While the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation splashes on a fresh new face, behind the scenes, its old guard reigns as obstructionist as ever. The dinosaurs never wanted radical change, but it smacked them anyway. That’s resident concerns’ best hope – change showering its board of directors with splashes of warming light.
by David Stone
The Roosevelt Island Daily News
Vocal residents settled into folding chairs for RIOC‘s February 1st, 2024 Board Meeting, but they might as well have stayed home. That’s how much the core of longstanding board members cared.
Throughout the session, significant issues ignored outnumbered those addressed by about four or five to one.
Contrasted with a new openness among interim executives, board members Fay Christian, Howard Polivy and David Kraut, joining disconnected state representatives, sat cold and distant. Except for Kraut, who who did his thing via video monitor.
Resident Concerns
In the unofficial public session, ever resilient Judith Berdy took the podium first, complimenting RIOC’s new leadership.
“The last few weeks have been enlightening and the most invigorating in the last 3 years,” Berdy said.
“The appointment of Mr. (Gerrald) Ellis and Ms. (Dhruvika) Patel have opened the doors to communications with RIOC that have been closed for the last 3 years,” she added.
But she cautioned, “It is also time for some of our board members to remember that we are all a team working to better this organization and more diplomacy would be appreciated.”
That wish failed in a big way by evening’s end.
Paul Krikler and Margie Smith followed…
“A RIOC Board member yelled out a string of obscenities at people in the last Operations Committee meeting, on more than one occasion,” Krikler reflected on his statement.
“That kind of behavior does nothing to represent the views of Roosevelt Island residents. I think that board member should be replaced by someone who acts and speaks in the interests of residents and knows how to conduct themselves appropriately in a public meeting.”
He was talking about David Kraut who, in January, rattled a committee meeting with disgusting strings of obscenities. It wasn’t the first time residents have said it’s time for him to go. He’s disqualified himself many times over with extreme behavior.
Notably, the old timers dominating the board didn’t care. Fay Christian, who sat stoically throughout his committee outbursts, did so again. And, of course, Kraut proved again that he wasn’t big enough to apologize. No other board member even acknowledged his history of extreme offenses.
Welcome to Governor Kathy Hochul’s respect for Roosevelt Island.
As Kurt Vonnegut would have said, “So, it goes.”
Margie Smith asked the board to reconsider it’s plan for buying two new diesel engine buses for environmental reasons. As noted later in this report, she’s tried getting RIOC managers to use their heads on the topic for over a decade.
Finally, the icy board found something it liked – Girl Scout Cookies. Leader Susy Del Campo Perea asked for their support in local efforts.
The Nitty Gritty
Once they got down to business, a newly activist board tabled a $150K amendment for a contract with Abel Bainnson Butz running all the way back to 2018. Freewheeling spending took a temporary hit, but it was the only good news for the night.
Next up: a plan for buying two new diesel buses from New Flyer Industries.
Because Fay Christian botched the committee meeting where this purchase should have been discussed – and David Kraut spoiled it by repeatedly screaming obscenities – concerned board members had to consider the details now.
Led by Ben Fhala, a lengthy discussion exposed several troubling issues.
First, as Fhala noted, consideration for migrating the RIOC fleet to less polluting buses stretched back thirteen years. That’s how long Smith, once a board member, has battled for a common sense plan only to find that little changes with RIOC.
Most troubling was discovering that the $1 million plus purchase must be approved, then and there, or risk delays and price increases. Even after all the discussion, the board was left with no choice.
What RIOC avoided was a discussion of why nothing’s been done for over a decade, leaving Island transport in a perilous position. We can share with you that, for the last eight years, RIOC’s Chief Operating Officers have been, in sequence, Shelton J. Haynes, Haynes’s manifestly unqualified pal Altheria Jackson and – currently – acting CFO Mary Cunneen, who was there but never challenged about the lack of accountability or action.
Roosevelt Islanders are now on the hook for $1.2 million without any certainty that the replacement buses will arrive before the old fleet collapses. Resident concerns were left with nothing more than crossed fingers for hope.
The Fun Begins
Resident concerns over Tram operations got short shrift as they did in Christian’s deadly committee meeting. RIOC has never explained the dangerous cabin-swinging incidents nor any plans for correction.
Nobody knows why, but you can guess.
But a “Contract with Hardesty & Hanover for Engineering Consulting Services for the Tram” was approved for over $150K per year. Cunneen argued that RIOC needed this in its management of Leitner-POMA, never conceding all the problems and failures with the current Tram operators.
Piling $150K plus onto the already money losing Tram operation should open eyes and rattle new ideas into play. RIOC already coughs up over $5 million to POMA every year for what amounts to unacceptable, indifferent management and millions more for insurance.
A classic example of throwing more money into a financial pit without any commitment to plugging the hole.
A Battle Over Considering Resident Concerns
While the board chair tried rushing to an adjournment, Fhala fought for adding items of resident concerns to the discussion. In rushing the board meeting, the chair – standing in for RuthAnne Visnauskas – never called roll confirming quorum. Now, she was vaulting like a long jumper over New Business.
Among Fhala’s issues were board member conduct, spiked by Kraut’s most recent outbursts, the illegal absence of a governance committee meeting (Kruat’s responsibility) for six years and unethical leaks of executive session information by board members and staff trying to help suspended President/CEO Shelton J. Haynes stay in office.
After battling for several minutes, virtually conceding legal violations, the board chair insisted the meeting end in time for dinner on a TV tray while watching Law & Order.
The Tram cabin swinging, the leaks, the obscenities, etc… all failed to make the cut as the dinosaurs joined in, voting as a block with the disconnected Albany appointees to turn off the mics and go home.
Fhala and the other new board members pledged a continued battle to fix RIOC against steep odds.
AVAC: Where the Pipe Curves
This is the final installment in my notes from the December 2nd, Operations Advisory Committee meeting, following “An Emergency, Apparently” and “Rust Is Funny Until It Isn’t”.
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