It was RIOC, and that big fat silence billowed out in every direction as it had for months. Starting with brutal accusations in a lawsuit condemning a wide swath of Roosevelt Islanders as racists, the vacuum spread through escalating lawsuits into… nothing.
by David Stone
The Roosevelt Island Daily News
Another Big Fat Silence When the F Train Shuttle Went Down
After shovelling $35 million a year into RIOC’s pockets, without consent, Roosevelt Islanders expect more – open communications, for one. Transparency. Accountability. Courtesy. Responsibility…
What is the community getting instead?
“Signal troubles of short duration, but long enough to inconvenience a large number of folks coming out of the station to grab a Tram or a Q102 trip. Folks trying to get here were stuck @ 21st Street with no announcements – a few came up to grab 102 …” a Roosevelt Islander described a situation on Friday morning.
RIOC did not send out any notices, during or after, although it was notified.
That’s concerning because the shuttle has no builtin redundancy, no next train coming in any direction, and any breakdown is total. You or your loved one is stuck on a platform or in a car and letting people know matters.
But not at RIOC.
Friday’s breakdown was a minor problem but only because the MTA fixed it quickly. That won’t always be the case, and someone in authority needs to care, to take responsibility.
With months to go on this project – likely many more than the originally projected timeline – RIOC and the MTA must get on board with more than press releases and photo ops.
This event spurred a more thorough look at the big fat silence swelling from RIOC downwind from the lawsuit explosion.
What Else Is Missing?
What we’re seeing now – what the state forces on Roosevelt Islanders – may result from internal warfare mixed with hostility toward the Roosevelt Island community. The official players look like infants battling over turf that’s not even theirs.
For example, a month ago this week, an anonymous RIOC advisory said this:
“Be advised that in support of the ongoing 63rd Street Track Replacement Project, the MTA will be performing work at the Roosevelt Island MTA substation opposite of 400 Main Street (F-train station) on Wednesday, November 8th, 2023, from 8AM to 5PM.
“During this time anticipate additional activity around the subway station, as concrete trucks will be on site.
“Flag persons will also be on site to assist with trucks. Public Safety will monitor traffic in the area.”
At least, they were trying.
This came during a stormy stalemate that RIOC President/CEO Shelton J. Haynes and Chief Counsel Gretchen Robinson created by slamming multiple Roosevelt Islanders and elected officials as racists while suing their immediate bosses.
But as that conflict simmered in silence, identical track work happened last week. Here’s the message the community got from RIOC: “…………”
Absolutely nothing. Not a word. Big fat silence.
The Big Fat Silence Count
Here’s a list of concerns for which RIOC and its state overseers left the community uninformed…
- The ongoing Tram hazards. In a long press release, RIOC whitewashed the repeated instances of wildly swinging Tram cabins, but it never nudged out a word for residents. Tourists got reassurances. Roosevelt Islanders got nothing.
- Constituent Services, about which RIOC heaped praise as their dedicated community outreach, fell off the map. No advisories, no nothin’.
- Communications AVP Akeem Jamal, who at times challenged President/CEO Shelton Haynes’s authority, disappeared without explanation. Nor a single word from the most visible and often welcoming presence since Susan Rosenthal was unseated in a scheme engineered by Andrew Cuomo.
- Damages to Amanda Matthews’s internationally acclaimed The Girl Puzzle prolonged a closure far past Team RIOC’s initial notice. Another set of lawsuits aimed at RIOC is likely.
Finally…
RIOC, along with its Albany handlers, seems paralyzed by numerous lawsuits and investigations, most involving Haynes. And if the political forces are not paralyzed, they’re putting on an award-worthy appearance of it.
Given that this all started with the Cuomo administration’s crude and cruel mishandling of Susan Rosenthal’s dismissal and has since escalated out of control, it behooves Albany to get off its tax-fattened ass and fix it.
As an “at will employee,” Rosenthal could have been gracefully removed with respect for her contributions. RIOC’s flaccid board should – as her employer – insisted on it. Instead, they stood by while Cuomo maneuvered a racially-motivated dismissal.
Rosenthal’s discrimination lawsuit is one of those still working their way through the courts, and win or lose, each one scars RIOC.
And the mangled operation was as unfair to Shelton Haynes, who immediately succeeded Rosenthal, as it was to the community. No matter what results Haynes achieved or failed to, the truth of how he came into the CEO position was sure to come out – and discolour everything with a negative filter.
You wonder why, if he figured out how to wield so much power in New York State, was Cuomo not smart?
Smart people don’t get caught in their own traps. Not do they leave a roughened trail and big fat silence in their wake.
“I Can Ask”
Chair Fay Christian opened the Operations Advisory Committee on February 12th, reading out member names from a prepared sheet that omitted Melissa Wade. It didn’t feel intentional, but it struck me as odd precisely because it came from something prepared. Lydia Tang gently corrected her, noting that Wade was, in fact, a member of the committee. Wade met the moment with grace, or perhaps she simply wasn’t bothered by it.
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