The latest broad daylight crime on Roosevelt Island was a bit different, the theft of historical treasures stored at Coler Hospital. It required two quick raids with an unlicensed, graffiti-smeared truck driving on and off the Island unmolested. A report was filed with NYPD.
by David Stone
The Roosevelt Island Daily News
Starting in 1939 when Goldwater Memorial Hospital opened until 2013, these bronze lamps stood sentinel at the main entrance.
Crews demolished Goldwater, making way for Cornell Tech, but because of their intrinsic value, the bronze lamps were saved. Goldwater was a treasure house of WPA project design and architecture.
The value of the artifacts, the history embedded in them, was inestimable.
But although they lasted ten more years, they should’ve been better protected.
When New York City Health & Hospitals saved the treasures, they stored them in a not easily visible yet unlocked and unguarded lot in the back near the parking lot.
After ten years of relative neglect, the lamps disappeared in two quick raids. Neither took more than twenty minutes, in and out. An unlicensed truck drove across the Roosevelt Island Bridge, a quarter-mile up Main Street and back without encountering PSD.
The Broad Daylight Crime
“This is probably one of the most heartbreaking episodes in my years on the island,” lamented historian Judith Berdy. The crime was more horrible because the thieves very likely carted them off to a scrap yard, making recovery impossible.
Coler hospital staff secured the remaining pieces of the last lamp, which had be broken and was left on the site.
She and her team – Gloria Herman and Ellen Jacoby – hs always secured all the property of the RIHS in storage and in our office. We value the island history and hope that the future generations will also appreciate our efforts.
But Berdy has other concerns…
“What of our history be gone next?” she wondered.
We have an idea…
RIOC has allowed the historic Tram cabins to collect dust and graffiti now for over a decade. No amount of pleading or alternative ideas have helped.
“What landmark will be ignored?”
How about this?
When it comes to what we’ve lost on Roosevelt Island, the candidates are plentiful.
“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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