Amalgamated Bank Donates $1 Thousand To Roosevelt Island Residents Association For CPR Training - Makes Additional Donations To Roosevelt Island Organizations Too

Roosevelt Island Amalgamated Bank Branch Manager Albert Salas announced a $1 Thousand donation to the Roosevelt Island Residents Association (RIRA) for CPR Training on behalf of Amalgamated Bank during the December 2 RIRA Common Council Meeting. Mr. Salas presented the $1 thousand check to RIRA President Jeff Escobar at that meeting

Image Of Amalgamated Bank Albert Salas Presenting Check To RIRA's Jeff Escobar

and said Amalgamated Bank is looking forward:

... to being more involved in community events....

RIRA President Jeff Escobar thanked Mr. Salas for the Amalgamated Bank donation and for its commitment to the community. Mr. Escobar added that Amalgamated Bank:

... has become our partner in the community.

Amalgamated Bank's Executive Vice President of Community Banking Samantha Berg reports on their donations to Roosevelt Island organizations including:

Roosevelt Island Resident Association (RIRA) - $1,000 for CPR classes

Roosevelt Island Historical Society - $2000 for their Lecture series, book donation and comped group tours

Roosevelt Island Disabled Association (RIDA) - $1000 for funding repairs to their 15 passenger wheelchair buss

The Roosevelt Island School PS/IS 217 – $1,000 plus support for their Halloween carnival

Roosevelt Island Visual Art Association (RIVAA) - $1,500 for arts education

Roosevelt Island Main Street Theatre & Dance Alliance - $1,500 for the scholarship and work study program

Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation (RIOC)

• Halloween Parade - § Sponsorship of kids giveaways and face painter
• Tree lighting Ceremony - § Sponsorship of Santa’s Corner

Four Freedoms Park Conservancy - $15,000 for their Imagination Playground

We have also supported ICLA da Silva Foundation and were recently at their gala.

Hopefully in 2015 we will be doing the Cherry Blossom Festival, Egg Hunt as well as Roosevelt Island Day. We are looking into a summer activity with RIRA as well.

Ms. Berg spoke at the December 5 Roosevelt Island Tree Lighting.



Here's more on Amalgamated Bank



and an Amalgamated Bank Roosevelt Island mortgage seminar.

UPDATE 10:30 PM - Amalgamated Bank is seeking a Branch Service Manager for Roosevelt Island. More information available at previous post.

Google Ultra High Speed Broadband Service For Roosevelt Island In Exchange For Tram Naming Rights & Access To NYC Media Market? What A Deal!!!!!!

Google Roosevelt Island Tram Cabin In Exchange For Ultra High Broadband?

As reported in this earlier post via Google:

Google is planning to launch an experiment that we hope will make Internet access better and faster for everyone. We plan to test ultra-high speed broadband networks in one or more trial locations across the country. Our networks will deliver Internet speeds more than 100 times faster than what most Americans have access to today, over 1 gigabit per second, fiber-to-the-home connections. We'll offer service at a competitive price to at least 50,000 and potentially up to 500,000 people.

From now until March 26th, we're asking interested municipalities to provide us with information about their communities through a Request for information (RFI), which we'll use to determine where to build our network.

Communities all over America are extolling their virtues vying to be a recipient of Google's ultra high speed Internet service.

According to the NY Times:

...The mayor of Duluth, Minn., threw himself into the ice-ringed waters of Lake Superior. The mayor of Sarasota, Fla., immersed himself in a tank filled with bonnethead sharks, simply to one-up him. The mayor of Wilmington, N.C., said that he would even jump out of an airplane — with a parachute, of course....

and Mashable reports:

...First there was Topeka, KS, which renamed itself by proclamation to Google, KS. Then Duluth, MN upped the ante by promising (comedically, we hope) to name all the town’s first-born children after Google. Then Greenville, SC entered the fray with their all-out “We Are Feeling Lucky” social media campaign that included a landing page, YouTube channel, Facebook events, and Twitter hashtag....

