving.
Click here to make your Roosevelt Island Thanksgiving Day Dinner reservations.
During the November 18 Roosevelt Island Saturday Farmers Market at Good Shepherd Plaza, local resident Paul Krikler was among a group of three or four residents speaking to other residents passing by
At about 1 PM, a Roosevelt Island Public Safety Officer instructed the petition gatherers not to approach anyone to collect signatures in the area of the Farmers Market because the PS/IS 217 PTA had a permit for that area and it was only for the use of the Farmers Market
According to the PSD Officers at the scene, someone raised an objection to the residents gathering petition signatures in Good Shepherd Plaza during the Farmers Market. The PSD officer refused to say who raised the objection.
The Co-President of the PTA was at the Farmers Market at the time. She said she did not raise any objection to the petition gatherers and was trying to find out what was going on.
Initially, the PSD officers told the petition seekers they would have to leave the Good Shepherd Plaza area to collect signatures and suggested going across the street or any area other than the Plaza.
After a discussion, it appeared that PSD agreed the residents could collect signatures outside the Plaza area on the sidewalk.
Here's what happened.
Asked to comment, Mr Krikler said:
I have total sympathy with the idea that we should not be in the actual market area. People here feel very strongly about this and are keen to engage when they stop. I can see how that would be disruptive to the Farmers Market.
Casago, a vacation rental property management company servicing homeowners and
guests in Mexico and the U.S., actually
did a study
to find the most peaceful tourist spots across the U.S., and found that
Roosevelt Island is New York City’s top spot to find some zen....
Local Instagram satirist
Weird RI
humorously reflects the views of many Roosevelt Island residents not happy
with publicity encouraging tourists to visit Roosevelt Island
by suggesting:
... Heckle a tourist today or forget about riding the tram ever again.
Find the person who squealed. Make them ride the tram line (from Manhattan)
at 12:30 pm on a beautiful Saturday afternoon - no elevator,
I have zero zen squeezing onto the tram getting home on weekends,
it’s a terrible place to visit please don’t come here…,
Are you kidding, going there is horrible! There’s no subway working, the
tram is crowded. Just to arrive and see nothing but residential buildings!
What a waste of time and money,
We all have leprosy, don’t come here,
It's awful here. Stay away.
Not to mention the not very Zen like Swinging Tram ride.
The DHCR Commissioner or a designee serves as RIOC Board of Directors Chair.
Ms Visnauskas made a rare public Roosevelt Island appearance at the
November 14 RIOC Board Of Directors
meeting sitting and chatting frequently with Mr Haynes and Ms Robinson
and she was joined by Mr Vallela.
Whatever matters discussed were done in whispers so the subject of
conversation between the Plaintiffs and Defendants in the lawsuit is not known
although from all appearances it was very amicable.
How can the Roosevelt Island community be assured that RIOC will operate
efficiently and competently when it's President and General Counsel are suing
the Governor's staff?
On November 16, Ms Kleiman wrote to the RIOC Directors and Mr Haynes asking:
Dear RIOC Board and Mr Haynes,
First I wish to thank all the residents and select board members who spoke at
the board meeting this past Tuesday and helped fight for an effective, and
elected RIOC Board of Directors.
Unfortunately I was unable to attend but my main question is How can RIOC
fairly and effectively govern Roosevelt Island when it’s 2 senior most
executives are basically suing US! We, Roosevelt Islanders, ARE the
state!
Again, I wish to thank those who spoke on behalf of the community for their
efforts to bring democracy to Roosevelt Island.
Thank you!
RIOC Board Director Ben Fhala (Seen at far right of image taken from November
14 RIOC Board Meeting video
screenshot)
replied to Ms Kleiman today:
Dear Roberta,
I appreciate your ongoing contributions to the dialogue and engagement with
this board.
