A playful new adaptation of Jane Austen’s beloved novel follows the fortunes
(and misfortunes) of the Dashwood sisters—sensible Elinor and hypersensitive
Marianne—after their father’s sudden death leaves them financially destitute
and socially vulnerable. Set in gossipy late 18th-century England, with a
fresh female voice, the play is full of humor, emotional depth, and bold
theatricality. SENSE AND SENSIBILITY examines our reactions, both reasonable
and ridiculous, to societal pressures. When reputation is everything, how do
you follow your heart?
and
This is not your mother’s Sense and Sensibility!...
Hear from the RIOC Interim Leadership Team, meet new Assistant Manager at the Roosevelt Island Tramway Darren McCarthy, read the latest updates from RIOC and much more!
Hard copies can be picked up starting later today at the Roosevelt Island Older Adult Center (546 Main Street), the Public Safety Department (546 Main Street), and the Roosevelt Island Public Library (504 Main Street). You can also view it anytime by visiting the RIOC website
Here is the RIOC Interim Leadership Team Letter of CFO Dhru Amin, Acting Chief Operating Officer Mary Cunneen and Associate General Counsel Lada Stasko from the January 2025 RIOC newsletter.
Dear Roosevelt Islanders:
We wish everyone on Roosevelt Island a very happy New Year! This year marks the 50th anniversary
of residents moving to the island— what an incredible milestone! 2025 got off to a strong start for us at RIOC with the arrival of our two new Red Buses, which went into service starting January 8th. It was a long road to get here, but we want to thank our finance, procurement, and transportation teams for their months of hard work in bringing these buses to Roosevelt Island.
As many of you know, the state of our Red Bus fleet has been severely diminished over the course of many years, resulting in reduction of service in August of last year. Since then, the corporation has succeeded in rebuilding the fleet, adding transportation personnel, enhancing maintenance efforts and restoring service to the appropriate level . As of this month, we are
on track to meet our goals; most mornings now see four Red Buses on the road for local service, while our minibus has become the new Octagon Express shuttle. In addition, we have restored
the weekly Shoppers Bus service for elderly and disabled riders, which we know is an important lifeline for many islanders. Some challenges remain, and we are currently planning our next bus purchase, given the advanced age of most of our fleet. But we are on much firmer footing today than we’ve been in quite some time, and we appreciate the patience the community has shown us during this journey.
Regarding the Tram service, as you’ll read further in this newsletter, we’ve made some operational adjustments, including additional PSD presence on the Manhattan side even when lines haven’t formed, installing new priority seating signage inside the cabins, and working with our Tram operator, Leitner-Poma, to improve the visibility of station attendants on the Tram platform, all of which we hope will improve the overall rider experience. Over the winter holiday break, we experienced several days of heavy ridership, due in part to
the influx of tourists and favorable weather conditions. Our focus remains on working with Poma and state regulators to return the Tram to its previous schedule, which should help alleviate some of the wait times when lines form. Please be aware that while we recognize residents’ efforts advocating for the Tram priority boarding, the reality
is that the Tram is a common carrier and a form of public transportation subject to state laws and certain inter-agency agreements. Rest assured that will continue focusing our efforts on working with Poma
to expedite repairs to the Tram’s communication system, which will allow us to resume running the Tram permanently at a faster pace and return to the prior, normal schedule.
Looking ahead to 2025, we have several infrastructure projects
we aim to continue or close out, including our Roadways Redesign Project, replacing the railings along Eleanor’s Pier, repairing the concrete around The Girl Puzzle Monument, and completing the remediation work to fix the persistent flooding
in front of Sportspark at the corner of North Loop Road. For the Tram, we have budgeted a capital
project for Tram modernization
to improve the cabins and brakes. We will also work to expand the footprint of our new digital signage, including adding new kiosks at
the Manhattan Tram station and the F-train stop. Additionally, we’ll continue making everyday quality- of-life improvements, from fixing Z-bricks to ensuring our grounds remain beautiful and well-kept, as they always need attention. And in 2025, RIOC has partnered up with New York Community Trust (NYCT) to provide $250k in funding to be distributed in public purpose grants to island non-profits. NYCT plans to release the RFP for grant funding in mid-February, which will be available on their portal and open to all Roosevelt Island nonprofits that wish to apply.
