If you love consistency at all costs, the broken again AVAC system on Roosevelt Island must make you feel warm inside. Otherwise, it’s another gross blunder by the murky Team RIOC specializing in pointing fingers and dodging blame.
by David Stone
The Roosevelt Island Daily News
For more than 40 years, Roosevelt Island owned bragging rights to the most modern, efficient and clean trash collection system in America. Articles and even Gallery RIVAA shows touted its wonders. But it’s been down repeatedly in the last two years, and Team RIOC has no answers.
Check that because they have given Roosevelt Islanders answers – excuses and blatant lies really – about why it’s broken again. Here at The Daily, our personal favorite came last year when Team RIOC blamed a lightning strike for the breakdown. A bolt twisted around 40 River Road, dodging Motorgate, before singling out the AVAC.
Research showed that there had not been a lightning strike within 100 miles of New York City that day. RIOC, as is there custom, never elaborated.
But don’t forget the bed frame nobody ever saw and the swampy conditions that took Team RIOC by surprise. Again.
Broken Again, The East Side Line This Time
Memorial Day weekend, 2021 marked the first time Southtown residents woke up to the unmistakable stench of ripening garbage swelling down hallways. With AVAC chutes clogged, they were forced to leave their bags of waste in small rooms where they mingled with their neighbors trash.
Two years later and after countless additional breakdowns, the state agency that hasn’t yet made its first mistake said this:
“This is an update to the notice sent out yesterday concerning the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation’s (RIOC) east side line of the AVAC System.
“The east side line of the AVAC System is out of service until further notice. RIOC continues to work with the New York City Department of Sanitation (DSNY) to address the issue. Until the service is restored, RIOC has provided property managers an alternate area to dispose of the garbage. RIOC has an agreement with DSNY to have garbage pickup services available to mitigate buildup during the AVAC service disruption.“
“… an update to the notice sent out yesterday…”
Starting out with a lie is never a good sign. But Team RIOC did because no notice went out to Roosevelt Islanders through the advisories system “yesterday,” Memorial Day. The AVAC System was down again, okay, but so was Team RIOC.
Yet equally disgusting is maneuvering to focus responsibility on Sanitation. Notice how deftly Team RIOC never explains the cause of the AVAC breakdown, instead shifting the focus to DSNY. Note: DSNY does not operate or maintain the AVAC System. That’s RIOC’s gig, and it’s broken again.
Sadly, we don’t know why it’s broken again. Either the state doesn’t know or won’t tell Roosevelt Islanders.
Reminder: CFO John O’Reilly had plans drafted for fixing the currently broken line on his desk when he was fired last year for not kissing the ring with enough conviction.
Saddle Up on the Backs of Roosevelt Islanders
Here’s what the Haynes/Hochul administration cooked up.
“Until the service is restored, RIOC has provided property managers an alternate area to dispose of the garbage. RIOC has an agreement with DSNY to have garbage pickup services available to mitigate buildup during the AVAC service disruption.“
But there’s more to the story, of course. Dealing with RIOC, there always is.
Because this so-called alternative forces buildings to redirect personnel to garbage hauling duties, leaving other work undone, Roosevelt Islanders get hit twice.
Because Governor Kathy Hochul and the state legislature demand that residents cough up around $30 million every year, paying for RIOC without consent, Roosevelt Islanders pay a second time for incompetence at the local level and indifference in Albany.
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