On June 10th 2021, Mayor de Blasio announced that Macy’s 4th of July fireworks return to the East River near Roosevelt Island. But RIOC dithering bottlenecks all plans for people hoping to see them.
By David Stone
The Roosevelt Island Daily News
UPDATE, June 28th 2021, 11:00 a.m.:
RIOC’s still silent, but the Roosevelt Island Daily learned that RIOC will allow for capacity control attendance in Southpoint Park as well as Four Freedoms. They will offer free tickets via the online system as they have in past years.
When that will happen is unknown, although they’re cutting the time very short with less than a week remaining.
End of Update
“We are finalizing the plan for the Fourth of July and should have the information to share next week,” wrote a state parks representative on June 11th.
And a week later, “We are coordinating with RIOC and anticipate having all the information to share next week.”
But that hasn’t happened, and RIOC, of course, has not told the community anything.
Will there be any 4th of July fireworks for Roosevelt Island?
We don’t know because everything centers around RIOC setting up access to and through Southpoint Park. At a recent committee meeting, RIOC president/CEO Shelton J. Haynes announced hopes for a new platform under construction in the park, maybe ready for the 4th.
It’s a minor feature, but it’s the only signal so far that the state agency is cognizant of the event.
And Haynes left for vacation, according to automated responses from his email address, without any plan in place. Some observers find his absence unimportant, though, as a consensus emerges that the president/CEO is little more than a figurehead with others running the business.
Badly.
Why RIOC’s getting something done matters…
Because access to all areas south of the Cornell Tech campus relies on RIOC arranging for entering Southpoint Park, nothing can happen without their plan. And they, apparently, ain’t got one.
Best viewing is from the grassy meadow in FDR Four Freedoms State Park, but you can’t get there without passing through Southpoint. Thus, RIOC bottlenecks everything, and their failure sours everyone else’s best intentions.
Conclusion:
Macy’s 4th of July fireworks will go on. That’s a given, but with just a week left before fiery explosions fill the sky over Roosevelt Island, there is no guarantee that anyone will watch them from anywhere south of Cornell Tech.
And no word from the absentee landlord who continues fumbling community management, unabated and unmanaged.
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Still Searching: Transparency Delayed at RIOC
New York’s Freedom of Information Law rests on a basic principle: government records belong to the public unless an agency can identify a lawful reason to withhold them. For Roosevelt Island residents, that right matters because RIOC controls public land, infrastructure, transportation, contracts and development without functioning as a locally elected government.
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