Finally, a quick update on RIOC’s leadership situation. While we have been proud to step up and work together as an interim leadership team for almost a year, filling multiple high-level roles without a President/CEO and General Counsel can be a challenge, especially over an extended period. In December 2024, RIOC issued an RFP for an executive search firm, which, once in place, will begin working to find a new CEO and General Counsel
for the corporation. This process will take some time, at least several months, before any roles are filled. So, we appreciate the community’s continued patience and understanding. As soon as these vacant executive positions are approved by RIOC’s Board of Directors, we will be able to move forward collectively at full strength.
... The Community Board has no power to implement such a policy but it's
support may be helpful in persuading RIOC and the Governor to do so....
Well, some progress was made today when NY State Senator
Liz Krueger, who
previously has not been supportive of Roosevelt Island residents and workers
Tram boarding priority, released a statement in support of NYC resident
boarding priority on the Roosevelt Island Tram. According to Ms Kreuger:
The Tram’s popularity during peak tourist season is having a severe impact on
Roosevelt Island residents, causing real hardship on their daily commutes to
work, school, or critical appointments. For this reason, I support the
resolution passed by Community Board 8 requesting NYC residents be given
priority boarding on the Tram.
However, I also understand the complex practical realities that make this
approach challenging to implement, including state Transportation Law,
contracts between RIOC and the MTA, and other franchise agreements with the
City.
I urge RIOC to explore workable options for implementing the resolution and
present their findings to the community. In the meantime, I continue to
press RIOC to increase the speed of the Tram to what it previously was, and
I am pleased that the FCC dedicated signal for the Tram has been approved,
which should expedite this process.
Note that Ms Krueger and Community Board 8 support Roosevelt Island Tram
priority boarding preference for NYC residents, not limited to only
Roosevelt Island residents and workers.
... regarding overcrowding on the Roosevelt Island Tram. I strongly favor
RIOC adopting an action plan that prioritizes access to residents of
Roosevelt Island.
The Tram is essential to the transportation of needs of the community.
There are numerous categories of people who rely on the Tram, including
those with disabilities, senior citizens, workers in all fields, parents
and school-age children. Whether it is used for transportation to a
medical appointment or a place of business, the Tram is a vital mode of
transportation.
While we welcome visitors to enjoy the vibrant life and attractions of
Roosevelt Island, a plan is needed that will result in a reduction of wait
time and an improved schedule that recognizes resident's usage. In the
past, we have successfully advocated for ways to address transportation
issues, including the expansion of RIOC's Red Bus service to ameliorate
sharp service reductions. Similarly, we fought hard to ensure an F train
shuttle during the Direct Track Fixation repairs last year.
Now is the time for RIOC to step up and present an action plan that fully
prioritizes resident use of the Tram.
I have sent a copy of my comments to the RIOC leadership as well....
As a supporter of Roosevelt Island residents and commuters, I value the
importance of ensuring their needs are considered regarding tramway access.
The Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation should ask for further
clarification of existing New York State Transportation laws to determine
the feasibility of prioritizing access to existing public transit.
NYC Mayor Eric Adams supports the idea too:
The Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC) is still claiming that any Tram boarding preference for residents is
illegal. Today, in the
RIOC January 2025 newsletter
Interim Leadership report, RIOC continues to claim:
... that while we recognize residents’ efforts advocating for the Tram
priority boarding, the reality is that the Tram is a common carrier and a
form of public transportation subject to state laws and certain inter-agency
agreements....
... a copy of the full legal analysis (not the previously released public
statement) that RIOC is relying on for its current position that
resident/worker Tram boarding preference would be illegal. If necessary,
please consider this a FOIL request.
and followed up:
... Also, please include copies of any Franchise Agreement with NYC that
RIOC is relying on to assert that a resident and worker boarding preference
for the Tram is illegal....
On January 9, 2025, I received this response from RIOC to my FOIL request.
