This weekend, RIOC flipped its lid over a date with Cousins Maine Lobster’s food truck. Not awful because people love their sandwiches, but why is the state agency promoting a commercial business? From out of town. When it rarely does a damn thing for locals…?

“Back for more!” RIOC enthused in an advisory. “Next Saturday, March 6th, Cousins Maine Lobster food truck is coming back to Roosevelt Island!”

Advisories normally alert residents about actual state business, like Tram elevator shutdowns and snow storm warnings. But now, the state flipped its lid for a food truck.

Meanwhile, Nisi, Granny Annie’s and the café at Cornell Tech are already here. And they have been, all through the pandemic, struggling over rent… rent paid to Guess who…?

RIOC.

Oh, well, why complain? We all remember RIOC going all out for local businesses… well, no, really, we don’t because they never do.

You may be curious over why RIOC’s team of deep thinkers flipped its lid over Cousins Maine Lobster’s food truck, But you’ll never know for sure. The brain trust keeps all those embarrassing secrets in a vault at 591 Main Street.

Oh, and just to be clear, Cousins Maine Lobster is not from Maine or even New England. The truck rolls over from HQ in Freehold, New Jersey.

The food’s great, though, and you can get it on Saturday at the Tram Plaza from Noon to 8:00 p.m.

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The Budget Knew Before the “Emergency”

RIOC anticipated a $7 million Steam Plant demolition for 2015. Nine years later, New York City used emergency authority to carry it out.

Theo Gobblevelt Sep 25, 2026

The demolition began on paper long before the City invoked emergency authority to carry it out. In RIOC’s fiscal 2013-14 budget, the Corporation set aside $7 million for fiscal 2015 for the complete demolition and cleanup of the Roosevelt Island Steam Plant. RIOC called that figure its worst-case scenario, meaning the State corporation might be left responsible for the entire cost.

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