What To Do About Panhandling On Roosevelt Island Asks Resident - No Legal Way To Get Rid Of Panhandling Says Mayor deBlasio, Are There Any Good Solutions?

Cities back down from panhandling bans after courts find them unconstitutional https://t.co/jJbtOw2Cij via @joe_palazzolo

— Zusha Elinson (@ZushaElinson) August 8, 2017

A Roosevelt Island resident reported on July 27:

I'm curious to know other Islander's point of view and thoughts about one of the panhandlers on the island.

This evening in Duane Reade, the guy who is generally blocking the doors at the F train, rolled in and cut in front of a long line of people to purchase cigarettes. Of course he tells those he's begging from in the station he's buying food. I also witnessed him steal a lighter from the shelves in front of the cashiers. I called him out on it, he called me an ass, and I made sure the employees at Duane Reade knew he took the lighter.

Is public safety doing anything to address this guy in particular? He leaves trash and messes all over, obviously steals from businesses on the island, and becoming more of a nuisance. I understand misfortune and honest asking for help, but this man is not the latter.

For visitors coming to the Island via the train, he's our welcoming committee.

According to the NYC Government web site:

You can report panhandling. If it is in progress, it is considered an emergency situation. If it occurred in the past or occurs repeatedly at the same location, officers from your local police precinct will respond when they are not handling emergency situations.
Call 911 to report the panhandling in progress.

NYC Mayor Bill deBlasio was asked about panhandling issue on the July 7 WNYC Brian Lehrer radio program. According to the transcript from the Mayor's Office:

... Lehrer: Did you say you wish panhandling – just asking people for money – would be illegal?

Mayor: I’m saying that not as a matter of policy, I’m saying that as a human being, bluntly, Brian. To so many people, I think it’s off-putting and again it gets confused understandably for homelessness because you don’t whether someone has a home and is panhandling versus someone who literally has no place to sleep last night. I just wish it didn’t exist.

I know constitutionally, of course, it cannot be banned but I’m just expressing a frustration because I think it hurts the quality of life in many ways.

Lehrer: I’m just trying to clarify. Are you saying that you’re objecting to people making up being homeless when they’re not homeless? Or do you really not like poor people on the street asking others for money?

Mayor: What I’m responding to is, I think it, to many people, it does appear that someone is homeless. And, yeah, they give help to someone thinking that they are homeless. And I think some people are out there panhandling because they are truly in need. And obviously I’d rather address their problem directly not having them be out on the street panhandling. I’d rather help them because we would help them. Anyone in real need, we’re going to help them get a roof over their head. We’re going to help them if they need any kind of service.

We’re going to help them try and find a job. That’s what the City of New York does. But there are also people out there who are just begging for money and it’s not out of dire economic need, and that is frustrating to me.

Again, I know there’s no legal way to get rid of that per say but it is frustrating....

The July 11 Citylab reported on a possible "Smarter Solution To Regulate Panhandling":

... Encourage what we call “successful panhandling,” which brings together willing donors and willing solicitors; and discourage “unsuccessful panhandling,” which targets people who don’t even want to see solicitations, let alone give money to someone asking for help on the sidewalk.

What’s wrong with most anti-panhandling ordinances is that they try to ban or discourage both kinds instead of promoting the former and discouraging the latter.

Panhandling credentials

The policies we think will work best would spread information about panhandlers, particularly through the issuance of credentials. The basic problem now is that potential donors know very little if anything about the panhandlers they encounter. That makes them reluctant to give....

Click here for the full Citylab article on credentials for panhandling.

Discuss Roosevelt Island FDR Four Freedoms Park Tomorrow On WNYC's Brian Lehrer Radio Show - Tell Them What You Think Of It

Anybody from Roosevelt Island want to tell WNYC's Brian Lehrer radio show what you think of the FDR Four Freedoms Park? The subject will be discussed tomorrow morning.

Anyone visited Four Freedoms Park on Roosevelt Island? Discussing it tomorrow. Here's Orson Welles to get you ready bit.ly/12bL3Kw
— Brian Lehrer Show (@BrianLehrer) May 15, 2013

You can call in tomorrow 10 AM at 212-433-WNYC (9692) or contact via Facebook

I walked around the so-called park on May 10. Join me.



Art critic Thomas B. Hess was right when he described the Louis Kahn/FDR Memorial design as:

... the sort of political edifice that the Italian fascists loved and Speer perfected for the glory of the Third Reich... The site itself is treated heartlessly. What was a modest, picturesquely rugged shoreline has been disciplined to straight lines and symetrical angles that have no significance beyond the alarming one of man's ability to impose a meaningless geometry on nature. The ultimate irony is that Roosevelt, who fought totalitarians to the death, is commemorated in the harsh style propogated by the dictators.

 Here were  some questions asked by me and others during February 27 public meeting with the FDR Conservancy.



Video of full meeting at this previous post.

There are some who like the FDR Four Freedoms Park.

