Probably just coincidence, but last week a pair of mainstream, online journals offered views of Roosevelt Island. One was general, the other focused on The Graduate Hotel; both feature familiar, still inaccurate themes.
by David Stone
The Roosevelt Island Daily News
Mixed Up Confusion (Apologies to Bob Dylan) in Inaccurate Views
After falsely saying, “Residents tout a quiet, suburban-like lifestyle despite being just minutes from Manhattan,” Brick Underground presents this as “The lawn in front of Riverwalk Landing at 425 Main St.”
Uhm… That’s really Riverwalk Commons, and it’s not in front of 425 Main Street. It’s in back, and it’s owned and maintained by the Roosevelt Island Operating Corp. (RIOC), which gets no credit for this year’s outstanding landscaping.
While the article is essentially a sales puff pushing high-priced condo sales and rentals, some improved accuracy wouldn’t hurt it.
“Part of the issue is a lingering assumption that apartment buildings on Roosevelt Island are all public housing, thanks to the island’s former Mitchell Lama buildings, which were built in the 1970s and have a foreboding architecture style reminiscent of East Berlin,” writes Jennifer White Karp.
She goes on, “…several waves of redevelopment and new construction…” fixed all that.
Karp may not like brutalist architecture, the style of the original buildings, but its focus rests on making living inside appealing. Outside decoration is no substitute for the roomy, people-conscious WIRE building apartments.
All About the Sales, Tourists and Not Roosevelt Island
Karp notes “A new must for visitors: Taking a selfie in front of the giant letters spelling RI near the ferry stop, a feature that Hudson and Related paid for and built.” But she fails to add, “overriding fierce resident opposition.”
Roosevelt Islanders own views did not include tourist photo ops and the endless stream of Tram videos posted online after cramped cabin rides.
According to the article, Hudson Companies president David “Kramer said that in general, rents at Riverwalk buildings offer a 15 percent discount compared to the Upper East Side.”
Well, that’s just a lie, but I can believe he said it.
Better Views
Accuracy makes a leap forward when Alyssa Soto Brody and Roosevelt Islander Kaya Meade become primary sources. Brody sells Island House and Westview while Meade pitches Rivercross. Neither needs falsehoods and inaccuracies in promoting their buildings.
But there are a couple of oddities about the Island that are a little laughable. For one…
“In addition, the entire island is owned by the city and therefore has a ground lease, which comes due in 2068,” Karp writes, and my nonsense detector rings up, “What?” Karp should maybe do a little more research.
On the plus side, she writes about Westview, “WV Preservation Partners, led by David Hirschhorn, also redeveloped Island House.” About time Hirschhorn got some credit. His skills were crucial in closing out the best two Mitchell Lama conversions Roosevelt Island will ever see. Although he never gets enough credit, he worked long and hard at getting them done.
The Park Thing
Meade does a good job of getting the reality of living on Roosevelt Island into Karp’s article, but maybe she went a step too far once: “Roosevelt Island is like ‘living in park’ thanks to its plentiful outdoor space, Meade said.”
Has she been to a park?
But that’s a quibble in an otherwise excellent presentation that helps readers forget Kramer’s puffy nonsense.
Still he gets the last word: “We don’t feel it is a transit desert. NYC is also revving up ferry frequency. It’s not as convenient as Union Square, for example,” he added, “but it is quiet and safe.”
Give him partial credit. Roosevelt Island is relatively quiet and safe relative to Union Square, which sits in an unending cloud marijuana smoke, but “NYC is revving up ferry frequency…? No, sorry. That’s another lie.
Sell. Sell. Sell.
Finally, TimeOut Promotes The Graduate Hotel
The TimeOut piece appears accurate, if mostly opinion, until the writer steps outdoors.
“Until the 1980s, the island wasn’t open to the public, but it’s now home to about 11,000 New Yorkers,” she writes. Wrong and, of course, wrong again.
Neither statement is true, but it was refreshing seeing a population undercount instead of the usual overcount for promotional purposes.
And she also miscues with, “the hotel is located next to the Cornell Tech campus.” Actually, it’s part of the campus.
One thing stood out in both pieces: RIOC went missing. And so did Southpoint Park, which you’re forced to walk through on your way to FDR Four Freedoms – which was featured in both.
Is there a message here?
On naming, neglect, and the quiet work that keeps things standing
About twenty years ago, there was Harbor Police activity near the water, just south of the subway entrance. At the time, no one really thought of it as a pier, though technically there was a small boardwalk there. Of course it wasn’t a pier. A pier implies intention.
