After failing at luring a bank for Main Street , Roosevelt Island, “We took them on tours,” RIOC president/CEO Shelton J. Haynes said. But why was that doomed? Take a virtual walk along with us, and see it through a bank vice president’s eyes.

By David Stone

The Roosevelt Island Daily News

Before setting off on our virtual tour of Main Street, Roosevelt Island, two items of note…

First, we decided on bank vice-presidents because, back when we had friends in banking, we learned that the industry was low on wages and high on titles. Vice presidents were everywhere; so, they’re a fit.

Second, for our purposes here, Main Street is the traditional canyon, where one bank or another always served residents until Amalgamated closed up shop, last year.

And the problem we have is that, after conducting a tour or tours, RIOC’s now picked Sportspark, well south of 90% of the population as ideal for local banking.

Everyone generally agrees that Sportspark is a poor choice for a bank. Everyone outside RIOC’s brainstrust, that is.

If they reach an agreement and some bank takes space in such an unlikely location, it will fail, soon enough. So, this tour may lead to ideas for making the next ones better.

Or at least not sucky.

The virtual bank vice presidents’ Main Street, Roosevelt Island, tour

Of course, any impressive tour must start with Blackwell House, the historic gem, finally restored with hundreds of thousands invested.

But you’d never know it’s a wonder inside, would you? There is no welcome of any kind. No flags or bunting.

Not even visiting hours posted.

It almost looks like a place Haynes might want for himself, the heck with the tourists, if only there was some good parking nearby.

But, hey, let’s walk on anyway.

What bank vice president’s going to worry about deteriorated sidewalks and the weeds outside the community’s proudest symbol?

And who’s getting petty over a street so littered with potholes the water can’t drain?

Note: It hadn’t rained in a couple of days, and we don’t know where the standing water came from. It’s the sort of mystery bank vice-presidents get a kick out of.

Going on…

Haynes or a tour guide probably had a good story about street conditions. Maybe they bragged about how patches over patches over patches shows their commitment to, well… to repair work.

Sometimes, there are no words, and we assume, this is one of them.

Established fact: Buyers and investors prefer lining up with existing success because it suggests security and offers future prospects. Shops On Main had these to offer. In the heart of town.

With a little luck, the vice presidents won’t ask, “How long?”

Foot traffic is key for any retail business.

Where banks found a home on Main Street, Roosevelt Island… until they didn’t

Whoever led the tour was probably eager to showcase how well RIOC treated their valued business partners. With scenes like these.

Z-bricks, once a Main Street, Roosevelt Island, signature feature, are falling apart, almost everywhere. But should a bank fault RIOC for gross neglect?

What do you think?

Who wouldn’t feel welcome here?

And since the collapsed curb, the broken Z-brick pattern that goes with it and the filth-filled potholes outside the bank space were like this only for a few years, RIOC probably didn’t have enough time to notice.

After all, their about to be abandoned headquarters is way, like, a hundred feet away.

But at least there’s great parking available…

…on weekends and at night on Main Street, Roosevelt Island.

Let’s close with thoughts the irrepressible Judith Berdy shared with RIOC’s braintrust.

“Let’s involve the community in talks with banks, not just RIOC.  We are the customers. The organizations that keep their accounts and the merchants that have to scurry to find banking services.”

Enough said.

Also from the Roosevelt Island Daily News

• 
  Weekly public safety blotter: alarm calls cluster at 546 Main
  Nov. 8-14 public safety blotter: 102 entries, down from 112. 546 Main Street logged 22, including five smoke or alarm calls. Medical calls and transports fell.
• 
  Saturday’s PSD blotter: gas leak call unfounded, three noise complaints
  RIOC’s Nov. 14 PSD blotter lists 14 incidents, none typed as a crime: an unfounded gas leak call at 510 Main Street, three noise complaints, one hospital transport and an NYPD report at 555 Main.
• 
  NYC SHSAT Technical Problems Disrupt Exams, Students Await New Dates
  NYC SHSAT technical problems interrupted specialized high school admissions testing. Affected students will be rescheduled, but new dates remain unannounced.
• 
  Octagon Park Lecture Nov. 16: Was the Park’s Plan a Success?
  Octagon Park lecture: architect John di Domenico revisits how the park was planned 35 years ago and whether it worked. Free, Nov. 16, 6:30 p.m., island library.
• 
  Friday’s PSD blotter: two theft reports at 425 Main, three hospital runs
  RIOC’s Nov. 13 PSD blotter lists 15 incidents, all on Main Street, including two petit larceny reports at 425 Main Street, three hospital transports and five entries at 546 Main.

The WIRE: Two Futures, One Empty Chair

David Stone is preparing to take over. Dick Lutz is preparing him. Somewhere between January and July, the same plan begins moving in two directions.

Eleanor Rivers Aug 21, 2026

It is December 6, 2015, and David Stone is writing to Dr. Jack Resnick about a chair that will soon be empty. Dick Lutz is preparing to leave the Main Street WIRE, and Stone has been encouraged to ask whether he might replace him. Seven years of covering art, Cornell Tech and questionable practices inside Public Safety have taught Stone how the paper tells an Island story.

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