Five years ago, after years of dismay over RIOC’s inability to create a simple Roosevelt Island map, Hudson Companies President David Kramer took matters into his own hands. He paid for and installed wayfinding signs for visitors at key locations. He thought, he told The Daily, that RIOC would at least maintain them. But he was wrong. The signs greeting visitors are laughably out of date with no indication that the state is even aware.
by David Stone
The Roosevelt Island Daily News
The worst of the outdated wayfinding signs awaits at the busiest arrival point for Roosevelt Island visitors: the subway station. On any day, you can find first-timers puzzling over it, struggling for information.
The signs were never well executed, but outdated, they are next to useless. Long-lost businesses are featured, promising new ones ignored. If you got off the last escalator eager to head for the Howe Theatre of the latest show, where would you find it?
But if you’re not feeling well after enjoying your dirty subway ride, you can find Roosevelt Island Urgent Care right up the street… Or, can you?
Here’s the map as it stands today:
Wayfinding Signs with More Errors than a RIOC Press Release
Maybe it’s a bank you need, some quick cash for dinner at Riverwalk Bar & Grill… er, wait, what? Amalgamated Bank is long gone and the restaurant was replaced by Granny Annie’s. Years ago.
Probably the worst of this mess is what’s missing. Neither the promising Island Om workout studio nor the new Medittarean Eatery get the boost they need. But BubbleCool Bubble Tea – closed for four years, replaced by a head shop – stands out.
RIOC, the state agency that never gets it wrong, embarrasses the community in ways both large and small. But you can’t blame RIOC. What few employees do show up for work park free in Motorgate, never troubling themselves with mass transit. So, they never get down this way, and the poor souls just don’t know.
Governor Kathy Hochul and RIOC’s highly paid CEO Seldom Seen Shelton Haynes? They can’t be bothered with the big issues – like OMNY for the Tram or rising local crime. How can you expect them to come out of hiding for the big ones?
The Line That Didn’t Land
I stood in the back of Good Shepherd Chapel on the evening of April 15, 2026, at the Steam Plant Demolition Town Hall, watching people adjust scarves and jackets before the meeting began. Benjamin Jones, President and CEO of RIOC, thanked us for attending and, without a pause, said he was “pleased to host tonight’s town hall on the city’s demolition of its steam plant.” The demolition, in other words, was not up for discussion.
