Roosevelt Island Revolt, Transparency, Community Engagement And Recent RIOC Management Turnover Received Citywide Attention Today In An Excellent Article By The City - Take A Look

Roosevelt Island revolt, transparency, community engagement and the recent management turnover at the Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC) received some citywide attention today in an excellent article by The City. The headline read:

Roosevelt Island Revolt: Residents Call for Governance Changes Amid Corporation Chaos

Following the abrupt departures of the last two leaders of the state authority that runs Roosevelt Island, residents are calling for more of a say in what goes on in the quiet, mostly residential strip of land on the East River. https://t.co/WXjk6K0fqv

— THE CITY (@THECITYNY) March 5, 2024

Click here for the full Roosevelt Island article from The City.

Many of the issues reported in The City article involving Roosevelt Island community engagement and RIOC transparency were discussed by residents, RIOC Board Directors and the new interim RIOC leadership of Deputy Counsel Gerrald Ellis, Chief Financial Officer Dhru Amin and Board member Howard Polivy during the February 15 RIOC Real Estate Development Advisory committee meeting.

During the discussion, Roosevelt Island Daily Publisher and frequent RIOC critic David Stone praised the new interim leadership team but noted:

... One of the things that RIOC has to do is ...  we  have to have some say of who the Board Members are. We had elections once with some really good members ... that were participating and had input. The next time it came around no elections and Andrew Cuomo just manipulated things to gain control. 

So what RIOC needs to do is guarantee some amount of power to the residents. You're giving it to us now. It's great of you, but you can go tomorrow and the Governor can just change the whole things....

Roosevelt Island resident Paul Krikler who is the organizer of a petition seeking to directly elect RIOC Board members that has over 1 thousand signatures and is the Chair of Community Board 8 Roosevelt Island committee added:

.. There a lot of people, including those in this room, and other people, numerous on this island who have had and do have some amazing ideas of what we could do with this island... 

... We'd like to have the residents have a much bigger voice in how all that stuff is done.  Another way of doing that is to have the residents have a say on what the direction of RIOC is, therefore have the vote on the Board. That's why the petition was asking for the residents to have the chance to vote in the Directors of RIOC.

I understand it's complicated beyond measure with State law. I understand that the first time all you had to do was throw some tea in the water and we gave you your freedom. So yes, it may be very difficult technically, but magically things have a a great way of actually happening when it's the right thing to do and if people say it loudly enough and together and I think that's what's going to happen here as well, so I'll stop making speeches

Here's the discussion.

  

Mr Stone speaking to the Interim RIOC leadership team also said:

I want to say thank you to you guys and what you're doing especially Howard.... I appreciate very much what you're doing. It is opening things up. I hope you stay forever. Nothing"s perfect but it's like walking into a new found land with you guys. I actually wrote to your Communications Director and got a response, oh my God...

Former RIOC Board member Margie Smith shares this message she sent to RIOC Board member Howard Polivy following the REDAC meeting:

I want to congratulate you on last night's meeting. I'm vocal enough when I don't like the way these things are handled, so I want to be just as vocal when they're handled as well as they were last night.

I sincerely hope it will continue this way, and all indications are that it will.

It is the broad consensus of many Roosevelt Island activists that since RIOC President Shelton Haynes and General Counsel Gretchen Robinson were placed on paid administrative leave last December, pending the latest of many investigations, RIOC has been doing an excellent job under the new interim leadership team of Mr Ellis, Ms Amin and Mr Polivy, together with new RIOC Directors Ben Fhala, Lydia Tang and Dr Michal Melamed.

So far, I agree.