Saturday, April 27, 2024

Wonderful Jazz Jam Session Performed Today At The Roosevelt Island Library Outdoor Plaza Celebrating International Jazz Day - Watch And Enjoy Video Of The Jam

International Jazz Day was celebrated this afternoon at the Roosevelt Island Public Library Outdoor Plaza with a wonderful Jazz Jam session performed by local musicians together with some of their musician and vocalist friends. 

Roosevelt Island residents of all ages enjoyed today's Jazz Jam.

Here's a little bit of what happened - Watermelon Man Cantaloupe Island by Herbie Hancock.

Jazz guitarist Susheel explained the impromptu nature of the jam session by remarking:

This is the beautiful thing about a jam session. We don't know what we're going to play. Hopefully these guys don't call something we have no idea about. Fortunately, protocol is to suggest a tune that most of us, some of us, know.


It was a great time this afternoon and the outdoor Library Plaza is a fantastic spot to hold a concert. Hopefully more outdoor concerts will take place at the Library Plaza this year.

Good job by the Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC), the Roosevelt Island NYPL branch and especially the performing musicians putting the event on. Thanks to all of you!

Friday, April 26, 2024

Roosevelt Island RIVAA Gallery Open Call For Artists To Participate In Upcoming Pride Month Exhibition Themed "Safe Space" - Express Your Interpretation Of Safety, Refuge And Sanctuary Through Your Art

 The Roosevelt Island RIVAA Gallery is celebrating Pride Month with an Open Call For Artists.

According to RIVAA Gallery:
We’re thrilled to invite LGBTQ+ artists to participate in our upcoming exhibition themed “Safe Space” at RIVAA Gallery. Express your interpretation of safety, refuge, and sanctuary through your art. 🏳️‍🌈

For submission form, please click link 

For questions and images submissions, please contact us at RIVAAPride@gmail.com

Submission Guidelines:

Up to 5 pieces per artist.

Please send attachment photos including artwork title, dimensions, and medium.

Explain how your art relates to the theme “Safe Space.”

Artwork must be ready to hang or set on a display surface.

Submission Details:

Submissions are free.

If your artwork is accepted, there is a $25 flat fee for participation.

Drop-off your accepted artwork in-person with the fee at RIVAA Gallery on May 27 & 28.

Important Dates:

Deadline for submissions: May 9, 2024

Exhibition dates: May 30 - June 8, 2024

Opening Reception: Saturday, June 1, 2024 from 5 - 8PM

Artwork pick-up: June 13 & 14, 2024

Location:

RIVAA Gallery 527 Main St, Roosevelt Island, NY 10044

Here's how Pride Month was celebrated last year on Roosevelt Island. 

Thursday, April 25, 2024

Academy Of American Poets Poem A Day Series Features Poetry By Monica Youn Titled "Four Freedoms Park" About Roosevelt Island - "A Reminder That, In the U.S., Freedom For Some Has Always Come At The Expense Of Incarceration For Others"

The Academy Of American Poets celebrates April as National Poetry Month. A poem by Monica Youn titled "Four Freedoms Park" about Roosevelt Island is featured as part of their Poem-A-Day series.

According to the Poem-A-Day website:

“In my son’s early infancy, I was staying near Roosevelt Island and spent many afternoons taking the tram over and circumambulating the little island. The FDR Memorial in Four Freedoms Park, a luxurious geometry of honed granite, is the play/picnic ground for local families, many of whom are Asian American and drawn by the island’s sterile high-rise condos and the promise of a car-free, crime-free New York City neighborhood. The ubiquity of Asian American faces sharpened the many ironies of FDR’s Four Freedoms, a speech he gave in the same year in which, caving to wartime racism, he signed Executive Order 9066, authorizing the internment of Americans of Japanese ancestry. The memorial also abuts the ruins of the Smallpox Hospital, and ties into the island’s long history as a site of segregation and confinement for those deemed criminal, insane, or poor––a reminder that, in the U.S., freedom for some has always come at the expense of incarceration for others.” ––Monica Youn

Is Working From Home Taking Over Your Living Space? Professional Office Space Available In Roosevelt Island Rivercross Building

According to Accountable Financial Management Corp (AFMC):

Is working from home taking over your living space?

