Watch Last Night's Very Interesting Community Board 8 Roosevelt Island Committee Zoom Meeting With RIOC Update, State Senator Liz Krueger & Assembly Member Rebecca Seawright - 2 Of 4 Red Buses Out Of Service But Real Time Tracking Coming Soon, RIOC Leadership Changes & Direct Election Of RIOC Board Directors Among Issues Discussed

Manhattan Community Board 8 (CB8) Roosevelt Island Committee Chair Paul Krikler moderated an interesting Zoom meeting last night with Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC) Communications Director Bryant Daniels, NY State Senator Liz Krueger and NY State Assembly Member Rebecca Seawright talking with residents about a variety of local issues. The meeting began with Mr Daniels providing a RIOC update and answering questions on the: 

• RIOC interim leadership changes - (Deputy General Counsel Gerrald Ellis left RIOC for a job in the private sector. Acting Chief Operating Officer Mary Cunneen and Associate General Counsel Lada Stasko will join Chief Financial Officer Dhru Dhruvika on the interim leadership team), 
• Red Bus service outages - Of the 4 Red Buses, 2 buses are currently working on Main Street. 1 Red Bus is out of service and is expected to be back in service this week which will restore Octagon Bus Service. The 4th Bus is out of service for maintenance and no date yet for when it will be fixed.  2 new Red Buses are on order.
• Red Bus Real Time Schedule Tracking service will be working soon and integrated in NY Transit app as well as the soon to launch Roosevelt Island Citizens Project platform.
• Weekend Volleyball Players at Firefighters Field taking over entire area with no room for others to use the field - RIOC is aware of issue and will look more into it.

NY State Senator Krueger and Assembly Member Seawright then discussed Roosevelt Island governance issues including:

• direct elections for members of the RIOC Board of Directors by Roosevelt Island residents, 
• residency requirement for RIOC President and 
• the Roosevelt Island Master Lease between the City and State of NY

Ms Kreuger did not support direct elections for RIOC Directors or Roosevelt Island residency requirements for RIOC President. Ms Seawright supported both. 

According to Ms Krueger, any Governor is unlikely to give up the power to appoint RIOC Directors by way of a direct election. Ms Seawight said that Mayor Adams has agreed to use direct elections for appointment of the two Mayoral appointments to the RIOC Board.

Governor Hochul has previously vetoed legislation requiring residency for RIOC President and for resident Board members who move away from Roosevelt Island.

Watch the very interesting discussion on these issues.

CB 8 Roosevelt Island Committee meeting are scheduled for the first Monday of every month except August. The next meeting will be on September 9. You're invited to attend, share your thoughts and ask questions.