As far as I can tell, there is nothing in the NYC Franchise agreements
provided by RIOC that addresses the legality of Roosevelt Island Tram boarding
priority preference.
After receiving RIOC's response to my FOIL request, later that day I replied to
RIOC:
... Does your response to my FOIL request mean that there are no agreements
other than what you just sent that RIOC is relying upon to assert that a
resident and worker boarding preference for the Tram is illegal?
If there are any other agreements with any party including the MTA that
RIOC is relying upon to assert that a resident and worker boarding
preference for the Tram is illegal, please send me copies and consider my
request an extension of the prior FOIL request.
Also, please consider this an appeal of the decision not to provide RIOC's
full legal analysis for Tram boarding preference....
On January 10, RIOC Associate General Counsel Lada Stasko answered:
Please be advised that RIOC did not enter to any Tramway franchise
agreement with the City other than that was provided to you.
RIOC hereby acknowledges receipt of your appeal below. We will respond to
it pursuant to Public Officer Law (POL) §89(4)(a) within ten (10) business
days of the receipt on January 9, 2025.
RIOC also acknowledges your follow-up FOIL request for additional records.
Please be advised that we need to review the responsive records – which
are inter-agency agreements with MTA - to ensure that they are not exempt
from disclosure under POL §87(2). We will notify you of our progress
within twenty (20) business days.
Thank you for your attention.
On January 13, I suggested:
Can a solution be found that overcomes RIOC's purported legal obstacle for
providing priority Roosevelt Island Tram boarding to those who use the
Tram for essential transportation purposes before those using the Tram as
an amusement sightseeing attraction?
How about this?
RIOC sets up a permitting system to issue an annual Roosevelt Island Fast
Line Pass that is available to everyone, resident, worker or visitor. The
Fast Line Pass must be picked up in person on Roosevelt Island at least 24
hours before it can be used.
The Fast Line Pass allows the holder to board the Tram before a person who
does not have a Fast Line Pass. A person who only rides the Tram as a one
time sightseeing attraction is less likely to obtain the Fast Line Pass
than a regular user of the Tram.
Logistics would need to be figured out for how the Fast Line Pass would
work in practice, but the bottom line is that Roosevelt Island residents,
workers and anyone else who uses the Roosevelt Island Tram for
transportation purposes will have priority boarding over those using it
for one time sightseeing amusement attraction.
Tomorrow the supporters of Roosevelt Island Tram boarding priority
preferences for residents and workers are holding a strategy planning
session. You're invited to share your ideas.
We do not to want to wait while RIOC conducts a search for the new CEO. That
alone could easily take 6-9 months. Presumably, that person will want some
time before taking any big decisions, of which this will be but one of many.
We are not prepared to wait for 12-18 months.
A Roosevelt Island resident reported on January 17:
Who should we call when there are people on our subway platform that need help? This morning as you get on the mezzanine my husband sees woman pulling down a guys pants to his ankles. Have some drug paraphernalia.
Woman looks up at him and asks what are you looking at. Go to work.
Called the public safety and they said we don’t have jurisdiction there and our radios don’t work
Another guy called and he was told to call the cop in the booth.
I asked Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC) Communications Director Bryant Daniels if RIOC had any comment on the matter.
Mr Daniels answered:
It's correct that we don’t have jurisdiction on the subway platform, the NYC Transit Police do. In those non-emergency instances like a lewd incident, the best thing for subway riders to do is dial 911, which is the fastest way to get those who do have jurisdiction on site, or alert the MTA station attendant. PSD will obviously respond if it’s a life-threatening emergency, but we still don’t have jurisdiction in the subways.
What we mean about the radios is that PSD is not hooked into the NYPD radio system, so we can’t radio them for assistance.
