Over 1 Thousand Roosevelt Island Residents Sign "We Need A Functioning & Competent RIOC" Petition Seeking To Directly Elect All RIOC Board Members - Organizer Says It Demonstrates We "Really Do Care About How This Place Is Governed And The Need For Far Better, Direct Representation"

Roosevelt Island resident Paul Krikler began a petition drive last October to:

Directly Elect All RIOC Board Members

According to the petition:

We Need a Functioning & Competent RIOC

We are asking for all RIOC Board members to be directly elected by residents of Roosevelt Island. We have had too many years of lackadaisical and ineffective management at RIOC. We need better oversight of RIOC.

The current administration is not functioning.

There are people at RIOC who care and who want to help and who do help. What we need is senior management that engages with the community. Instead we have senior management who appear reflexively to want to close doors and rebuff the residents. Nowhere was this more shockingly apparent than we saw at the recent board meeting where even a resident RIOC board member was met with hostility and an unwillingness to engage. This can’t be right.

We need a different attitude and approach by senior management at RIOC. It’s time for Roosevelt Island residents to be able to vote for their choice of RIOC Board members. This would give us:

Better oversight of RIOC to ensure that the interests of the community are kept front and center in an open and transparent way

The opportunity for so many residents to bring forward their vision of how things could be done for the better service of this community. 

Last Saturday, Roosevelt Island Historical Society (RIHS) President Judy Berdy 

became the 1 thousandth resident to sign the petition

joining former Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC) Director Dr Kathy Grimm

and at least 998 other residents seeking competent governance for Roosevelt Island.

According to Mr Krikler last Saturday:

We have 1,000 signatures online and another 35 on paper. This clearly demonstrates that Roosevelt Islanders really do care about how this place is governed and the need for far better, direct representation.

People should come to the Community Board 8 Roosevelt Island Committee Zoom meeting on January 18 at 6:30 PM. We will all have a chance to share our thoughts on governance and representation on Roosevelt Island with elected officials including NY State Senator Liz Krueger.

Click here to sign the online petition.

Mr Krikler and colleagues are also available to chat with you to learn more about improving RIOC governance 

and representation on Saturday's next to the Farmers Market at the Motorgate Plaza area.