the accident happened recently to the white bus led me to some considerations about the safety of the Bus system on Roosevelt Island. Each RIOC bus has a sign right above the driver that says: "FOR PASSENGERS SAFETY FEDERAL LAW PROHIBITS OPERATION OF THIS BUS WHILE ANYONE IS STANDING FORWARD OF THE YELLOW LINE". This morning, like every other morning, about half a dozen of people were standing forward of that line. Same applies on the way back home: every night people is packed everywhere, including forward of the yellow line.
It's clear to everyone that the Bus service is not reliable, but is it at least safe? What is the maximum allowed occupancy of these Buses? Is RIOC willing to enforce and respect State laws?
Yours Alain
P.S. Despite the bus, R.I. is still the best place in NYC
Hey Italy, did you know that one of your fellow Italians had this to say about good mozzarella:
I think your Board of Italians, and your Italian collaborator, should return to Italy because they evidently forgot what good mozzarella tastes like when on Pizza. Try N. 28 on Carmine and Bleecker... real Italians go there.
Our Italian friend/correspondent and six month Roosevelt Island resident still loves Roosevelt Island and says that the Nonno's mozzarella used on its pizza is the best he has tasted yet in NYC. The Board of Italian Residents on Roosevelt Island also agree that Nonno's is very good. On the negative side, he is not happy with the Red Bus system. Here is his update on an Italian living on Roosevelt Island.
I am the Italian guy you wrote about in a couple of your posts. First of all congratulations for your blog. I read it all the times and suggest it to all of my friends.
After 6 months of life on R.I. I still believe that this place is the best place to live in NYC. No doubts about it.
However, one thing that can be improved is the bus service. Considering that the bus is the only system of transportation available on the island I believe it is not reliable or powerful enough. I often have to walk home from the subway or wait for unpredictable time especially at night or during weekends. During rush hours, instead, the bus comes quickly but you will rarely ride seated. Also, the 25 cents fare is convenient but a bit odd. I don't carry around much cash and find it annoying having to use coins or 1 dollar bills. How about a 10/20$ card that one can charge once every while? How about resident card that one can swipe or blink at some reader?
Now some good news. I can tell you that the Board of Italian Residents on R.I. have approved with good remarks Nonno's Pizza. Nonno's its already on top of favourite food delivery options and I believe the mozzarella used for their square Margherita is the best I have tasted so far in Manhattan. I am happy they have opened on the Island cause they make me feel even more like home.
Last, here is a picture taken from my Manhattan Park window that shocked and made jealous all my friends back in Italy:
Remember this post of the You Tube video showing a proposed skyscraper for Southpoint Park at Roosevelt Island entitled "Trilogy" that received much attention? Curbed referred to it as the "Roosevelt Island Tower of Death and stated:
it might be the finest architectural vision for New York City, and Roosevelt Island in particular, we've ever seen. You must watch it immediately, and this must be built. Make it so.
I received the following message from the creators who are from Italy.
This video was made for a degree thesis on Architecture. Our thesis was about the application of fractal in architecture,we participated on internationel competition called skyscraper07, we didn'win, but this experiance was the starting point about our degree thesis.
There seems to be some connection between Italy and Roosevelt Island. More to come. UPDATE - 12/12/28/- The Curbed 07 Awards are now out and this proposed Skyscraper for the northern part Southpoint Park's Roosevelt Island has been named by Curbed the most:
Awesomely Absurd Art Project We Wish Had Been Real
Below is a more detailed message from the Trilogy creators explaining the project:
This project it was about a thesis in architecture. I studied in Turin at the Politecnico of Turin. This thesis aims to demonstrate how the concept of fractals can be applied to architecture and to urban planning.
