After chair Fay Christian wrapped up her dismal Operations Committee debacle, some people stayed behind, unsatisfied. They came because they wanted improvement in RIOC/resident relations, then stayed after she blocked it. Today, it’s the most promising development for the community in years, but hazards await.
by David Stone
The Roosevelt Island Daily News
After three new members – Lydia Tang, Ben Fhala and Dr. Michal Melamed – joined RIOC‘s board last summer, agitation for change at the state agency grew. The new members weren’t satisfied with the yawning gap between RIOC and the community, among other concerns.
Then, something remarkable happened. After months – years, really – of stalling, Governor Hochul’s team finally put President/CEO Shelton J. Haynes and Chief Counsel Gretchen Robinson on the shelf. A press release cited workplace issues but did not offer details.
While this brought some sunlight and fresh air to RIOC, like a dirty window cracked open, the impact may not last. Even after more than a dozen investigations and more than a half-dozen lawsuits, Team Hochul allowed only temporary relief while continuing to pay Haynes and Robinson full salaries.
And Albany’s artful slow-walking of 6 or more Inspector General complaints exposed a clear bias toward insulating the two from any real consequences.
That said, RIOC/resident relations are now better than at any time in the last ten years.
A RIOC/Resident Coalition
The most promising thing about what happened after Christian went home was that among those staying behind were several RIOC executives. Perhaps foolhardy, their commitment to opening up relations took guts because there’s at least a 50% chance of Haynes’s and Robinson’s returning while two of their most trusted associates continue holding powerful positions at RIOC.
As one well-connected observer feared, “Tajuna (Sharpe) and Mary (Cunneen) are their comrades who were left behind. They will spy, inform and sabotage.”
At the top of the group’s unofficial agenda is a “Reset with Local Media.” Indeed, an abrupt openness blossomed immediately after Haynes’s departure.
According to former CFO John O’Reilly, Haynes threatened in an early 2022 meeting that, should anyone from his finance department be caught talking with either Rick O’Conor (The Roosevelt Islander) or me, they would be fired immediately. Others got the same message.
This served neither RIOC nor the community well because the full story, much of it positive, of RIOC’s efforts could not be told. No one on their side was talking.
That’s over, for now.
The rising RIOC/resident coalition also considered RIOC’s internal work environment, general communications, engagement with Community Board 8 and a mysterious six-figure contract Haynes signed with the reputed intent of stifling media criticism of himself and one-time close associate Akeem Jamal.
Finally…
These unofficial efforts at healing the state/community riff hold real promise, but they’re also loaded with risk. Governor Kathy Hochul, by way of Homes and Community Renewal Commissioner RuthAnne Visnauskas, has gone to great lengths in protecting Haynes with scant regard for community impact and/or damage.
There’s new light and fresh air, but the community members and RIOC personnel intent on improving the difficult, existing environment are not out of the woods yet.
Haynes and Robinson may return with a greater impulse for retribution.
The Line That Didn’t Land
I stood in the back of Good Shepherd Chapel on the evening of April 15, 2026, at the Steam Plant Demolition Town Hall, watching people adjust scarves and jackets before the meeting began. Benjamin Jones, President and CEO of RIOC, thanked us for attending and, without a pause, said he was “pleased to host tonight’s town hall on the city’s demolition of its steam plant.” The demolition, in other words, was not up for discussion.
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