RIOC calls it, “…renovating the open space and garden adjacent to the R.I. branch of the NYPL,” but really, it’s paving over history. Unless paving over open space qualifies as “improvement.”
By David Stone
The Roosevelt Island Daily News
Observing the destruction, Roosevelt Island Historical Society (RIHS) president Judith Berdy mused… “The play area in Blackwell Park was demolished today. By current standards a playground built with wooden boulders, bricks, metal slides and metal climbing device is so unsafe it had to be removed.
“A bulldozer made waste of the area this morning.
“The site will be paved over and left to the open since RIOC canceled the reading and sitting area that would adjoin the new library.
“It is a pity RIOC cared not for an improved area and just chose the easy solution, a bulldozer.”
Paving Over History
Yes, after liberally spilling cash on projects of little benefit to residents, RIOC says they don’t have enough left for a real renovation. No matter what their Orwellian alert says.
We will not have a reading and sitting area, but RIOC will have… refurbished offices, free parking and bloated, ineffective staffing.
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You Can FOIL* It
On April 15, at the Steam Plant Demolition Town Hall, a simple exchange revealed something far more consequential than anything formally presented that evening.
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