WNYC Reports On Roosevelt Island Brutality Allegations And Residents Demanding RIOC Public Safety Department Changes

A reporter for WNYC attended the February 25 Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC) Operations Committee meeting discussion of Public Safety Department brutality allegations. Today, WNYC reported on this ongoing Roosevelt Island controversy. According to WNYC:

... “There have been many complaints about public safety on Roosevelt Island, and not only about the way the officers have acted, but the way the RIOC has responded to those complaints,” like Micah Kellner, who represent the island in the Assembly. “We can’t have an agency investigating itself.”...

and RIOC Public Safety Director Keith Guerra:

... said in a statement he can’t comment on pending litigation, but emphasized he does not tolerate excessive use of force or the violation of constitutional rights. But some residents say that force has been used excessively by safety officers for years, particularly against young people.

“We need to rebuild the trust and the respect of the public safety so that they can be effective,” said Michael Shinozaki, a RIOC board member, “and that RIOC can be effective in improving the quality of the life on the island.”

RIOC plans to hire an outside consultant to review the public safety department’s work, but some say this doesn’t get to the heart of the problem....

Click here for the entire WNYC article and listen to the report below.



More on the February 25 RIOC Operations Committee meeting discussion of Public Safety Brutality allegations here.

WNYC Radio Know Your Neighbor Video Profile of Roosevelt Island Main Street WIRE Editor - See How The WIRE Get's To Your Door Knob

Image From WNYC Know Your Neighbor You Tube Video

WNYC Radio interviews the Main Street WIRE editor and shows how Roosevelt Island's local newspaper gets distributed to building residents.

You Tube Video Of WNYC Know Your Neighbor

2010 New York/New Jersey Waterfront Conference Presented By The Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance Tuesday November 30 & Searching For Noel The Fisherman With WNYC's Radio Rookies

Image of 2010 MWA Waterfront Conference Flyer

The Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance (MWA) is a great organization that works to make the New York City waterfront a better place. According to the MWA:

The Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance works to transform the New York and New Jersey Harbor and Waterways to make them cleaner and more accessible, a vibrant place to play, learn and work with great parks, great jobs and great transportation for all.

The Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance envisions a New York and New Jersey harbor and waterways alive with commerce and recreation; where sailboats, kayaks and pleasure craft share the waterways with commuter ferries, barges and container ships; where beautiful, cared-for parks are connected by affordable waterborne transit; where there are dozens of exciting waterfront destinations that reflect the vitality and diversity of the great metropolis that surrounds it; a waterfront that is no longer walled off by highways and rails, or by private luxury residences; a waterfront that is a shared precious resource and is accessible to all. MWA is a leadership organization that will make this vision real for our region.

The MWA will be holding it's 2010 Waterfront Conference on Tuesday November 30. If you are interested in learning what the future of New York's waterfront, including the Roosevelt Island waterfront, will be like and how you can help improve it, this conference is the place to be. From the MWA:

The Future Waterfront &
Funding for the NY-NJ Harbor

The 2010 MWA Waterfront Conference is the region’s preeminent gathering of waterfront advocates, businesses, and government leaders to exchange ideas and best practices, and to plan for a greater waterfront in the NY-NJ metropolitan area.

The next 10 years will bring stunning changes to the New York City and Northern New Jersey Waterfront. Never before have so many opportunities and challenges converged. 2010 will bring New York City’s first Comprehensive Waterfront Plan in a generation. Will this plan be adequate? How will we implement it? A world-class waterfront is an expensive but worth-while investment. How can we secure the necessary capital dollars to build it and maintain it? How can New York and New Jersey get its share of funding for the restoration and improvement of our neglected estuary?

These questions and more will be answered at the 2010 Waterfront Conference. It will galvanize support, build energy and excitement, and continue the momentum needed to create a world-class waterfront and harbor for New York and New Jersey.

The conference program is here and an excerpt from MWA's excellent documentary City Of Water is below.

"City of Water" trailer from MAS on Vimeo.

Also, the WNYC Radio Rookies have a Roosevelt Island waterfront story to tell as they search for the purportedly famous Noel the Roosevelt Island Fisherman. Watch their video to see if they find him.

You Tube Video of Noel Who?

Do People On Roosevelt Island Walk Their Cats? This And Other Roosevelt Island Cat Stories From WNYC's Radio Rookies

WNYC's Radio Rookies visited Roosevelt Island and produced a series of fascinating stories about Roosevelt Island. Here's one about Island Cats.

You Tube Video of Cat Island

What's Radio Rookies all about? According to WNYC:

Radio Rookies is a New York Public Radio initiative that provides teenagers with the tools and training to create radio stories about themselves, their communities and their world.

Since 1999, Radio Rookies has been conducting workshops across New York, in predominantly under-resourced neighborhoods, training young people to use words and sounds to tell true stories. Upon completion, the Rookies' documentaries air on WNYC - usually during Morning Edition (5am to 9am weekdays on WNYC 93.9 FM, 6am to 10am on WNYC AM 820 and online at wnyc.org)...

Radio Rookies also report on:

• The Spooky Goings On At The Octagon, 
• Roosevelt Island Fishing and
• Living In Pain On Roosevelt Island

Everybody has a story and these excellent WNYC Radio Rookies report tell  a few from Roosevelt Island.

Great job by the Radio Rookies.