In case you haven’t heard, RIOC, asleep at the wheel, welcomed a Monday morning mess. With television production sucking up chunks of Main Street to start the week, the state agency tumbled out of bed long enough to wave them in.
By David Stone
As we reported on Saturday, the NBC series Blacklist made an arrangement with the New York City, leaving RIOC out of the loop, for consuming a lot of Main Street parking. The takeover began on Sunday with filming set for monday.
Areas scheduled for production vehicles only are the entire Southtown strip along the east section of Main Street. Where all the entrances and exits are.
Also lost, all parking along Main from 10 to 40 River Road. As pointed out by resident Raye Schwartz in a letter to RIOC president/CEO Shelton J. Haynes, this creates real dangers.
An appeal to common sense…
“Once again, RIOC has not only dropped the ball but has endangered many children in the way this filming was announced to our community,” Schwartz wrote. “There are two schools which bring children in to the island, either by school bus or parents driving them here in the morning and picking them up when the school day ends.”
She continued, “The fact that this notice was sent Friday night, suggests that the directors at either PS 217 and The Child School did not receive it early enough to make needed arrangements for modifications for ensuring safe arrival and dismissal of the students and faculty.
“Did your RIOC staff make any needed safety provisions? Will your Public Safety staff take time off from issuing parking tickets for the city and assist the schools? Based on this enclosed notice I would think probably not!”
There is no evidence of Haynes interrupting his weekend by answering resident concerns.
Of greater interest for RIOC, the New York State Shelton J. Haynes Parking Area goes unscathed. Space for the president/CEO’s huge gas guzzler is safe.
Also from the Roosevelt Island Daily News
- Queens Public Library Ransomware Attack: Digital Services Still DisruptedThe Queens Public Library ransomware attack continues to disrupt public computers, digital books and online services, with no confirmed restoration date.
- A new RIOC appeals officer denied records on how its general counsel was hiredA different RIOC appeals officer denied records on how RIOC hired general counsel Lance Polivy. RIOC’s internal deliberations on the hire stay withheld.
- Monday’s PSD blotter: two hospital transports, two disputesRIOC’s Nov. 9 PSD blotter lists 14 incidents, including four aided calls with two hospital transports and a verbal dispute at 750 Main Street that drew FDNY.
- Flushing Spa Murder: Man Charged After Woman Found Stabbed to DeathFlushing spa murder investigation leads to a murder charge against a 54-year-old man after a woman was found fatally stabbed in a Queens storefront.
- Sunday’s blotter: four medical calls, three non-criminal investigationsRIOC’s Nov. 8 PSD blotter lists 19 incidents, including four aided calls (two hospital transports) and three Investigation Non-Criminal entries at 465, 580 and 546 Main Street.
The Women Who Held the Ground
The recording arrived before RIOC posted it. On this island, that usually means they’ll release it when they’re confident nobody still cares. ArchRI simply made a copy available, the way people here tend to do once they’ve stopped waiting for institutions to keep their word. It was the first meeting of what is now meant to be a monthly community advisory group (CAG).
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