Here at 501 Main Street, 


we have professional Office Space available for rent. For more information please call (212) 644-8231

Wednesday, April 24, 2024

Weekend Of Roosevelt Island Music Coming Up April 27-28 -Celebrate International Jazz Day With A Free Jazz Jam Session Saturday Afternoon At Roosevelt Island Public Library Outdoor Plaza And Romantic Chamber Music Program Sunday At RIVAA Gallery

Come celebrate International Jazz Day Saturday April 27 at the Roosevelt Island NY Public Library outdoor plaza (504 Main Street).


According to the Roosevlt Island Operating Corp (RIOC): 
Dear Roosevelt Island Community:

Join us in celebrating International Jazz Day with a special jazz jam session this Saturday, April 27th from 2-5 PM at the Roosevelt Island Public Library outdoor plaza!🎷

International Jazz Day highlights jazz and its diplomatic role of uniting people in all corners of the globe. Immerse yourself in the captivating melodies and rhythms of jazz as talented musicians take the stage.

🗓️ Date: Saturday, April 27th

⏰ Time: 2:00pm-5:00pm

📍 Location: Roosevelt Island Public Library Plaza

Rain date: Saturday, May 4th

The Library Plaza 

is a lovely spot to enjoy an outdoor concert  

 on a nice spring day.

Also, Roosevelt Island's RIVAA Gallery 

is hosting a Romantic Chamber Music program on Sunday Afternoon April 28.

Enjoy a few minutes from the January 7 RIVAA Gallery Sunday Afternoon of Chamber Music.

Tuesday, April 23, 2024

NYC Mayor Eric Adams Op-Ed At Halfway Point Through First Term Looks Back On Accomplishments Of His Administration - He Says "Crime Down, Jobs Up, The Big Apple Is Having One Of Its Best Years Ever"

New York City Mayor Eric Adams submitted the op-ed article below to local NYC community media including Roosevelt Islander Online.

According to Mayor Eric Adams:

New York City’s Accomplishments

April 22, 2024

Halfway through our first term, it is time to look back on and celebrate all we have accomplished together.

Four years after COVID-19 forced our city to a standstill, New York is back. With crime down, jobs up, a historic boom in tourism, and an economy firing on all cylinders, we are having one of our best years ever.

Even for a city as resilient as New York, recovering from the pandemic was no simple task. But with strategic thinking and supportive programs, we created the right conditions for the economy to flourish and for New Yorkers to succeed.

Over the past two years, we not only recovered all of the private-sector jobs lost during the pandemic but set the all-time record for the highest number of total jobs in our city’s history. We have raised wages for working people — including our municipal workers, delivery workers, for-hire drivers, and non-profit workers. We have negotiated contracts with 95 percent of the unionized city workforce, including 100 percent of the city’s uniformed workforce, to give our public servants the pay and benefits they deserve. And we are not stopping there — we are bringing jobs directly to the people with our “Jobs NYC” initiative, connecting New Yorkers with well-paying job opportunities in both the public and private sectors at hiring halls across the five boroughs.

In addition to the robust economic growth we are seeing, we are helping more New Yorkers connect with affordable housing. Thanks to our partners in Albany, the state budget this year delivers EVERY single piece of the housing agenda we have been fighting for, giving us the tools to build the affordable housing New Yorkers need and deserve. These new programs and incentives will get us closer to our moonshot goal of building 500,000new units of housing in the next 10 years.

We have also launched major legacy projects, including the city’s largest all-affordable housing project in Willets Point, Queens. This project will transform an entire neighborhood by building 2,500 units of housing and the city’s first-ever soccer stadium, so 25,000 fans can go crazy when the New York City Football Club brings home another trophy.

And just last week, I was proud to announce another dramatic new addition to our city’s skyline— a new 62-story office tower in Midtown. This building, alone, will house 6,000 workers, and it will be the New York City headquarters of one of our leading financial firms, Citadel and Citadel Securities.

There is much more to come in Midtown Manhattan, including our “Broadway Vision” plan to create new public spaces and make streets safer between Madison and Herald Squares, as well as a $10 billion expansion of the Midtown Bus Terminal.

We are also re-imagining our city’s most famous retail mecca for the first time in over century, with plans to create a pedestrian-focused boulevard that will welcome more New Yorkers and visitors to Fifth Avenue. This plan will create more green space for our city and burnish the glamour of the midtown district as the world’s ultimate shopping destination.

