Another AVAC jam this week raises questions again about the systems viability as a huge jump in trash volume looms.
by David Stone
The Roosevelt Island Daily News
History Accumulating in the Latest AVAC Jam?
To fully appreciate why the AVAC system may be in crisis, consider this: The AVAC system on Roosevelt Island opened on April 1, 1974. That’s right. It’s fiftieth anniversary passed over two months ago without any recognition. No party, no hoopla and certainly no confetti. This signaled, once again, RIOC’s disconnection with the groundbreaking system vital to life as it is on Roosevelt Island.
In that half-century, the only significant changes have been additions. A system that once served just the WIRE buildings added Manhattan Park’s six building complex, the Octagon’s two wings and eight buildings in Southtown. Adding to this load, Riverwalk Heights, by far the largest Southtown structure, comes on line this year.
Trouble Chuting
Before the spectacular purge of professionals reduced RIOC to a shaky mass, its leadership suspended – with full pay – for months, it’s feckless board battling necessary change, at least one manager knew that the AVAC was in trouble.
John O’Reilly, then RIOC’s highly regarded CFO, had worked up a plan for redesigning the system in 2021. Developed with owner’s representative, LiRO, O’Reilly left it on his desk when CEO Shelton J. Haynes fired him without prior notice. No one knows what became of the design, but it’s clear that nothing was done.
In the meantime, repeating failures left some residents in Southtown without AVAC services for roughly 50% of the time, usually without any explanation.
Blasts in the Past
Thirty years ago when I lived in Manhattan Park, you knew when the AVAC was executing a pull. The massive rush of air sucking trash into the nearby facility could wake you up at night. That probably hasn’t changed, but with our move to Southtown, something has.
Down here where the Tram and NYC Ferry handle commuters and tourists, that reassuring whoosh is absent. Years of AVAC jams tell another story that no one wants to hear at RIOC. The current jam signals a larger problem at RIOC – that of ignoring infrastructure until troubles become crises.
The east seawall in danger of “catastrophic collapse,” the swinging and swaying Tram cabins, the Red Bus fleet, the pothole wracked Main Street… and now the AVAC.
Are They Related?
While building managers in Southtown report “… maintenance work that has taken the entire system offline,” RIOC confirms that the AVAC jam is in the vicinity of 460 and 480 Main Street. It affects only Southtown.
Multiple things can cause clogged AVAC tubes, but unlike misinformation pushed out from RIOC’s board, there has never been any evidence showing that residents are responsible. While bed frames and even discarded computers get blamed, the more likely reason is volume surpassing system capacity.
Not only has the number of residents served more than doubled, modern practices changed. A more disposable culture as well as increasing affluence means more trash down the chutes. And now with Riverwalk Heights nearing completion, system capacity will be challenged again…
And RIOC has no plans for a fix – which would take years of planning and construction – and depleted funding after years of red ink bleeding available cash.
Finally, AVAC Jams Ahead
With huge new volume about to hit the AVAC system and no plans for dealing with it, residents may be in for years of clogs and smelly jams. AVAC may even collapse as a system if nothing is done.
Can anyone summon up the courage to dial up John O’Reilly and ask for help?
The alarm has sounded. RIOC is aware. But what happens next at a state agency lacking leadership overseen by Team Hochul, which is nearly as dysfunctional at full staff?
Address the questions to the RIOC board and our elected officials. Maybe somebody will stand up.
Howard Polivy, the Man Who Never Left
There is a particular rhythm to board meetings. Once you have sat through enough of them, they begin to blend together. The agenda appears. The minutes are approved.
Just curious, do you know how much it costs RIOC to arrange for the trash truck pickups when the AVAC system goes down? Or, is that trash pickup cost picked up by individual buildings rather than RIOC? It would be good to understand what is the short-term/long-term tradeoff that’s happening – e.g. if AVAC goes down on average X weeks/year, and it costs Y dollars to arrange for alternative trash pickup while AVAC is down, and it’s Z dollars on average for calling in special maintenance to fix/get AVAC system running again.
DOS does not charge for trash pickups during AVAC shutdowns nor do they charge for service work when needed.