RIOC’s Belated AVAC Alibi: Does It Hold Water?

Two months into the crisis and only after we reported on it twice, RIOC finally cooked up a belated AVAC alibi. While maintaining the state agency’s record for never making a mistake, it leaks evasion and dishonestly.

By David Stone

The Roosevelt Island Daily News

One of our readers promptly panned the belated AVAC alibi. (See the full “alert” below.)

“I won’t even bring up the poorly written, grammatically incorrect message,” she said.

Residents currently cough up something around a quarter-million dollars a year for an alleged Communications Team. But “branding” and “marketing” are their only board-approved goals. So, the slipshod alert resonates in that light.

But there’s so much worse.

As we reported earlier this week, Roosevelt Island’s once groundbreaking pneumatic trash disposal system has been down for months. The first sign was a nauseating stench filling up Southtown hallways.

Yet, RIOC failed to publicly reveal any cause for the stink until now.

And typical of the agency that never makes a mistake, RIOC did not explain the delay.

Who to blame?

The culprit is “a bed frame.”

But we don’t know how it got so far into the system or where it is now. And here’s a dumb question: How do we know it’s a bed frame? And why can’t they get it out?

First, the “system has been damaged,” RIOC says, but then, it’s an “obstruction.”

Which is it?

Since it took two months and multiple reports to get this far, couldn’t the alleged Communications Team communicate some details?

Like, when can we expect the fix?

A creatively belated AVAC alibi: Are they lying?

RIOC’s mysteriously unidentified “AVAC service provider…” blah,blah,blah… “is currently restricted from traveling to the United States due to the pandemic.“

The unnamed service provider, according to the alleged Communications Team “is based in Spain and Sweden.”

According to the U.S. State Department, the only restriction on travel from either country is proof of a COVID test before flying across the Atlantic.

In full: RIOC’s belated AVAC alibi

The east side line of Roosevelt Island’s automated vacuum collection (AVAC) system has been damaged by a bed frame that was disposed of, which is the cause of the obstruction. Due to this obstruction, eight residential buildings’ garbage disposal, via the AVAC system, has been impacted. 

Our AVAC service provider, who is based in Spain and Sweden, and is the only service provider that specializes in maintenance and repairs of the AVAC system, has been and is currently restricted from traveling to the United States due to the pandemic. As an alternative, Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation (RIOC) has been working with the New York City Department of Sanitation (DSNY) to try to safely clear the obstruction. Because these attempts have been unsuccessful, RIOC is vetting other potential solutions to clear the obstruction without causing further damage to the AVAC system. 

Trash from the impacted buildings is being collected by the DSNY until the obstruction can be cleared. RIOC will update the community as this remediation progresses and is working with all building managers to reiterate to their tenants, the importance of only placing authorized objects in the AVAC system for disposal to prevent this inconvenience in the future.

RIOC Advisory, August 11, 2021

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