Sometimes when you’re just walking around Roosevelt Island, you see something that makes you scratch your head… And say, “Hey, RIOC! Who’s minding the store?” This a fresh edition to a program we started years ago but let slide because there was so little room for humor.

by David Stone

The Roosevelt Island Daily News

As custodian over Roosevelt Island, RIOC has countless responsibilities, large and small. They can and should stumble sometimes. After all, no one is perfect, and when staffing is over one hundred, opportunities for mistakes abound.

For some, though, there is no excuse.

Hey, RIOC! How Could You Miss This One?

Why isn’t the safety of our busiest crosswalks reinforced with stop signs? You know, the ones that face forward so drivers see them as they approach?

Like this, for example…

Now, here are the facts.

Over a year ago, during construction for Southtown Building #9, the stop sign on the left above got knocked backward. Throughout this stretch of Main Street, this same configuration appears at every crosswalk…

But at all the others, they face in a direction that protects all pedestrians.

Hey, RIOC! How could you miss this?

PSD vehicles pass through dozens of times every day. Officers have consistently been posted in the commons or on the ball field nearby, but nobody noticed…? Or if anyone noticed, they did what…?

• NYC Transit Chief Richard Davey Set To Leave Just Two Years Into Role
• The Tug-of-War for New York City’s Streets: Iconic Avenues with Unbelievable Histories
• Groovy Threads: Unraveling the Tie-Dye Tapestry of Hippie Fashion
• Inept or Uncaring? Why Won’t RIOC Give Us Safe Crosswalks?
• Two women struck by cars in crosswalks. But now, did RIOC learn anything…?

This carelessness reflects lingering neglect throughout RIOC’s systems. It does show in other areas, but this one is so obvious.

Support Indie Journalism at The Roosevelt Island Daily

Interim management is working to pull the state agency together in the right direction, but some departments haven’t gotten the message.

Maybe the Public Safety Department, which has two full-time executives among three six-figure salaried personnel, needs a reminder of what its job is.

Can You Hear Us?

At the first public RIOC board meeting after Susan Rosenthal’s dismissal, a longtime resident had to borrow an official’s voice to ask whether the people governing Roosevelt Island could hear us

Eleanor Rivers Oct 16, 2026

In earlier meetings, a bright light behind Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation Vice President and General Counsel Gretchen Robinson had left her face nearly invisible. On July 2, 2020, with Susan Rosenthal gone and a new administration forming, Gretchen appeared fully lit.

Continue reading →