WE CAN DO BETTER THAN THIS: RIOC’S AWKWARD, DELAYED SCRAMBLE FOR A 9/11 TRIBUTE

It’s almost as if they forgot the value in a 9/11 tribute for Roosevelt Island, and someone prodded them for the 20th Anniversary. It’s scrambled, and it’s late. Little evidence of forethought blew life into their message.

By David Stone

The Roosevelt Island Daily News

We Can Do Better Than This 9/11 Tribute on the 20th Anniversary

Reactions were swift.

“Did you get the two announcements from RIOC? They are so poorly written and an embarrassment,” wrote one resident.

For another reader, the first sentence failed grade school grammar.

“Saturday will mark the passing of two decades since New York and the world was forever altered by the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon,” RIOC’s alleged Communications Team wrote.

“… New York and the world was…” a longtime resident noted the mangled grammar. Was it the best the state agency could do for the 20th Anniversary of 9/11?

We sometimes commit grammatical crimes here at The Daily, but we’re not funded at a quarter mill with a staff of four. And we can’t afford a proofreader. RIOC can.

“If we really are remembering/commemorating what happened on September 11, 2001,” a disgruntled reader wrote, “there would be a photo of the original buildings.”

Instead, the state agency that never makes a mistake plugged in a contemporary photo with no hint of the Twin Towers. And no credit for wherever they got the image, as is their practice.

No idea why they picked grayscale, depicting a currently healthy skyline.

Are they kidding?

Of the tribute, RIOC’s brain trust says this: “As the concerning Delta variant of COVID-19 remains widespread and accounts for 98% of tested cases in our area, we are not encouraging a gathering.”

Let’s forget, for a moment, that Delta is not “a variant of COVID-19.” It’s a variant of SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus spiking the pandemic. COVID-19 is the disease it causes.

Instead, let’s consider the 9/11 Tribute hypocrisy.

First, we now know there is no such thing as coronavirus spread out of doors. And RIOC showed no such caution about “encouraging a gathering” for outdoor movies just two weeks ago. Circumstances are the same.

And the state greatly relaxed restrictions, months ago. Outdoor gatherings, whether for ball games or family celebrations, take place all the time while infection rates remain low for Manhattan and Roosevelt Island.

We can do better than this nebulous 9/11 Tribute

Late Tuesday, RIOC made a promise. “A full schedule of the tribute will be made available this week. We look forward to your participation in this poignant tribute.”

But two days later and two days before the event, RIOC hasn’t offered another word about the 9/11 Tribute.

Come on now. Roosevelt Island can and should do better than this.

In the aftermath of the World Trade Center disaster, residents got together, planting a 9/11 tree for permanent remembrance. Beneath the tree, Islanders set a plaque with the names of neighbors lost. Included were firefighters dispatched from the water rescue unit on Main Street.

Roosevelt Islanders cared. Is it too much, asking RIOC to share at least a shadow of that sincerity and commitment?

More from the Roosevelt Island Daily

• 
  “Arrangements,” New Art From Toshiko Kitano Groner Opens on SundaySeptember 27, 2023
  New art from one of our favorite artists and longtime RIVAA member, Toshiko Kitano Groner, is the kind of news we like. We’ve covered her work for over a decade. She never disappoints. The Roosevelt Island Daily News RIVAA Gallery and the Octagon welcome you to an exhibition of new works by artist Toshiko Kitano … Read more
• 
  Haynes’s Conspiracy Theories Now Prompt Rosenthal’s ResponseSeptember 27, 2023
  Former RIOC CEO Susan Rosenthal’s response came after over three years of virtual silence during which she spoke up only in lawsuits. “I was saddened to see that the Island made the news once again recently,” she said, “with a lawsuit that was filed by Mr. Haynes against State officials.” Residents, she added, asked her … Read more
• 
  An Island Didn’t Want Dogs But Now Some Rescue and Find Homes for ThemSeptember 26, 2023
  Rescues – now delivered to Roosevelt Island, mostly Shih Tzu dogs with long hair and short legs – find protection and new homes. It’s a remarkable switch for a community that shunned all dogs and still does in some unenlightened places. Thank local hero, Jim Luce, who’s found yet another way of helping the needy. … Read more
• 
  Now They’re Coming for Your Beer and My WineSeptember 25, 2023
  There’s no mistaking the trend, driven by poor science. Federal government resources are coming for your beer and my wine. The CDC says every little swallow adds risk to your life and health, but looked at more closely, how serious are these risks anyway? More importantly, is it good science? by David Stone TheCenters of … Read more
• 
  New Art: Woman with a Parasol in Central ParkSeptember 25, 2023
  Times change, and we are taking a fresh approach and looking at the world through art. In 1875, Claude Monet painted his early masterpiece, Woman with a Parasol – Madame Monet and Her Son. It’s the earliest days of impression and a soft approach to color and object discovers the most beautiful essentials of the … Read more

About Author

davidstone1313

See author's posts