“Thank you @RepJerryNadler for joining us today for a productive meeting and tour of the island! We greatly appreciate your support and look forward to continuing our shared work together to strengthen the Roosevelt Island community.”
That’s the short version that RIOC posted on Twitter. For many Roosevelt Islanders, the reaction was, “What?” See, Seldom Seen Shelton offered his lesson to Nadler without involving a single Roosevelt Islander. Genius. Sleight of hand…
by David Stone
The Roosevelt Island Daily News
The larger question is why Congressman Jerome Nadler allowed himself to be a tool like this. What kind of elected officials takes a secret tour that skips constituents, giving a floundering state agency photo op after photo op?
The Genius of Shelton J. Haynes: How To Strengthen Community While Steering Clear of It
You have to hand it to Haynes. He managed to get Jerry Nadler in and out of Roosevelt Island without any of the people who voted for him in on the schooling. There’s a gap, of course, because people actually elected Nadler, and he must stand for re-election next year.
But how did Haynes get him to do it?
Remarkably RIOC’s nifty “tour of the island,” according to photos, stretched all the way from the Youth Center to Sportspark where Haynes smoothly introduced his guest to the brilliant concept of “swimming pool.”
And he brought along the Team RIOC brain trust. It’s possible that chief counsel Gretchen Robinson shared her unique spin on intellectual property. Chief operating officer Mary Cunneen was on hand too and could impress Nadler with the dexterity with numbers she showed off in the Swift Emergency Medical COVID Testing reports.
But between poses with our ever-popular Team RIOC crew, Nadler’s best opportunity came from Haynes’s schooling on how to strengthen the community. The state agency that never makes a mistake boasted about that on every social feed.
We hope Nadler gained tons of insight during his alleged tour of the Island. Maybe he’ll even come back one day and hear about the community’s deep affection for Seldom Seen Shelton and his talented RIOC crew.