This earlier post suggested Roosevelt Island would be a great place for Google to select. What does Roosevelt Island bring to the table in exchange for being a Google ultra high speed broadband test community? Despite being a small urban community of approximately 13,000, we are in the world's largest media market and could generate unlimited global publicity and exposure to Google while at the same time being an Island in the East River having a limited geographic region to wire.

Another factor, Roosevelt Island is under the political jurisdiction of a single governmental entity, the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation (RIOC), which has the ability, if it wishes, to move quickly with little bureaucratic impediments. Also, two hospitals on the Island, Coler Goldwater Hospital, with Cornell-Weill and New York Presbyterian Hospital right across the East River could participate by experimenting with medical usage of ultra high speed broadband access.

Let's not forget that the Roosevelt Island Tram is a major New York City tourist attraction with people from all over the world viewing the fantastic skyline and waterfront views as they ride it over the East River. After the Tram's six month modernization program is completed in September, it will be one of the most advanced municipal aerial transportation systems in the world.

So here's the deal for Google. Select Roosevelt Island as a community for your ultra high speed broadband Internet service and you will receive all of the benefits of being in the New York City media market plus have a GOOGLE TRAM. What could be better than that!

Roosevelt Island Tram Image Minus Google Logo from Dan Dickinson

If necessary, RIOC President Steve Shane may be persuaded, like the Mayors of Deluth and Sarasota respectively, to throw himself into bone chilling ice water, swim with sharks or whatever the Roosevelt Island equivalent would be - perhaps dodging Verdant Power's East River water turbines.

Roosevelt Island Tram Rescue & Evacuation Drills Scheduled For Sunday & Skynet Robots Are Missing From New Tram Cabin Designs

You Tube Video of Roosevelt Island Tram Rescue Drill

RIOC is reporting a Roosevelt Island Tram advisory for Sunday in order to perform cabin rescue and evacuation drills.

Tram Advisory

Schedule Change

On Sunday, April 26th 2009, the Tramway will be shutdown from;
6:00 am. to 2:00 pm.

This schedule change is necessary in order to perform the cabin rescue and evacuation drill.

On the topic of the Tram, RIOC President Steve Shane forwards the latest images of the new Roosevelt Island Tram Cabin design. Happily, the Roosevelt Island Tram signage is included on the cabin side but do we really need the RIOC logo on the side as well? What purpose does placement of the RIOC logo on the Tram side serve other than promoting a NY State Corporation? If a Corporate logo is to be placed on the Tram Cabin side, at least try to sell these rights to a private corporation so that it might generate some revenue for Roosevelt Island. (A caveat - The NYC Council banned advertising on the Roosevelt Island Tram in 2001)




What happened to the to the Skynet Robotic Army Tram Drivers from earlier Roosevelt Island Tram Cabin Designs?

Celebrity Signage Included At Proposed Kahn/FDR Memorial But No Recognition Of Disabled - Another Insult To FDR & Roosevelt Island Community

Image of Freedom Trees for Roosevelt Island from FDR Four Freedoms Park

In addition to destroying the beautiful NYC skyline and waterfront views from Roosevelt Island's Southpoint Park, the proposed Kahn/FDR memorial also fails to acknowledge FDR as a man and a President of the United States who achieved greatness despite a disability that forced him into a wheelchair. The absence, in any meaningful way, of FDR's use of a wheelchair or crutches is particularly shameful given the large disabled and handicapped community at Roosevelt Island's Coler-Goldwater Hospital complex.

A similar controversy arose at the FDR Memorial in Washington DC. According to this 1/11/01 LA Times article:

... Advocates for the disabled objected strongly when the memorial opened 3 1/2 years ago with its centerpiece FDR statue only hinting at Roosevelt’s polio affliction. It shows a cape-covered Roosevelt in a straight chair with two tiny wheels....

... Four-year-old Hannah McFadden, an Albanian immigrant born with a leg deformity, didn’t need her mother to explain the significance of Wednesday’s unveiling of a statue depicting President Franklin D. Roosevelt in a wheelchair.