Participation in the competition held by "eVolo Architetture", entitled "07skyscraper", was the pretext to develop the theme of the skyscraper. What does "skyscraper" mean at the beginning of the XXI century? What is the historical and social context in which these megastrucures are inserted? How does the skyscraper connect with the city and the city with it? Can the skyscraper, taken on its own, be considered as a city within a city? Has the human scale been lost in the planning of skyscrapers?
These are the questions that we asked ourselves and to which we have tried to find answers through our research. The natural world has inspired all of the project design process. Observation of natural forms, especially their structure and their development mechanisms, has brought us to study fractals, which are considered as the minimum common multiple of living things. Therefore, the project design process has been sustained by a solid study on the meaning of fractal both in the geometric sense and in the topological sense.
Regarding the application of fractals in the geometric sense, we have elaborated a planimetric concept closely connected to the volumetric concept, in fact, the latter evolves from the three-dimensional modelling of the fractal generator. In this phase of the project the fractal dimension, chaos and the characteristic of self-resemblance emerged. The generator was iterated several times with the aim of obtaining a hierarchy in the different levels of scale, urban planning and architecture.
Study of the fractal in a topological sense lies in the ability to connect to all levels of scale. The connection between architectural scale and urban planning scale must come about through an interface, which in our case corresponds to the ground floor, or, in other words, the most important level because it represents the link between the building and the urban fabric. floor, For ground floor we mean level zero of the building, which is that of its original plot. It is a reception area, where people must be encouraged, through planning, to use urban spaces, spaces which are very precious and which aim to promote communication and relationships among and between people. We can, thus, understand the importance of level zero: it must be a liveable environment, in which all elements are planned on a human scale.
It is a reception area, where people must be encouraged, through
planning, to use urban spaces, spaces which are very precious and which
aim to promote communication and relationships among and between people.
We can, thus, understand the importance of level zero: it must be a
liveable environment, in which all elements are planned on a human
scale. To obtain a clear picture regarding the insertion site of the
building, we analysed the complex urban fabric reconstructing recent
phenomena. The methodology of the study followed a logical hierarchy,
that means that the information regarding the urban environment were
observed passing from the widest level down through the various level to
the smallest one. We sought to understand how cities have changed,
both on a global level as well as on a local level, focusing on the new
organisational, socio-economic and environmental characteristics. So we
studied geography in various forms, in terms of environment, population
and global networks, furthermore, we sought to under stand the way in
which forms of transport and urban planning can promote justice and
social equity, and we examined the relationship between the shape of the
city and sustainability, highlighting the potential for cohesion
deriving from public spaces.
To obtain a clear picture regarding the insertion site of the building, we analysed the complex urban fabric reconstructing recent phenomena. The methodology of the study followed a logical hierarchy, that means that the information regarding the urban environment were observed passing from the widest level down through the various level to the smallest one. We sought to understand how cities have changed, both on a global level as well as on a local level, focusing on the new organisational, socio-economic and environmental characteristics. So we studied geography in various forms, in terms of environment, population and global networks, furthermore, we sought to under stand the way in which forms of transport and urban planning can promote justice and social equity, and we examined the relationship between the shape of the city and sustainability, highlighting the potential for cohesion deriving from public spaces.
The historical/critical analysis of the site was very useful in the planning phase where we sought to value the context, even influencing some of the planning decisions in order to maintain a certain constructive tradition through the choice of materials. During the development of this thesis we discovered the existence of an intimate link between mathematics, architecture and urban planning, which in our project allowed us to connect the skyscraper to the city and to interact with it, thus connecting two parts of the city which, historically and traditionally have been very different. where we sought to value the context, even influencing some of the planning decisions in order to maintain a certain constructive tradition through the choice of materials.
I love NY, for this reason I chose this city to site THE TRILOGY, and while I examined the city I discovered that Manhattan and Queens don't communicate, so I think that Roosevelt Island can became the "key" to connect two part of NY City that are very different. Sorry for my bad english...(I'm italian) If you would like more specific information about the project, or some immage about the plan or masterplan contact me.
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.