These are big, visionary public projects that will define our city for generations to come. We’re investing in our city, our future, and every hardworking New Yorker who loves this town.

We achieved all this by focusing on the fundamentals, especially when it comes to protecting public safety. This year, crime is down across the five boroughs, with month after month decreases. In the past year, homicides and shootings have plummeted by double digits — that’s after they dropped by double digits last year and after they dropped by double digits in 2022.

Transit crime was down 15 percent in February, and nearly 24 percent in March — bringing transit crime down through the end of the first quarter of this year.

But it is not just about the numbers. It is also about making sure that New Yorkers feel safe in our city and are confident that we are moving in the right direction. That is why our administration intends to invest even more in upstream solutions, creating conditions that improve outcomes for all New Yorkers — especially our young people.

We’re investing in our Fair Futures program to support kids in foster care, which has boosted college enrollment by 50 percent since we took office, and the ACS College Choice program that makes sure they can afford college when they get there.

We have also expanded our dyslexia screening programs so that EVERY child is screened for dyslexia, and that those children get the support they need to read and succeed.

We’re proud of all we have accomplished in our first two years, but we know there is so much more to do going forward. We are going to continue to make the safest big city in America even safer, expand economic opportunity for all, and improve quality of life across the five boroughs. With two years of success to guide us, we intend to keep our success story going far into the future.

Here's today's weekly Tuesday Off Topic media availability with Mayor Adams and senior NYC officials. 

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Monday, April 22, 2024

Residents Ask Why Was Chain Link Fence Installed Blocking Access To Roosevelt Island East River Eleanor's Pier And Will Pier Tables And Chairs Return When It's Fixed?

Last Friday, Roosevelt Island residents noticed chain linked fencing being installed at Eleanor's Pier on the East River waterfront promenade

 
and asked:
  • Do you know what happened here? It’s fully fenced
  • What is this fencing???? So strange they would close the entire pier 😔 

Last month, a portion of the Eleanor's Pier seawall railing collapsed.

On April 1, Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC) Communications Director Bryant Daniels replied to my question asking what happened and reported:

On Saturday evening an individual was holding onto one of the railings on Eleanor’s Pier when it collapsed back onto the pier. Thankfully, that person was ok and did not require medical attention. No other individuals were involved in the incident, and nothing went into the water. 

RIOC has cordoned off the entire area for public safety purposes and begun investigating why the railing collapsed, and whether the rest of the railings will require any remediation work to ensure their structural integrity. We don’t yet have a timeline for the repair work but will be sure to keep the community up to date when we know more. In the meantime, for those visiting the pier, we are asking everyone to please adhere to our temporary boundary and not cross into the cordoned off area.

Subsequently, additional problems were discovered at the Pier which required it to be closed for safety precautions. 

Also, several residents have asked:

Do you know what happened to the chairs in Eleanor’s pier? They disappeared slowly and never came back.

Do not know yet RIOC's plan to fix and timetable to re-open the Pier or if the tables and chairs will return.

Will update when more info becomes available.

The same pier seawall railing area collapsed in February 2023

and the Roosevelt Island boat prow is still closed 

a year after the damage was discovered in April 2023.

Sunday, April 21, 2024

Chabad Of Roosevelt Island Saved You A Seat At The Passover Seder April 22 & 23, Best Wishes For A Happy Roosevelt Island Passover - Why Is This Night Different From All Others, Dayenu And What To Do With Leftover Matzah?

An invitation from the Chabad Of Roosevelt Island to the Roosevelt Island Community Passover Seder:

Join us for a Pesach Seder with Chabad of Roosevelt Island.

Monday April 22, 7:30 PM.

Tuesday April 23, 7:30 PM.

Warm and inviting atmosphere.

Gourmet Passover Cuisine.

Enjoy a meaningful and interactive Seder with Chabad Of Roosevelt Island

For more information please contact nechama@RIJewish.org 

What is Passover?

Passover's Four Questions are presented by the Maccabeats

and their version of the classic Passover song Dayenu too.

Here's 20 things you can do with Matzah after Passover.

Best wishes for a Happy Roosevelt Island Passover.