Another resident asked:
I'm flabbergasted that PSD is in charge of Duane Reade's safety. I always thought they hired their own private security staff, but indeed, I paid attention to the uniform today and it's PSD. Why are public resources used for a private business? No bad faith on my part, just genuinely curious. I'm sure there is a reason
During the January 14 RIOC Public Public Safety Department Community Engagement meeting, PSD Chief Kevin Brown reported on the stationing of PSD officers inside the Duane Reade. According to Chief Brown in 2023 there were 161 Petit Larcenies at the Roosevelt Island Duane Reade. Chief Brown added:
... That's a lot no
matter how you slice it. We put an
officer specifically
in that area and we went down in 2024 to
31. That is a dramatic decrease. That means
that we're being proactive.
There were
some people who say that that PSC
resources are going to that area but
this is what I can say about that. There were other things that would
happen with these Petit Larcenies down there. Our neighbors, our residents ... are being harassed by the people who are also
committing these crimes so the
officers being in the area are small
deterrence.
Going down from 161 to 31
is a dramatic decrease, almost 80%. This is something that as a community
that is the best way to go forward...
Here's the Duane Reade discussion.
Restart the video from beggining to watch the full January 15 PSD Community Engagement meeting.
It was very cold out but that didn't stop Roosevelt Island kids from having a great time in the snow today sledding on the hills at the Cornell Tech campus.
The Roosevelt Island Library and the Roosevelt Island Historical Society are pleased to host Dr. Roma Bhattacharjea. An expert in gender and family policy who has worked with the United Nations Development Program and Unicef. Roma is a long time Roosevelt Island resident and active in our community.
... we remember MLK as the transcendent figure who helped lift the South out
of Jim Crow. We also remember him as almost preternaturally calm in the face
of great pressure and danger. He was indeed all of these things. But the
passage of time has obscured his dimensionality. In the last years of his
life, King expanded his vision beyond the former Confederacy and took on a
broader struggle to dismantle America’s jigsaw edifice of racial and economic
discrimination—a struggle that took him deep into northern states and cities,
where onetime allies became bitter enemies. He did so even as he strained to
keep a fractious civil rights movement unified, and in the face of unremitting
sabotage from federal authorities.
He was a young man, still in his 30s—foisted onto the national stage with
actors many years or decades his senior, suspect in the eyes of both younger
and older civil rights leaders—and the burdens of leadership took their toll
on him....
Here's an excerpt of Dr. King's last speech, I've Been To The
Mountain Top, on the night before his assassination....
"For most Republicans, Dr King is just the guy who said to forget about skin color; they basically just know one quote of his, out of context, & they repeat it ad nauseam."
... It's a wild bird. Turkeys have over 5,000 feathers that provide excellent insulation. They can store fat in the spring, summer and fall by eating fruits, nuts, berries, plants and seeds. Wild Turkeys can survive and thrive eating natural foods and do not need food from people.
Snow storms? Turkey stay in trees during severe storms. Winter is for all wildlife.
Hanabi has been chronicling the daily exploits of Rosie and show us her competing for turf with a cat at the Roosevelt Island Public Library Patio Garden.
Thanks for this unusual footage! Astoria stayed safe while watching this intruder.
Astoria the Wild Turkey was in fine form on this chilly Monday morning, eating last night's snow, a much-needed natural source of water that she can enjoy all day in her favorite garden on Roosevelt Island. 🦃 ❤️ ❄️ pic.twitter.com/cov9xrgMSA
This fills a longstanding need, and thanks to all the leaders who pulled it together. For balance now, we need resident leadership to come up with something similar. RIRA is a wreck waiting for...
Jesus Christ. Give it up. The priority boarding is not going to happen. If the line is too long, take the subway. It's not that far from the tram station on either end of the trip.
The protections from Public Safety for tram safety diminish the man hours of protection that Roosevelt Islanders pay for to protect us right here in our community. While It's necessary,...
It good idea but need to think about a limit number of passes per person or some other control to stop people trying to grab multiples for sale. Also have to think where/when do you get the daily...
There is no extra fee for the annual Fast Line Pass. The idea is the same thing as what your are calling Priority Boarding. The idea that is different is that anyone (residents/workers/visitors)...
Re. the 8:30 update: The Roosevelt Landings Residents Association determined that at least 22 heater sparkings and fires had taken place in our building in recent months. I personally experienced 3...
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.
