NYC Takes Back Governors Island & Brooklyn Bridge Park From NY State, No Plans To Take Back Roosevelt Island For Now - Freedom Will Have To Wait

Aerial View of Governors Island From GIPEC

This April 12 post asked if Governors Island and the Brooklyn Bridge Park

Brooklyn Bridge Park Image From NY Times

are being returned to the City of New York from the State, why not Roosevelt Island which is under lease from the City to the State until the year 2068?

Roosevelt Island Image From Improv Everywhere

Imagine a Roosevelt Island free of it's Colonial Overlord, the Roosevelt Island Operating Corp. (RIOC) and the State of New York.

How close, if at all, was Roosevelt Island to being brought back to the bosom of the City of New York? Well, the New York Observer recently reported that in 2006 such a plan to recapture Roosevelt Island from NY State and return it to New York City was seriously considered by the Bloomberg Administration. From the April 27 NY Observer:

In late 2006, as a set of projects calling for hundreds of millions in funds languished in their planning stages, Dan Doctoroff, then deputy mayor, became frustrated.

Operating under the code name “Project Repo,” aides to Mayor Bloomberg’s right-hand man for development drew up a clandestine list of where the city could seize control of major initiatives it shared with the state.

Among those considered for a city takeover, according to multiple people familiar with the plan, were the sprawling Queens West housing development near Long Island City; Battery Park City; Roosevelt Island; Brooklyn Bridge Park; and Governors Island....

I tried to find out how real Project Repo was as regards New York City taking back Roosevelt Island from the State. After all, there was a time when former Mayor Rudy Giuliani expressed support for the liberation of Roosevelt Island from NY State but apparently Mayor Bloomberg is not so enthusiastic. Responding to my inquiry, Andrew Brent, a spokesperson for the Mayor's Office replied:

There haven’t been any discussions with the State about the City taking over Roosevelt Island.

but a small sliver of hope for the future of Roosevelt Island's liberaton came from John Moore, a spokesperson for Roosevelt Island's NYC Council Member Jessica Lappin,

Council Member Lappin has not been briefed on any plan for the Bloomberg administration to take back Roosevelt Island for the City, but it’s a conversation that she would welcome.

Will getting rid of RIOC and returning Roosevelt Island to the City be beneficial for Roosevelt Island? This reader thinks so:

Most of the island's problems stem from the fact that it is in New York City, but not of it. If we were just a normal NYC neighborhood, maybe Main Street we would have some retail that didn't look like it belongs in a third-world country. Maybe some of the empty stores would get rented. Maybe a real restaurant would open here. Maybe other residents of the city would realize that we are just a stop on the F train. Maybe RI residents would realize that they live in a housing project in New York City and not in an isolated small town in the middle of nowhere.

Who will step up and champion freedom for Roosevelt Island - our own version of Braveheart's William Wallace and who will be the tyrannical King Edward The Longshanks.

You Tube Video of Braveheart's Freeeeeeeedom Scene

Governors Island & Brooklyn Bridge Park Returned to New York City - How About Roosevelt Island?

Aerial View of Governors Island From GIPEC

The NY Post and NY Times are reporting that New York City will take back control of Governors Island from the State of New York. From the NY Post:

The city is taking control of Governors Island from the state and can now move forward with plans to turn the prime, if underused, real estate into a lush park and major destination for tourists and New Yorkers alike.
Under a deal with Albany, the city will put up $41.5 million for the initial work on the island and in return will control nine of 13 appointments to the Governors Island Operating Entity...

The NY Times adds that not only will NYC take back control of Governors Island from NY State but also:

... Last month, the city reached a similar deal with the state to take over Brooklyn Bridge Park.

Other prospective deals being discussed in the Bloomberg administration include exercising the city’s right to buy Battery Park City from the state and negotiating a takeover of the state-run City University of New York system, according to city officials...

Now can anyone think of another piece of land or neighborhood in New York City controlled by the State Of New York which should be returned to the City of New York? Come on, you can do it.

That right, the answer is Roosevelt Island, which while technically part of New York City, is leased to the State of New York through the year 2068 and run by our friends at the Roosevelt Island Operating Corp., a NY State Public Benefit Corporation created under these NY State Governing Statutes.

In 1999 former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani

Image From Main Street WIRE

visited a Roosevelt Island Town Hall Meeting and seemed to support the liberation of Roosevelt Island from the State of New York as recounted in this 2007 post:

... returning control of Roosevelt Island from the State of New York to the City of New York. This may not be as far fetched as it first appears. Politicians rarely give up power to others but remember that Mayor Bloomberg was able to gain control of the City's school system when most observers thought that it would be impossible. Perhaps the Mayor can accomplish the same thing for Roosevelt Island that he did for the NYC Public school system - return it to the control of the City of New York where it belongs!

As reported in the Main Street WIRE, former Mayor Rudy Giuliani took some baby steps toward the liberation of Roosevelt Island in 1999 during a Roosevelt Island Town Hall Meeting when he proclaimed:

"I'm very much in favor of the City controlling our own destiny... Ultimately, you'll be better off when you can touch it, scream at it, deal with it. The Commissioners are accessible... You're much better off moving more of this back to the City. We'll try."

