Three years ago this month, RIOC seeded plans for Lighthouse Park 2023 during a public meeting at the Good Shepherd Community Center. Roosevelt Islanders dug in, voting on potential uses and offering new suggestions. But those seeds rotted in the ground when the state agency that never gets it wrong switched gears, ousting President/CEO Susan Rosenthal and promoting Shelton J. Haynes.
by David Stone
The Roosevelt Island Daily News
On a cold winter evening, January 8th, 2020, RIOC organized a meeting with Roosevelt Islanders. The state agency had acquired a chunk of abandoned parking lot east of Coler Hospital. Adjacent to Lighthouse Park, RIOC would expand the greenspace south and sought community consensus on how it should be used.
It sounds a little like make-believe with RIOC so bunkered now that the idea of working with the community is a prop Haynes uses to keep his board sleeping.
But there was a time when community leadership coalesced around common goals. Things were not perfect. Residents still wanted more say in how their money got spent, but a decent amount of mutual respect kept relations civil and complimentary.
But Roll Forward to Lighthouse Park 2023
Nearly two years later, at RIOC’s final board meeting in 2021, Haynes mumbled something about parking filling some of the space instead. Keeping in line with the lack of transparency during the Hochul/Haynes administration, he did not disclose that a $4.5 million parking garage plan was already under consideration.
But as the human shield clustered around the hyper-sensitive CEO tightened, little more was heard or likely will be. Defying the intent of state law and Governor Hochul’s alleged guidelines, RIOC will not answer questions about operations.
That, according to a statement published elsewhere, is because they want to “control the narrative.”
Recently recruited AVP for Communications and Government Affairs, Akeem Jamal added that, if anyone wants information, they must make a freedom of information law request. RIOC’s FOIL process is notoriously corrupt for political purposes.
So, we went off on our own inspection…
Another January, Another Park Extension
The Lighthouse Park extension today looks nothing like the cheerful community greenspace Rosenthal’s team envisioned. Outside a small, muddy parking lot, a parking permit holders-only sign leans toward an abandoned, rusted safety call box. A few feet away, a traffic barrier sits upside down atop a metal pole.
In the area where Team RIOC went missing in November, visitors stroll through mounds of debris, mud and waste in Lighthouse Park 2023.
And if anyone needs a public restroom badly enough that they’d use the johns next to this mess, there’s another surprise.
The surprise is an assumed message: “If you visit here, leave your physically challenged relatives and friends at home.” The door on the right, marked for wheelchair use, is locked and has been for months.
Contrasting sharply is the original park. The restoration of the lighthouse was finished a year ago, and The Girl Puzzle is in place. Newly planted trees add to the park’s graceful, sloping lawn. But a lack of promotion leaves the area mostly empty except during barbeque weekends.
What’s Next?
Since Team Hochul/Haynes hides planning, Roosevelt Islanders must guess about what to expect, aware that community values are useless in this climate.
But a parking garage is a good bet. Revenue is always a need with bloated staff rosters and sky-high salaries sucking it in. Patronage dumps need fuel.