“It means people on crutches and in a wheelchair can do anything,” said Hannah, sporting hot-pink crutches for the ceremony in which President Clinton dedicated the statue...

The National Organization of Disability wrote of the importance in recognizing FDR's use of a wheelchair and incorporating it into the Washington DC memorial.

President Clinton dedicated a new statue of President Franklin D. Roosevelt in a wheelchair at the FDR Memorial in Washington, D.C. on the morning of January 10, 2001. The statue, the first to depict a world leader using a wheelchair, will be located at the entrance to the seven-acre Memorial site in Potomac Park, between the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials. "This dedication represents a great victory for people with disabilities. FDR's Memorial finally will acknowledge his significant disability experience, which forged his leadership qualities-courage, determination, and compassion-that enabled him to successfully lead the nation through the worst crises of the 20th century," said N.O.D. President Alan Reich. "This magnificent statue will be an inspiration to people worldwide, disabled and non-disabled alike."...

Image of FDR Memorial Wheelchair from Ability Unleashed

A great idea for an appropriate and honorable FDR Memorial on Roosevelt Island was suggested by Roosevelt Island's Doctor Jack Resnick who treats many of our disabled residents.

Somebody designed a memorial to FDR on Roosevelt Island that completely ignored the man’s physical disability. Franklin Roosevelt spent much of his adult life in a wheelchair. The polio virus, which infected him in 1921 at the age of 39, left him with almost no use of his legs. Twelve years later he became President of the United States. He went on to save the country from economic calamity and the world from Hitler....

...Roosevelt Island is a living, breathing memorial to FDR. And when we celebrated FDR Day here each year, it was clear that we were focused on FDR as an icon for the disabled.

The FDR Memorial on this Island should focus on the President’s strength in conquering his disability. Many possibilities come to mind. For instance, he should not be memorialized with a bust. We should see a greater-than-life-sized statue of him sitting in a wheelchair – and he should face north toward Goldwater and Coler Hospitals...

The Chris Reeve home page includes the Congressional House and Senate resolutions in favor of a FDR Wheelchair Statue for the Memorial in Washington DC. Shouldn't such a representation of FDR really be just as appropriate, if not more so, here on Roosevelt Island.

Unfortunately to date, it is more important to the supporters of Roosevelt Island's incorrectly labled FDR memorial to honor the projects architect, Louis Kahn, than it is to honor FDR and the disabled community here on Roosevelt Island and elsewhere.

White Guys Can Jump on Roosevelt Island - At Least at the Amalgamated Bank Sponsored Basketball Backboard

A reader sent in this picture of backboard at the basketball court behind Motorgate ramp covered with large logo of Amalgamated Bank. Could this be the beginning of an effort by RIOC to raise funds for Roosevelt Island programs and services through corporate sponsorships? I think if done appropriately with proper controls it is a good idea. RIOC President Steve Shane explains:

Amalgamated Bank has been a supporter (contributor) to public functions as part of its community outreach program. For example, it was the provider of the cider and doughnuts at last December's Christmas Tree lighting. Erica Wilder uses such occasions to promote Island activities and it obviously is good PR for the sponsor entities who are trying to enhance their community image and I presume, ultimately, increase their business.

On the next agenda of the Board is an item proposing a standard
corporate resolution to open a small account at Amalgamated for RIOC
funds in part, to say "thank you" for Amalgamated's interest in the
Island.

Is corporate sponsorship of public or municipal facilities a good idea? If a basketball backboard can be sponsored by a private company, why not a public ball field, tennis court or even the Roosevelt Island Tram though the NY City Council did pass a resolution banning advertising or sponsorship of the Tram. There is a poll on the right side column questioning whether corporate sponsorship of the Tram is a good or bad idea. What do you think?

The Motorgate basketball courts were the site for some pretty rough and tumble 3 0n 3 hoops action this weekend during Roosevelt Island's Health & Fitness Day. Another new Roosevelt Island blog, the blogging team of Scottandelly, were at the game. One played and the other captured the action.

