It’s a mystery. Someone is trying to make RIOC President/CEO Shelton J. Haynes look like a fool. It’s so obvious, but why? We asked several people who know Haynes well from personal experience and got a range of reactions.
by David Stone
The Roosevelt Island Daily News
Our point of focus is the latest in a series of what look like promotions online on Haynes’s behalf. They are often loaded with errors and illiteracy, although a few are passable. No executive in pursuit of professional recognition would ever allow such junk to circulate in wide-open digital space.
Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation Continues Evolving Under Leadership of President and CEO Shelton J. Haynes may be hard to read unless you’re using a smartphone. Otherwise, when clicked, you get impossible-to-read columns that look sorta like a mismatched marriage of English and Chinese.
As a convenience, we’ve created a PDF version. You can read it here or download it. Or skip it.
Making Haynes Look Like a Fool: Observations
“It’s definitely a paid ad or advertorial,” one internet-savvy observer wrote, but another went beyond that.
“I think it’s further evidence that he hired some bot farm firm to write AI articles about him. I believe the chief reason is to drown out negative commentary if someone does a Google search of his name. He’s basically paying (RIOC) money to whitewash his reputation.”
Here’s the thing with that, though. As all of us who use AI learn from Day One, you’ve gotta edit the non-human output. If you just punch it out online untouched, you get gobbledygook like this:
“The $45 million renovation of the Sportspark athletic facility delivered new amenities, from a pool to a fitness center,” the article reads.
No conscientious editor would ever let that stand – first of all because the cost was only $12 million, not $49, not even in the ballpark. Secondly, neither amenity is new.
Getting Candid
“His fiscal prudence and empowerment of RIOC’s staff drive effective operations,” the article brags.
Analyzing, an experienced observer wrote: “He’s financially incompetent, and every employee hates him because he takes credit for all things done well while at the same time throwing people under the bus for his mistakes.”
He added. “As far as capital projects, he wouldn’t know the difference between a hammer and wrench.”
Both points of view can’t be true, of course, but why is anyone so intent on making Haynes look like a fool when a little editing could thwart the daggers?
Why not point out some solid examples of that “fiscal prudence?” Or paste in glowing comments from staffers so empowered.
The Root Cause
Leaning into artificial intelligence as if it’s the purest of intellectual distillations is like pretending moonshine is wine, but where you park it might matter more.
“Why would a ‘magazine’ or a full-service music-based media company based in Boston do an article on him?” one local wondered.
You need not look further than this list of articles on Skope, the publisher of the Haynes article.
Along with a scattering of music-related posts, you find Sic Bo Strategies for High Rollers and Top Ten Marketing Programmes in Malaysia.
It appears, for the right price or just for fillers, they’ll publish anything.
Some Final Comments on Making Haynes Look Like a Fool
“Just awful. What a joke,” one Roosevelt Islander observed but was more circumspect with related concerns. “Isn’t anyone — especially the Resident Directors — embarrassed by this latest stunt?”
Good question, but no, experience has taught us that stunts like this never embarrass anyone occupying a seat on RIOC’s board. And mostly, they sympathize with the CEO because of all the pain and stress he’s caused others… been through.
“Pure BS,” another concluded
Finally…
We don’t know who authorized, composed or placed this article aimed at making RIOC President/CEO look like a fool on a music website. But it met its intention.
But why?
Rivercross and the Quiet Green Light
Rivercross privatization was enabled in 2010. This matters now because the same governance structures that allowed Rivercross to privatize without formal conflict controls are still in place. The same public authority oversees land leases, settlements, and redevelopment decisions that affect every resident on Roosevelt Island today.
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