If anyone wants proof that RIOC’s Public Safety Department needs change, resident attendance at last week’s “community engagement meeting” should do it. Only a dozen showed up while a little under 12,000 declined the invitation. (See a video of the event, courtesy of the Roosevelt Islander, below.) Who wants to listen to an insipid message stuck on repeat?
by David Stone
The Roosevelt Island Daily News
Initially, political pressure forced RIOC’s bunkered administration into holding these meetings. But at the time, the idea rested on getting President/CEO Shelton J. Haynes out of his Blackwell House bunker and into the spotlight.
That happened. Briefly.
Then, Haynes stepped back again, leaving an unprepared PSD Chief Kevin Brown flying solo. Brown’s a good guy, easygoing and easy to like, but a trained public speaker he is not. The result is an impression of confusion and a lack of direction.
Although upfront and ready, he seemed unprepared. It’s a common RIOC gaff, pushing people into roles for which they are untrained and flying by the seat of their pants.
Sometimes, that works. Mostly it doesn’t.
Provoking the Need for Change
See for yourself…
Leaders identify issues and set goals against which progress can be measured, but Brown does none of that. Instead, he meanders through incomplete sentences and unfinished thoughts, boasting of successes without any foundations for comparison.
More glaring is the absence of comment – controlling Tram boarding, for example – about things that have some Roosevelt Islanders livid with frustration.
And the successes cited inspire more protest while inadvertently calling out shortcomings.
The Duane Reade Problem
Brown reported a sharp decrease in shoplifting incidents at the drug store near the subway station. This he attributed to having an officer stationed there, but it doesn’t sit well with everyone.
“This is yet another outrageous misuse of public funds and shouldn’t be tolerated,” one resident – let’s call her Jane – protested.
“A Public Safety Officer has been permanently posted inside of Duane Reade for the entire day, every day for at least the past 6 months,” Jane continued. “When I called, they mentioned something about the fact that the officer was patrolling the entire common area including the subway entrance. However, that’s not actually happening, as you know.”
The Daily can confirm this account. The assigned officer is almost always inside the doors or idling just outside. Often, the officer is using his or her cell phone, not looking or walking around.
Crosswalks and Stop Signs
Laughably, Brown boasted of strict enforcement of violations by cars, e-bikes, trucks and buses in crosswalks. Even casual observers know this is untrue and is a primary reason why many Roosevelt Islanders never stroll Main Street anymore.
While the New York Times cited the problem of e-bikes turning city streets into “nightmares,” PSD is oblivious, despite countless calls for change. Credit where credit is due, PSD largely – though not entirely – keeps e-bikes off the sidewalks, something NYPD fails at.
But that wasn’t he worst of it…
Screaming for Change
Above, I called RIOC “oblivious” to the hazards at crosswalks. That was wrong. I don’t have a word for it because PSD seems to live on a different planet with “strict enforcement.”
Here are the stats, according to Chief Brown.
- 800 parking summons a month
- 20 to 25 moving summons per month
First, parking tickets have nothing to do with public safety. They just raise revenue for RIOC’s spending without public input or consent.
But “20 to 25” moving violations summonses a month?
That’s less than one a day on a street where you can see that many in a half-hour at any crosswalk – sometimes with officers right there, paying zero attention.
Reasons…?
What Brown failed to say is what the officers under his command will tell you in private. That is, our public safety officers are not equipped for dealing with violations.
One officer shared that they lack basic tools for enforcement. They don’t carry firearms, of course, but they also don’t have nonlethal tasers for use if things get out of hand.
“Would you stick your head in the window of a stranger’s car you stopped for a violation?”
“No, I wouldn’t,” I said, mindful of NYPD officers being shot doing just that.
Another officer cited the futility of ticketing unlicensed, uninsured e-bike delivery drivers who will simply drive away and never appear in court.
If management does not acknowledge such problems, residents can’t be blamed for their frustrations. This also muffles the chance for fostering new ideas and approaches.
Chaos Over Change
The end of the meeting devolved with exaggerated claims of unleashed dogs chasing kids while the NIMBY contingent piled on alleged outsiders invading the domestic calm from 460 Main Street.
In the real world where I live, although I’m on the street routinely every day, I have yet to see a single unleashed dog chase anything worse than a tennis ball. And as for 460 Main Street, it’s home to hundreds of new Roosevelt Islanders enjoying the good life we should not deny them.
More serious crimes have occurred in Roosevelt Landings – formerly Eastwood – than anywhere in Southtown, but the WIRE buildings seem oddly exempt from complaints by the NYMBY crowd.
I Take the Tram Because I Have To
There are people on this Island you learn to recognize long before you ever learn their names. Like the real estate man with the blue goatee, the one whose name I keep forgetting, though I could pick him out of a lineup any time of day.
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