Last year, Roosevelt Landings shocked the community as they paraded the despicable eviction machine down Main Street, sparking fear and outrage among residents. However, this was just part of a series of destructive actions that have torn apart the once closely-knit Eastwood complex from the rest of the Island, leaving a trail of division and bitterness in its wake.
by David Stone
The Roosevelt Island Daily News
From Eastwood to The Landings
L&M Development Partner’s separation from the rest of Roosevelt Island came at once, breaking up the four decade tradition of “the WIRE buildings.” Westview, Island House and Rivercross lost their “E” with a name change to Roosevelt Landings.
Seeking reunion at a RIOC Real Estate Development meeting in 2019, residents asked L&M to consider restoring the Eastwood name. Managers at the meeting said they would. Consider it, that is, although there was never any sign that they’d actually do it.
A few years later, management handed off to C&C Development, which then welcomed the NYC eviction machine. Just to be sure, C&C dropped the “Roosevelt” from Landings, signaling a clear break.
The Steam Roll Gets a Push
For a long time, Americans had a dreadful image of California crashing into the sea as an earthquake broke it off from the Lower 48. That vision of separation is how many locals view what’s happened, splitting Roosevelt Island. The difference, though, is that Eastwood did not sink. It’s residents, now in something renamed “The Landings,” fight for survival. Not threatened by water but by greedy developers.
Their protests got a push when RIOC board member Ben Fhala attempted bringing C&C into a RIOC committee meeting.
“Many residents of The Landings have raised issues and concerns regarding the degradation of their quality of life over the last few years,” Fhala wrote in an email to REDAC committee chair Howard Polivy.
“Recently,” Fhala continued, “I was invited to a presentation held by C&C for the residents of the building. Simply put, it seemed the team was underprepared and overwhelmed by the feedback from the residents…”
For Fhala, this was the basis for inviting C&C in for an information session. Fair enough, but he added a comment that ignited disagreement from Landings resident and community activist Joyce Short.
“That said,” Fhala stressed, “I believe that the management company has the intention to be a good steward for the residents of this building and the communities it serves.”
Joyce Short and The Landings Protest
“I’m surprised that anyone hearing the concerns raised by the building’s residents at the meeting could possibly refer to our building’s managing agent as a ‘good steward’ for the residents,” Short shot back in an email.
“In fact, their role is to be a good steward for the landlord, And the interests of the landlord and the interests of the residents in our 1,003 unit building are widely divergent.”
Short sees Fhala as a friend but one needing an education in the ways of C&C Development.
The meeting referred to C&C’s efforts in extending submetering into electric usage.
“Their meeting was a gas lighting attempt to act as if submetering under such adverse conditions is simply business as usual.”
The business as usual…
“L&M and their agent, C&C, conducted an insulting information session to teach residents who lack appropriate heat in their apartments how to save on electricity in their poorly insulated and poorly heated units,” Short wrote.
“No amount of turning off lights, changing bulbs, or cutting back on TV usage will offset the added heating expense they will suffer by augmenting the landlord’s lack of heat with space heaters, or the absurd cost of air conditioning in a porous, poorly insulated building. This problem is only the tip of the iceberg and they know it…
“The project to fix the building’s insulation flaws will take at least 2 years, yet management clearly stated their timeline is to charge the tenants for plug-in electricity, which will include their air conditioners and space heaters, beginning in December of this year. Many tenants, including myself, have experienced fires caused by our heaters. Do these sound like safe equipment to you?
“The managing agent was not unprepared for the meeting,” Short concluded. “They simply thought our residents were ignorant of the problems they face and will face as a result of the actions they are taking. We’re not.”
Finally…
Well-intended as Fhala clearly is, there is no clear pathway for RIOC’s involvement or influence. A stronger agency might find ways to apply pressure on behalf of the community and its residents. While still part of RIOC’s interim leadership team, then-Deputy Chief Counsel Gerrald met with C&C, looking for solutions.
But Ellis is gone now, leaving RIOC foundering and leaderless. The remaining interim team functions well but has no real captain at the helm. And to be clear, Governor Hochul’s Albany Chamber, which controls RIOC from afar is, like its boss, enthralled with and dependent on Real Estate developers like L&M.
If anyone imagines state help is on the way, they live in a fantasy. Any powerful pushback must come from a community no longer anywhere near as activist as it was just ten years ago. With a large following and a powerful voice, Short may collect significant support, but it will never be augmented by RIOC or Hochul.
To be continued…
The Committee Man
Committees are supposed to be where outcomes are shaped. They are meant to be the place where questions slow decisions down, where competing interests surface, and where public responsibility is exercised before anything reaches a formal vote.
Neither RIOC nor the Governor at the time- not Hochul – intervened in the past. We prevailed nonetheless because our greedy landlord was using the smokescreen of sub-metering as a means to foist the flaws of the building onto the shoulders of the tenants.
The stay was the PSC’s solution to getting the landlord to fix the building’s woes before they could claim to be “greening.” This new landlord is not listening and forging ahead before doing so.
Now, we have a new wrinkle…. Much of our heating and cooling equipment is just plain dangerous.
We seriously doubt that the landlord will be allowed to sub-meter until they cure the problems in the building.
The Landings residents are conscientious tenants who would welcome greening our building if the landlord fixed the problems that put our safety and our continued tenancy at risk.
Exactly right, Joyce. This is the activism that sparked great progress on the Island. More, please.
The Landings residents appreciate the efforts of both Ben Fhala and Howard Pollivy in helping us deal appropriately with the submetering issues we face.
It’s a change of pace, for sure, and I hope it stays.