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.
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.