Image of game at Motorgate Basketball Court from Scottandelly

UPDATE:5/27/08 - The 3 on 3 basketball tournament was won by the Public Safety Department Team. Congratulations to Officers Payne, Lindsey, Malone and Rivera!

McDonalds Presents the Louis Kahn Memorial - Naming Rights Fees Now Being Sought By Franklin & Eleanor Roosevelt Institute

McDonalds logo image from revesbylac and Kahn/FDR memorial from Architectural Record

After 35 years of failing to raise the necessary financing to build the Louis Kahn/FDR memorial, either through private or public taxpayer sources, the Franklin & Eleanor Roosevelt Institute (FERI) is now seeking funds in exchange for memorial "naming rights". According to FERI:

Now, it is time to build. Gift naming opportunities range from $100,000 to $10 million, but contributions at any level are gratefully welcomed.

How FERI proposes to incorporate naming opportunities into the so called FDR Memorial Four Freedoms Park is not specified on their web site. Perhaps the inscriptions for each of FDR's Four Freedoms could be sponsored by a single corporation. The NY Times could sponsor Freedom of Speech and Expression, McDonalds could sponsor Freedom from Want, Disney could sponsor Freedom from Fear and Wal-Mart could sponsor Freedom of Religion.

What a joke. Naming rights for a memorial that is supposed to honor Franklin D. Roosevelt. One would think FDR's name would be all that matters but we all know the real name that matters is Louis Kahn, the project's late architect.

Just add the naming rights embarrassment to this long list of obstacles that, hopefully, FERI will not be able to overcome before the time left to build this thing expires later this year:

1. opposition of Roosevelt Island residents who do not want the existing beautiful, jaw dropping, one-of -a-kind panoramic views of East River Waterfront/NYC Skyline forever ruined by the Kahn design,
2. desire of community for a true waterfront park at Southpoint,
3. 35 year failure to raise the $40 million estimated to build the Kahn/FDR memorial through private funds,
4. New York State and City budget crisis which makes it obscene for elected officials in favor of Kahn design to provide the $20 million in taxpayer funds now sought by Kahn supporters when there are much more pressing needs.
5. resignation of Governor Spitzer, a key supporter who revived project from its deathbed,
   
6. alleged binding 1974 committment by State of New York to the Kahn/FDR memorial may not be valid due to State and City failure to fulfill prior condition by each making $2 million payment,
   
7. security concerns that the Kahn/FDR memorial box enclosed on two sides with high walls may be a danger and threat to the United Nations and
   
8. shadows cast by the Kahn memorial on the East River which may be a danger to Marine Life in violation of NY State Department of Environmental Conservation regulations.
   

Roosevelt Island blogger Press HD has a video interview with RIOC President Steve Shane explaining:

the Kahn design for the FDR Memorial to Dick Lutz, managing editor of The Main Street WIRE. Shane weighs in on the recent controversy surrounding the trees and obstruction of the now 360-degree views


Shane explains Kahn design during walk-thru Southpoint from PressHD on Vimeo.

This video is one more example showing the intent of the Kahn design is to block the current East River waterfront and New York City skyline views from the sloping lawn of the southern section of Roosevelt Island's Southpoint Park, the only place left where these views exist. As stated by: Robert McCarter, a Kahn admirer and author of Louis I. Kahn which has been described as the authoritative text and definitive monograph on the architect Kahn's work writes:

It is in this forecourt that we are given our first- and last- view of the midtown New York Skyline to the west, previously blocked by the trees of the garden, and to be blocked again by the walls of the Memorial room.

Here's Roosevelt Island 360's humorous though illustrative version of Kahn's design blocking views from Southpoint Park.