As a Jewish Middle Eastern man with roots in Libya, I've drawn inspiration
from the wise teachings of our spiritual leaders. These figures instilled in
me a deep understanding that all humans are created in the image of God, and
there's always something to learn from each person. Even when faced with
adversity or actions I perceive as immoral, unethical, or lacking fiduciary
care for RIOC's long-term needs, I strive to embody these teachings.
The most significant conversation I've had with Shelton Haynes and Gretchen
Robinson occurred on July 19th. In that meeting, I witnessed a man in
genuine distress, making serious claims of racial attacks against him and
his staff. While he vaguely referenced members of his oversight, he
specifically named multiple individuals in our community and asserted that
he had been actively blocked by Chambers and HRC from addressing these
attacks on his reputation and character, preventing him from sharing his
experience freely. In my understanding, he believed these actions were
racially motivated.
During this meeting, I asked Shelton if he could substantiate his claims and
if he would be willing to present them to the board members. He agreed,
indicating he would do so in the upcoming board meeting. However, during the
same meeting, RIOC's General Counsel, Gretchen Robinson, acted more as
Shelton's personal lawyer, frequently interjecting into my questions and
statements and making me feel like a hostile witness.
At one point, the General Counsel warned me that continued public and RIOC
engagement could lead to legal action against me. Despite this, I understood
the invalidity of her claims and reported them to new board members Dr.
Melamed and Professor Tang. We collectively sought an emergency meeting in
August, but the chair, aligned with the General Counsel, denied our agenda
items and arranged an executive session to train new board members, a
session I deemed illegal under New York laws.
Despite raising concerns about inappropriate topics in the "welcome" meeting
and subsequent executive session, in my only meeting with Shelton Haynes, I
observed a distressed man in real pain. I genuinely want to hear his
perspective and understand if his oversight has been acting in a way that is
inappropriate, enabling others to damage his reputation and character.
While the new board members are uncomfortable with many issues presented to
us over the last few months, we don't know enough about the claims between
the defendants, and our focus is on being true oversight to RIOC and
creating an access point and voice for our community.
Bringing me full circle, having a claim against your oversight doesn't
translate into an inability to govern fairly and effectively. I remain
hopeful that Shelton Haynes and Gretchen Robinson will enable the new board
members to exercise genuine oversight going forward, despite actively
denying us this opportunity over the last few months.
Please note that I've included Gretchen Robinson, our legal staff, the newly
positioned Chair designate, and BCCed Dr. Melamed, who hasn't received
access to her government email due to administrative delays at RIOC.
Thanks,
Ben Fhala* Resident Board Member
*Disclaimer: All statements made by Ben Fhala are made in his capacity as a
RIOC Resident Board member. He does not represent the entirety of RIOC or
the full board but serves as a Resident Board member, offering information
to the community and its stakeholders.
This is a case about how the Executive Chamber for the Office of the Governor
of New York (the “Chamber”) and the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation
(“RIOC”) have unfairly subjected Shelton J. Haynes and Gretchen K. Robinson
(“Robinson,” and together with Haynes, the “Plaintiffs”), two African American
executives, to continuous and pervasive discrimination by, including but not
limited to, subjecting Haynes and Robinson to frequent unwarranted
investigations by the New York State Inspector General (“NYSIG”) as well as
ordering an independent investigation by an outside counsel – something not
done for other, more serious allegations – based entirely on specious
allegations of wrongdoing. The Chamber did so while simultaneously thwarting
Haynes’s and Robinson’s efforts to fight back against the discrimination and
defend themselves and RIOC against a multitude of defamatory statements made
by a local blogger and a group of disgruntled former employees....
... Though not named as defendants in the lawsuit, Mr Haynes and Ms Robinson
claim in their lawsuit that NY State Senator
Liz Krueger,
NY State Assembly Member
Rebecca Seawright
and
Roosevelt Island Daily
publisher David Stone contributed to a "racist backlash" against them.
The lawsuit also claims that Mr Haynes and Ms Robinson were excluded from
the appointment process of 3 new RIOC Board Members in an attempt to
undermine their authority and "ability to discharge their job functions."
