New wayfinding signs put up around Roosevelt Island may not seem like much, not at least until you consider the history. Then, it’s more than just the directions.
by David Stone
The Roosevelt Island Daily News
New Wayfinding Signs
After five years, Roosevelt Island’s wayfinding signs got a first update. A lot’s happened in five years, and it shows. But for the full picture, we need to go back even further.
We couldn’t shame them. We tried. Back as far as 2016, we posted an example, then showing the Susan Rosenthal-led RIOC how very easy it was.
Evan a caveman could do it and probably did. But RIOC could not muster the skill or, more likely, the commitment.
Historian Judith Berdy offered the state agency free use of a map the Historical Society developed but was spurned. Instead, RIOC came up with a laughably horrible version of their own. Mercifully, it vanished quickly.
Finally, Hudson President David Kramer dove in, seeing wayfinding signs as a benefit for his Shops On Main. They were, but that was five years ago.
Kramer later told me that, after he invested in putting the first signs in place, he thought RIOC would at least keep them up to date.
It didn’t. Old-time favorites like Roosevelt Island Urgent Care and Bubble Tea still haunted Main Street years after they closed. And through the Rosenthal and Haynes Administrations, you couldn’t shame them.
We tried. Repeatedly, but it was like…
But There’s a New RIOC in Town
“Hopefully, this first update fixed the most egregious errors and will help drive tourists further north (the old maps didn’t even have the Girl Puzzle Monument as I recall) just as we head into the busiest season,” RIOC Communications and Community Relations Director Bryant Daniels told The Daily in an email.
Just a few months after settling in, RIOC’s interim management addressed a crying need. Okay, there was no crying, but if there was, the tears would’ve dried up years ago.
“There are a couple of other changes we’ll make in future iterations, including adding a few more stores if we can fit them,” Daniels said.
In case you missed the signal, the new RIOC administration’s commitment includes updates, something the prior administrations couldn’t muster in five long years.
This, along with other recent proactive moves signals a whole new state of affairs at RIOC, community-oriented and hard-working. They’re not going to be perfect, but they’ll be better. And no one will have to shame them into action.
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