RIOC’s mysterious COVID testing site is closing, stopping the cash drain from residents’ pockets. But the state’s still unwilling to tell us enough about it.
By David Stone
The Roosevelt Island Daily News
While lies and deception remain unchecked, RIOC says its Swift Rapid COVID testing site expires on June 30th. This follows an inexplicable month of sharing with an art gallery, two days a week, including a full time security officer from the bloated PSD staff.
Controversy: A mysterious COVID testing site, accountability absent
While a COVID testing site always made sense for Roosevelt Island, RIOC made a mess of it. It was like sending a team of untested rookies and managers out on a major league playing field. Without umpires.
But with deep pockets, i.e., those of residents, to pick from without resistance…
It started badly, but will it end in continuing silence and mystery?
The cost to residents, so far? Over half-a-million.
When the state announced the testing site, back in November, the amateurs’ got it wrong out of the gate. With the coronavirus pandemic raging, they promised a fast track opening in December. They opened instead in late January.
But then, the mysteries ripened…
After most of the money had already been spent or committed, senior staffer Mary Cunneen told RIOC’s super passive board that the Department of Health recommended six potential vendors for the site.
RIOC bypassed all six and signed up with Swift Emergency Medical, a hard to pin down entity with no apparent experience in the field. Why? Who knows?
And you’d think a responsible board of directors would pop the question, but you’d be wrong. They did not, at least not in public session where responsibilities could be exposed.
Supporting the request, Cunneen offered testing statistics that appeared, at best, mistaken.
At the board meeting, the meek, head-nod afflicted board, simply voted, “Yes,” unanimously, of course. And there went half a million in residents’ money for their mysterious COVID testing site.
Bypassed, also, was the rights of those paying the bills knowing much of anything about how it was spent.
While it might be easy to overlook money spent improperly, probably much of it wasted, on a valuable endeavor, now they’re getting away with it, what stops this unmanaged crew from doing it again?
Refusing accountability to this degree in a publicly funded agency is virtually unheard of elsewhere. But here, it’s on the rise. A sudden death in the Sportspark Pool, in May, for example, remains as mysterious as the COVID testing site. We don’t even know the name of the young man who died in that tragedy.
Resident or non-resident? We don’t know because RIOC’s keeping all that secret too.
Conclusion: Will the mysterious COVID testing site vanish without a trace?
Although RIOC refuses to answer any questions about the business and both elected officials and board members whistle by, we’ve submitted a FOIL request for all relevant information.
But don’t expect much soon.
COVID’s given RIOC license for even more foot-dragging, and evidence suggests they’ve adopted the Cuomo standard of partial responses and endless delay. Albany’s corruption may be ours.
But the Roosevelt Island Daily will keep asking until we get as much as we can.
Stay tuned.
More from the Roosevelt Island Daily
- Why RIOC’s New Constituent Services Department Is Total Bull-oney
Next up in its Hall of Cringe-Worthy Moments, RIOC’s screaming headline declares, “PRESIDENT HAYNES ANNOUNCES NEW CONSTITUENT SERVICES DEPARTMENT WITHIN RIOC.” It scores a triple crown of hypocritical, condescending and stupid. How can this highly paid confederacy of dunces make gross error after error and never pay a price? Maybe because all the strings are - Will Roosevelt Island Day Be Diminished Again This Year?
Roosevelt Island Day shrunk after 2019, partly because of excessive COVID-19 concerns, but what happens in 2023? President/CEO Shelton J. Haynes’s organizers can regain some lost community support, returning some enthusiasm for 2023. But the signs so far are not good. A late announcement and a lackadaisical poster lacking all originality won’t stoke enthusiasm. by - From Jazz to Hip-Hop: How Harlem Transformed into a Groovy Hub of Music in New York City
The culturally rich neighborhood of Harlem in New York City has been an epicenter for music since the early 20th century. From the birth of jazz to hip-hop, Harlem has served as a breeding ground for some of the most influential musical genres in American history. by David Stone The Roosevelt Island Daily News The - Broadway Unmasked: Behind the Theatre District’s Meteoric Rise
Broadway is an iconic part of American culture, a place where dreams come true and stories are brought to life. From its humble beginnings as a small collection of theaters in the late 19th century, Broadway has grown into one of the most renowned theater districts in the world. But what led to its meteoric - Lunatic Fringe – Is Shelton Haynes Job-Hunting on Your Dime?
Reporting that “He’s at it again” isn’t enough as what looks for all the world like RIOC President/CEO Shelton J. Haynes job-hunting secures a spot cleanly on the lunatic fringe. In a new paid public promo, the composer positions Haynes as Roosevelt Island’s hero-come-lately. It gets really nutty before it ends. by David Stone The
[…] At last, RIOC shuts down its costly, mysterious COVID testing site […]