When committee chair Fay Christian convened the May 1st RIOC Ops Committee meeting, good signs were on the agenda. The Operations Committee did not disappoint, except for a little more fatigue than necessary.
by David Stone
The Roosevelt Island Daily News
How the Ops Committee Meeting Went Down
With RIOC now operating closer to full steam ahead after years of stuttering and stumbling, Christian brought a full agenda. Important issues involving buses, Eleanor’s Pier and the AVAC were surrounded by Main Street Retail and an imaginative plan for a boardwalk.
Shops on Main
Brought in by concerns about how Hudson-Related handles leases and vacancies, Hudson President David Kramer sang a familiar tune. The lone storefront vacancy – the old Urgent Care site – remains a puzzle with no takers.
Residents with longer memories recall that Hudson-Related evicted a thrift store before it was outfitted as a limited medical facility. Kramer still hopes a medical provider can be found, but reality runs against it.
Christian questioned whether leases are being agreed on fairly. She repeated concerns about residents’ businesses being rejected.
Fellow board member Ben Fhala went further. Hudson-Related’s failure to appear in person – they shared streaming space with board member David Kraut – suggested the company was not taking their RIOC business seriously.
Here, former board member Margie Smith stepped in in support of Hudson-Related. Smith was on the board when the original retail management agreement was signed. Disagreeing with Fhala, she said that Kramer had indeed shown up at an Ops Committee meeting in their newer facility under Motorgate. But for the record, that was in 2019.
What else Smith had to say was more significant as she railed against RIOC’s failure to make Main Street more attractive. The scruffy appearance turned off potential businesses, citing specifically the duct-taped window repairs in the center of town.
Duct-Tape Rescue
Smith offered suggestions, including colorful banners aligning the Main Street canyon and bringing in the Roosevelt Island Visual Art Association for assistance.
Addressing the Red Bus Threat
After learning of the perilous condition of the Red Bus fleet, concerns were raised about having a contingency plan should one or more of the buses fail.
That was neatly answered by Acting Chief Operating Officer Mary Cunneen. Working with CFO Dhruvika Amin, Cunneen researched and found buses available for lease should an emergency occur. The costs are steep – $19,000 monthly on an annual lease – but the best available option as well as a necessity for bus-dependent Roosevelt Island.
Shaping Up Eleanor’s Pier
Similarly, Cunneen had mapped out a plan for securing the railings at Eleanor’s Pier. Backed by Deputy Chief Counsel Gerrald Ellis and Amin, Cunneen reminded the committee that the current design lasted for over thirty years.
Without the need or the added cost for a redesign, emergency work, replacing all the railings, could start right away. Total cost: Approximately $190,000 with a time frame of up to six months. Using more modern, durable materials, the new rails should last even longer.
Board member Lydia Tang asked that RIOC bring in an outside engineer who could confirm that the proposed plan was proper.
Updating AVAC
A third presentation displayed how installing some new piping in a system upgrade would replace worn out materials inside the AVAC facility. Twin pipes feed the facility from both of the AVAC wings. After years of wear and tear from millions of tons of waste, normal upkeep means putting in new pipes before the old ones fails.
This does not address serious problems threatening operations in the tubes running down both sides of the Island.
A Boardwalk for Roosevelt Island
Christian opened up the bottom of the agenda for a presentation by Fhala.
Fhala has a vision for a boardwalk spanning the east side from the Tram to Eleanor’s Pier, but it drew instant groans when he presented it as a way to bring more tourists in over on the Tram.
A potential groan comes from the Tram itself as it already operates at or over capacity, often leaving residents without a vital service. Fhala’s vision was a rough cut that probably should have waited for fuller development.
Along with the potential Tram crunch, missing were any concrete ideas for funding and any signs of community input. Because a build out of this size costing tens of millions of dollars requires government and other funding as well as numerous approvals, these need fleshing out.
Visions are great, but reality’s not that easy. Even before anything else, someone must pay for a design firm that can provide a presentation for funders. And because boardwalks put their feet in and around the water, an environmental impact study would delay construction indefinitely or stop it.
And for what? Fhala alluded to benefits for Roosevelt Island, the city and the state but did not clearly identify any.
He may be right but probably isn’t. One thing for sure, this piece of steak needs a lot more time on the griddle before its cooked enough for serving.
Finally…
RIOC’s coming up with concrete plans quickly for resident-identified needs is encouraging. We haven’t seen that before. Even Fhala’s dream plan shows how open to new ideas it is.
Interim managers Ellis and Amin have brought Roosevelt Island a governing leadership not seen in the past. With a little luck, Governor Hochul and her team will have the insight to let it continue.
Rivercross and the Quiet Green Light
Rivercross privatization was enabled in 2010. This matters now because the same governance structures that allowed Rivercross to privatize without formal conflict controls are still in place. The same public authority oversees land leases, settlements, and redevelopment decisions that affect every resident on Roosevelt Island today.
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