News Links

NYPD and FBI Turf War in Battle against Terrorism. (Washington Post)
New York City Con Ed Electricity Rates Will Increase Alot (NY Times City Room)
Can You Insure Against Higher Mortgage Interest Rates? (Times Online UK)
For summer, Best new Amusement Park Rides. (Women's Day)
Indoor Skiing Comes to United States. (Boston Globe)
Sponsorship Naming Rights to Miam Parks. (Sun Post)
Black Rabbi Reaches out to Mainstream of his Faith. (NY Times)

News Links

A seafaring ferry commute for NYC waterfront neighborhoods. (Gotham Gazette)
Comprehensive city wide ferry system could cost $100 million. (Streetsblog)
Green wall installations for energy savings. (NY Times)
Is the creation of affordable housing in jeopardy? (Brownstoner)
Condominium owners tell smokers take it outside. (Minneapolis Star Tribune)
Services to haul away your junk. (Real Estate Journal)
Pepsi $100 million 10 year naming rights deal for Xanadu Ferris Wheel. (Commercial Property News)

News Links

NYC Council President Quinn calls for comprehensive 5 borough, year round ferry transportation system (Streetsblog) I hope that Roosevelt Island is included in the 5 borough ferry service advocated by Quinn!
NY Waterway owner says Ferry service can only survive with developer or city subsidies. (NY Post).
Where can I find lightweight draperies that will block out the sun. (NY Times)
Reaganites for Barack Obama? (Slate)
Obama's message is just too depressing (Althouse Blog)
Naming Rights for GM Tower. (NY Times)
"Smart clothes" harness body movement to generate power. (BBC News)
Cruising with Family on Disney Ship (CNN Travel)
Columbia student newspaper reporter pans Roosevelt Island - "Modern apartment complexes, reminiscent of some ex-Soviet, Eastern European wasteland, stretch northward from the Tram" (Columbia Spectator)

NYC Considering Selling Naming Rights to Central Park Zoo - Will RIOC Do Same For Roosevelt Island Tram?

Tram Image from New Yorkology


PLUS

Pepsi Race Car Image from Pepsi Collector

EQUALS

?

1/25 NY Post is reporting that the NYC Parks Department is seriously contemplating selling naming rights to corporate sponsors for some of their major attractions. According to the Post:

That group includes the zoos that draw in thousands of visitors annually, the amphitheaters that pack in summer revelers, the gigantic swimming pools or scores of tennis-court clusters.

And:

Under this program - which would raise an estimated $3 million a year - entire parks wouldn't be renamed, so Central and Prospect parks would keep their monikers but attractions within them could be renamed for a price.

This reminded me of a series of earlier posts regarding corporate sponsorship and naming rights to the Roosevelt Island Tram using the example of the potential sponsorship being considered, though ultimately rejected, for the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. I speculated that given the costs associated with the operation, continued maintenance, and future $20- 25 million repair of the Roosevelt Island Tram, the temptation must be great to find alternative additional revenue sources such as corporate sponsorships or advertising even though there is a current ban on such practice by the NYC Council. There is a poll on the issue of corporate sponsorship of the Tram on right hand column. To date of the 150 votes cast, 89 think it is a good idea and 61 a bad idea. What do you think?

Golden Arches for the Roosevelt Island Tram Too?

An earlier post reported on a plan to alleviate a portion of the San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge's projected $80 million operating deficit in the next 5 years with funds generated from corporate advertising sponsorships. I speculated that given the costs associated with the operation, continued maintenance, and future $20- 25 million repair of the Roosevelt Island Tram, the temptation must be great to find alternative additional revenue sources such as corporate sponsorships or advertising.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports that:

After two months of public debate about a plan to bring corporate advertising to the Golden Gate Bridge, district officials voted Friday to scuttle the idea.
The plan, which would have allowed "discrete" corporate logos in visitor areas of the bridge, outraged critics, who called it "crass commercialism" and a "degrading" of the historic span.
Supporters said the proposal would have raised much-needed revenue for the district - more than $3 million a year - and might have staved off a future toll increase.

And:

"I thought it was a good idea at first, but it just doesn't seem like a workable project," said board member Joanne Sanders, a member of the Sonoma City Council. She said the plans would have encouraged "the commercialization of the bridge."
Bridge officials said they had received 108 public comments about the proposed corporate advertising. Ninety-four of the comments were against the plan, which critics said would have raised relatively little money while plastering the bridge with intrusive messages.

