“This just made me so sad for this lovely Island…
“I just observed a woman urinating in a cup in the sitting area at top of subway steps/elevators. No public safety, no NYC police and no mta employees visible,” our friend wrote.
By David Stone
The Roosevelt Island Daily News
“I have only been working on RI 5 years. Many noticeable quality of life declines I have observed.”
You can imagine, we told her, what it’s like for those of us who’ve been here for much longer and watched so much slide downhill.
What’s so sad for this lovely island?
The longer you’ve lived here, the sadder you’re likely to be over the circumstances.
Roosevelt Island’s still a great place to live, but in core areas, official neglect, indifference and gross lack of government talent set things at a precarious edge.
The woman in the subway…?
Appalling as public urination might be, it’s worse where a homeless person has no choice.
For decades, the community complained about the lack of public facilities without significant response from our absentee landlord, RIOC. In fact, the restroom at the Tram, once available for the public, has been “out of service” for over a year.
And we can’t imagine that the woman squatting in the subway was any more happy about it than those watching her. Imagine going to the trouble of finding a cup when you can’t find a home.
But what choice had she?
But is it expensive living on Roosevelt Island…?
Not when you know where to look…
The photo above was taken just after noon. Under the helix where the state wants to spend millions on a bike ramp.
Let’s be clear. This is all on RIOC.
Out of a $30 million per year budget, much of it absorbed by bloated staffing and excessive salaries, we are not aware of a single dime set aside for dealing with our growing homeless problem.
No one should be living on Roosevelt Island under these conditions, let alone anywhere else in America.
But locally, the community’s being managed in an especially callous manner.
When the pandemic hit, the best RIOC could come up with was free face masks. A hearty team of volunteers did all the work while RIOC stood by, most of them “working” at home.
But they wasted a good part of half-a-million dollars on COVID testing without considering alternatives of doing any kind or research.
In the meantime, homelessness grew much worse while the state did nothing to help.
Conclusion: Is it expensive living on Roosevelt Island?
The pandemic slowed the center of local gravity drifting south. But as a general trend, living expenses are rising, even as quality of life is in serious decline.
And, when you think about it, all those improvements we read about and RIOC boasts about…? None are residential, and none help local businesses.
Parks and campuses and a first hotel are great, but let’s be realistic. Although Cornell Tech adds over the top community outreach, none of what’s new was done with the people who live here in mind.
The state overseers in Albany left residents behind.
From landscaping to roadwork, neglect is the rule with RIOC, and as long as they are here and without oversight, nothing will improve enough.
The talent’s not there because it’s become a political dump, but worse, commitment and good intentions aren’t there either.
More from the Roosevelt Island Daily
- Shuffling Schedules, RIOC Creates a Greater Gap with the Community
A greater gap between RIOC and Roosevelt Islanders is not what elected officials expected when they grilled board chair RuthAnne Visnauskas earlier this year. Visnauskas assured Senator Liz Krueger and Assembly Member Rebecca Seawright that she’d increase community engagement. But the opposite happened and, as of this week, has accelerated. by David Stone The Roosevelt - Now Is Your Chance for a Great Deal on Art, Thanks to Gallery RIVAA
Starting Thursday, December 7th, you can take home some great art from our local artists at Gallery RIVAA, 527 Main Street. Affordable Art lasts just four days but brings a chance to win art as well as loosen up your purse strings for it. The Roosevelt Island Daily News Affordable Art is, for art lovers, - Can we talk… with RIOC? CB8 invites Roosevelt Island engagement
Community Board 8 (CB8) Roosevelt Island committee chair, Paul Krikler, opens a window next week where the community can connect. That’s not just with RIOC, but it’s also with each other and a shot at powering up. by David Stone The Roosevelt Island Daily News “”This is a community forum, and the whole point is - New York City Health & Hospital’s Community Mural Project Graces Coler
“Healing in Community,” a part of NYC Health & Hospitals’s mural project, went live on December 1st at Roosevelt Islands’s Coler Rehabilitation Center. It’s one of nine additions to the wide-ranging effort this year. by David Stone The Roosevelt Island Daily News The Community Mural Project is believed to be the country’s largest public hospital - The “Eviction Machine” Now Slams Into Roosevelt Island
As a community, we always thought we were immune from these things, but the “eviction machine” described in a New York Times article, is building up momentum, attacking Roosevelt Island’s most vulnerable residents. by David Stone The Roosevelt Island Daily News What happened…shows how New York City’s housing court system, created in part to shelter
