The shelf life on RIOC’s threats about illegally parked bikes?

Illegally parked bikes pose a long term problem for Roosevelt Island, and our first article about it, in 2018, got results. But they weren’t lasting. Hard imagining screwing up such a simple challenge, but RIOC surprises. Again.

By David Stone

Roosevelt Island Daily News

RIOC PSD Cracked Down on Illegally Parked Bikes… Until They Didn’t

“Please be advised that, effective Monday, March 22nd, unattended bikes that are tagged by PSD will be removed within 48 hours…”

RIOC Alert, Saturday, March 20th, 2021

As we reported at the time, the super secret state agency gave not a single clue about what put a bug up their butts. But they were getting tough on “unattended” or illegally parked bikes.

That firm resolve lasted… Hmmm… Let’s see. Calculating here…

Ah, got it: Two Days.

Historical perspective…

In August, 2018, we asked RIOC about the many abandoned bikes littering Roosevelt Island.

“The attached photos are from bikes abandoned in racks on RIOC property for at least a year,” I emailed RIOC. “But is there some reason these have been just left for so long?”

That was August 2nd, 2018, at a time when RIOC had an actual public information officer, Alonza Robertson. And I copied then CEO Susan Rosenthal, then COO Shelton Haynes and then PSD Chief Jack McManus.

In the turmoil ridden state agency, only Haynes remains. As president/CEO.

While Rosenthal still managed RIOC, some commitments were reliable.

“Thanks for bringing it to our attention. Enjoy the weekend. Best, Jack.”

The late Jack McManus

McManus, a friend to many of us as well as a trusted public servant, promised action, and he came through.

Truckloads of abandoned bikes, many from heaps piled up in Motorgate Plaza, got carted off.

But then, illness forced McManus’s retirement, and the project went with him.

RIOC and PSD dropped out into lackadaisical indifference about bikes, and the situation’s only grown worse in the past year.

But then, RIOC got tough again on illegally parked bikes…

Or so they said.

Above, we showed you a ten day old tag on an abandoned bike in Motorgate Plaza. RIOC said tagged bikes would be removed “within 48 hours.” This one lingered for 240.

And it wasn’t alone.

Who’s minding the store, RIOC?

Nobody, it appears, as the freelancing, unsupervised silos within the hermetic train wreck at 591 Main continues mystifying anyone hoping to understand whatever the hell they’re up to.

Will they actually do anything about illegally parked bikes? Based on their behavior, we don’t know and neither can anyone else.

We don’t even know who to ask and expect an honest, reliable answer.