A disruptive new WTF intrusion from New York State overseer, RIOC, upset countless Roosevelt Island residents early yesterday. Not only without warning, it came after assurances of just the opposite.
By David Stone
The Roosevelt Island Daily News
Ongoing blunders and screw ups by absentee landlord RIOC might seem clownish, even comedic, were they not so frequently painful.
From destroying Southpoint Park to a budget bloated with low and no show jobs to messing up even crosswalks, RIOC’s a laugh a minute. Until they’re not.
RIOC’s New WTF Intrusion: Dark Fiber for Security Cameras
May 11th, the day after the above photo was taken, RIOC’s alleged Communications Team emailed an advisory: NOTICE OF DARK FIBER WORK.
“Installation of an inground fiber connection, which will strengthen the existing security camera network along the East Promenade, will be taking place on the East Promenade from Blackwell Park to 680 Main Street, now through June. Please note no impact to pedestrian access is expected.”
No problem there. But as we wrote, RIOC’s bumbling may be no worse than clownish incompetence until it isn’t.
Yesterday, June 22nd, this happened, reported on Twitter.
“Mta sucks” is a Twitter tag for a regular contributor who now seems to have recognized RIOC as equally sucky.
East Promenade Closure Due to Dark Fiber Installation…?
But RIOC was all over it, of course.
That is, four long painful hours later, their new WTF intrusion already having screwed residents all along Roosevelt Landings, the state reached out. Sorta. In the half-fast way they have.
An advisory with the above title: “Beginning on Wednesday, June 23rd, East Road, from north of Blackwell Park to Capobianco Field, will be closed due to open trenching work required for the dark fiber installation project. Installation of an inground fiber connection will strengthen the existing security camera network along the East Promenade.”
But the promised “no impact” project had already started, and it was loud. And the advisory failed to note that it completely contradicted the one just a month earlier.
Later that evening, Mta sucks added, “& BTW what on earth is their OBSESSION with cameras?? Community policing is what a smaller neighborhood like RI needs, not hundreds of cameras to record incidents rather than head them off before they happen.”
The Daily adds: But that would require locating a fair number of the invisible PSD officers RIOC’s lists on its payroll.
What’s next, RIOC? What surprises await?
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Emergency Without Urgency
When government invokes the word “emergency,” normal process changes. Timelines accelerate. Environmental review can narrow. Procurement pathways can shift.
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