In a surprising role change, Roosevelt Island’s Four Freedoms Park set an attendance record in January as 100,115 people passed its gate.

Pinning down reasons is hard, but there’s no question the park’s serenity, its reputation as a mid-city refuge played a part.

While discussing tentative plans for reopening this year, executive director Howard Axel mentioned the surprising news. Four Freedoms Park’s record attendance reflects its emerging role in community life, and the next year may see more of the same.

The WIRE: Two Futures, One Empty Chair

David Stone is preparing to take over. Dick Lutz is preparing him. Somewhere between January and July, the same plan begins moving in two directions.

Eleanor Rivers Aug 21, 2026

It is December 6, 2015, and David Stone is writing to Dr. Jack Resnick about a chair that will soon be empty. Dick Lutz is preparing to leave the Main Street WIRE, and Stone has been encouraged to ask whether he might replace him. Seven years of covering art, Cornell Tech and questionable practices inside Public Safety have taught Stone how the paper tells an Island story.

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