What does this mean for potential corporate sponsorship of the Roosevelt Island Tram? Is the lesson learned from the rejection of sponsorships for the Golden Gate Bridge that any hint of "commercializing" a public iconic symbol with "crass" advertising is wrong or is that the revenue to be gotten for such "crassness" must be sufficiently large to overcome the ick factor?

Image of McGolden Gate Brideg is from Blogs.Sun

Roosevelt Island Tram Sponsorship Update

Earlier posts inquiring of the potential for corporate sponsorship of the Roosevelt Island Tram have been supplemented by Roosevelt Island 36o who reports that this idea was considered in May 2002 and that RIOC even placed advertisements soliciting ads for the Tram as well as the Tramway Station. I seem to recall such an ad in Crains. Roosevelt Island 360 also:

discovered a May 2001 NYC Council Resolution where it was resolved that NO advertising be placed on the exterior or interior of the Tram cabins. To my understanding as Resolutions are not bills and do not transform into laws it appears that the City Council was trying to express its desire to the State Legislature.

Thanks for the additional information!

Update on Roosevelt Island Tram Sponsorship

Taking a page from Nascar, corporate sponsors are now paying car owners to wrap their own vehicles with advertising and logos.
According to this article from the NY Times,

vehicle wrapping started, by most accounts, in 1993, when PepsiCo bought the rights to paint six city buses in Seattle with its logo. Pepsi planned to put the buses in a paint shop for six weeks, but Louis Hoffman, general manager for a Seattle printing company called SuperGraphics, persuaded Pepsi to have the buses wrapped instead with a vinyl material made by 3M that could be applied in less than two days. (Now it takes just a few hours.)

3M, which remains the largest producer of the material, uses an adhesive similar to the one on its Post-it notes, enabling installers to place vinyl strips on a vehicle that do not stick until pressure is applied. The material is popular for wrapping racecars, helicopters, planes, boats and even buildings. Far from hurting the paint job, the wrap preserves it.

ARD Ventures, a venture capital firm, has studied the phenomenon of wrapped cars and estimates that motorists and pedestrians see a single vehicle’s advertising message as many as 70,000 times a day.

Is this the future of the Tram?

Golden Gate Bridge Corporate Sponsor - Is the Roosevelt Island Aerial Tramway Next?

An article in yesterday's NY Times describes a plan to alleviate a portion of the San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge's projected $80 million operating deficit in the next 5 years with funds generated from advertising sponsorships from corporate sponsors.
According to the article:

a committee of the board that runs the financially strapped Golden Gate Bridge did pass along a plan for a so-called corporate partnership for the structure, sending a proposal to a vote in front of the full board next month. Even as it did so, however, activists here were already preparing for the possibility that the Golden Gate — the engineering wonder, international tourist attraction and perpetual suicide magnet — might soon be brought to you by Coca-Cola, for example.

Some people think it is a bad idea:

a board member who opposes the plan, said the idea of corporate sponsorship was equivalent to slapping an advertisement on the side of the White House. “I don’t think you take your iconic properties and turn them into advertising opportunities,” ... “There are places in the world that should be kept clean.

Others like it:

But much of the board committee seemed to support the plan. The full board — 19 members from six Bay Area counties — will take up the issue on Sept. 28.
... viewed the sponsorship plan as a chance to upgrade the experience for visitors to the bridge, experience, now limited to a gift shop, a garden and a viewing platform.

“Right now, we don’t really get the story of the bridge,” ...“This is an opportunity to get other people to help us tell that story."

How does this apply to Roosevelt Island? Given the costs associated with the operation and continued maintenance of the Roosevelt Island Tram the temptation must be great to find alternative additional revenue sources. Are corporate sponsorships a possibility for the Tram and if so is that a good idea or not? If it is good enough for the Golden Gate Bridge, is it good enough for the Tram, or even the Brooklyn Bridge as well as other iconic, decaying, New York City infrastructure?