Last week, the growing East Promenade sinkhole challenged the size of RIOC’s secrecy about it. Other things grew too. For example, the lack of safety surrounding it. And an apparent pigeon poop project at the scene.
By David Stone
No one could be blamed, if at first glance, they mistook sinkhole “remediation” for a new whimsical RIOC Pigeon Poop Project.
The always creative state agency allowed the birds to work on something resembling an excremental Jackson Pollack image. Leave it to those playful rascals to delight residents with a surprise…
But no.
As RIOC obliquely advised, the whole area is under remediation. Probably hoping to spare us some stress, they did not identify whatever was being remediated.
When you look closer and check out our report from March, you find the whateveritis bigger than ever.
The growing East Promenade sinkhole…
We got a closer look because barriers no longer fully surround the growing sinkhole. Anyone — kids, pets, RIOC execs — can walk right up for a good look.
Appearances suggests workers trying to catch up with an expanding sinkhole.
Let’s take a closer look.
Pavement continues cracking and falling into oblivion, expanding past a protective cover.
Figuring out what they are covering is hard because RIOC’s not saying, but in her lawsuit, ex-president/CEO Susan Rosenthal swears the area in in danger of catastrophic collapse.
One in a mile long series of hints that Rosenthal is right is immediately adjacent to the growing East Promenade sinkhole.
RIOC, we are sure, is all over this thing. They’re just sparing us the stress of knowing anything about it. Their three-person Communications Team never rests, thinking always about how best they can keep Roosevelt Islanders uninformed.
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A Different Kind of Bet
For years, Roosevelt Island did not behave like a system constrained by limits. Internally, the budget was often treated less as a boundary and more as a reservoir to be used.