According to the same article this comment from a Roosevelt Island Resident:

"What we're looking for here is democracy," and an escape from the "bureaucratic quagmire" that is RIOC.

drew this response from former Mayor Rudy Giuliani

"I would be very happy to work with you to liberate Roosevelt Island."

Will Mayor Bloomberg take on this challenge.

Some in RIOC assert that liberation from New York State would be detrimental to Roosevelt Island residents. They say we are much better off being governed by RIOC due to RIOC staff being intimately aware of our local problems and concerns which would not be addressed in the larger NYC bureaucracy.

Operaman Says Goodbye to Rudy Giuliani- He Might Have Liberated Roosevelt Island From New York State!

You Tube video of Operaman

Arizona Senator John McCain won yesterday's NY State Republican Presidential Primary. Not too long ago conventional wisdom was that today should have been a triumphant day for former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani following his easy win in the New York State Republican Primary and capture of many delegates in the other Super Tuesday Republican state primaries. Alas, that was not to be. Now it is appropriate to join this 2001 Concert for New York City refrain from Adam Sandler's Operaman and ask Rudy Giuliani - "Why must you ever be gone-y".
Rudy may make a comeback. Nixon did.

As reported in this earlier post and the Main Street WIRE, former Mayor Rudy Giuliani took some baby steps toward the liberation of Roosevelt Island from the State of New York in 1999 during a Roosevelt Island Town Hall Meeting when he proclaimed:

"I'm very much in favor of the City controlling our own destiny... Ultimately, you'll be better off when you can touch it, scream at it, deal with it. The Commissioners are accessible... You're much better off moving more of this back to the City. We'll try."

According to the same article this comment from a Roosevelt Island Resident:

"What we're looking for here is democracy," and an escape from the "bureaucratic quagmire" that is RIOC.

drew this response from former Mayor Rudy Giuliani "I would be very happy to work with you to liberate Roosevelt Island".

If Roosevelt Island had been returned to New York City, we would not have had to go through the election of RIOC nominee candidates concluded last night.

I will miss Rudy not because I agreed with everything he did as Mayor. Whether you agreed with him or not on any issue, he certainly made life interesting and entertaining and on balance New York is a better place than it was because he was Mayor. New York is an even better place because Mike Bloomberg is Mayor now.

UPDATE 2/8- A reader sends in this explanation as to why Rudy did not advance in the Presidential Primaries. Rudy's support of the Boston Red Sox in the World Series certainly did not help his credibility since he is known as the world's biggest Yankee fan.

Video from Boston.com

Liberate Roosevelt Island from State of NY Says 1999 Rudy Giuliani

At last Thursday's orientation meeting for potential candidates considering running for the Roosevelt Island Resident's Association nomination to the RIOC Board of Directors, two current resident RIOC Board members spoke of their experiences on the Board and answered questions from those in attendance. At this meeting it was pointed out that there has been no significant decision made by the RIOC Board in recent years, (perhaps ever) that was contrary to the wishes of RIOC's Chairperson and management. (If anyone has any information that this statement is not accurate, please let me know.)

The consensus at the end of this meeting was that the primary political governance problem facing Roosevelt Island is the practice of the appointed RIOC Board to automatically approve or rubber stamp the wishes of the RIOC Chairperson and President. The advocates for elective nominees to the RIOC Board believe that any future elected RIOC Board member, by virtue of participation in a democratic elective process, will be more likely to act in an independent, supervisory role over the conduct of RIOC operations rather than the RIOC Board's current practice of subservience to the decisions made by RIOC management. The result of such an independent Board will be a more efficiently managed RIOC attuned to the needs of the Roosevelt Island community. This may or may not be true. There is just no way of knowing until elected nominees are finally placed on the RIOC Board and a reasonable amount of time has elapsed in order to properly compare their conduct with the current appointed RIOC Board.

However, in the past there have been other alternatives suggested for governing Roosevelt Island. For instance, returning control of Roosevelt Island from the State of New York to the City of New York. This may not be as far fetched as it first appears. Politicians rarely give up power to others but remember that Mayor Bloomberg was able to gain control of the City's school system when most observers thought that it would be impossible. Perhaps the Mayor can accomplish the same thing for Roosevelt Island that he did for the NYC Public school system - return it to the control of the City of New York where it belongs!

As reported in the Main Street WIRE, former Mayor Rudy Giuliani took some baby steps toward the liberation of Roosevelt Island in 1999 during a Roosevelt Island Town Hall Meeting when he proclaimed:

"I'm very much in favor of the City controlling our own destiny... Ultimately, you'll be better off when you can touch it, scream at it, deal with it. The Commissioners are accessible... You're much better off moving more of this back to the City. We'll try."

According to the same article this comment from a Roosevelt Island Resident:

"What we're looking for here is democracy," and an escape from the "bureaucratic quagmire" that is RIOC.

drew this response from former Mayor Rudy Giuliani

"I would be very happy to work with you to liberate Roosevelt Island."

Will Mayor Bloomberg take on this challenge.

Image is from Main Street WIRE.