Haynes and Robinson claim the 3 new RIOC board members are antagonistic to
them.
Mr Fhala, Dr Melamed and Professor Tang are the
3 new RIOC Board members
alleged by Mr Haynes and Ms Robinson to be antagonistic to them.
On November 7, the attorneys
for Mr Haynes and Ms Robertson wrote to the Southern District NY Court Judge
hearing their case:
...I write on behalf of Plaintiffs Shelton J. Haynes and Gretchen K. Robinson
(“Plaintiffs”) to respectfully request that this Court stay proceedings
pending the issuance of a Notice of Right to Sue Letter (“the Notice Letter”)
by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”). Defendants do not
consent to this request....
... To the extent Plaintiffs’ legal strategy has always been to name the
Chamber and RIOC alongside the individual Defendants, they prematurely filed
this action before exhausting the administrative remedies as to those
potential parties. Now Plaintiffs ask this Court to stay their own case
indefinitely—a decision that would delay the individual Defendants’ right to
respond to serious, although meritless, allegations—as they wait for an EEOC
determination.
... More significantly, Defendants have been publicly accused of racial
discrimination and retaliation and will suffer prejudice if they are
prevented from promptly defending themselves. Defendants are government
employees who are the subjects of serious allegations of wrongdoing. The
lawsuit appears intended to inhibit Defendants’ ability to execute the
duties of their offices, which has posed operational challenges for RIOC.
Justice demands a prompt resolution of this case....
... At this stage, all that Plaintiffs need to allege are “minimal” facts
“suggesting an inference” of such animus. Id. Plaintiffs’ allegations easily
meet that threshold. Notably, after its internal investigation, the law firm
RIOC hired drafted a report confirming Plaintiffs’ claims of racial
discrimination, and Defendants instructed the law firm to remove and
sanitize those findings. Compl. ¶ 85. The only plausible explanation for
Defendants’ instruction, particularly in light of the favorable inferences
afforded to Plaintiffs on a motion to dismiss, is that Defendants sought to
cover up the ongoing racial discrimination Plaintiffs faced. This fact alone
is fatal to Defendants’ argument.
Plaintiffs’ allegations comparing the adverse conduct against them to the
lack of adverse conduct against their white predecessors also raise an
inference of racial animus. Plaintiffs allege, for example, that Defendants
excluded them from the selection of new Board members, id. ¶¶ 1- 2, 92, and
allowed them to be subjected to unwarranted investigations, id. ¶ 46, but
treated their white predecessors differently—supporting an inference of
racial animus. That racial animus is further demonstrated by Defendants (1)
removing an African American Board member with an expiring term while
permitting two white Board members to remain despite their expired terms,
id. ¶ 103, and (2) preventing African American Board members from serving on
their requested committees while appointing a white Board member to his
requested committee, id. ¶¶ 103, 107.
Indeed, Plaintiffs’ comparators engaged in more severe misconduct (e.g.,
using racist and sexually inappropriate language, id. ¶ 7, and drinking
alcohol and golfing on the job, id. ¶ 70)— which ultimately cost them their
jobs—than that alleged against Plaintiffs, yet they were never investigated
by an outside law firm. This raises an inference of racial animus sufficient
to defeat a motion to dismiss....
Here are the letters from the attorneys for the plantiffs and defendants
excerpted above.
Heres the Haynes/Robinson lawsuit complaint.
While this mess all plays out in Albany and the court:
NEW: absolutely wild stuff is happening on Roosevelt Island. The CEO
of the island’s governing body is suing his own bosses—Gov. Kathy Hochul’s
admin—alleging they stopped him from going after the ex-employee
whistleblowers who accused him of corruption:https://t.co/pc6egb0oTu
You can sign the Petition here, if you agree or at the very least, demand attention be paid to Roosevelt
Island residents, workers and all who care about the community.
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.
