It’s hard to imagine Wildlife Freedom Foundation (WFF) founder Rossana Ceruzzi not having second thoughts about Roosevelt Island. Broadly popular and internationally recognized, WFF has been hounded by RIOC and its staff for years. Today, there’s more.
by David Stone
The Roosevelt Island Daily News
Before RIOC’s War: A Passion for Animals
Long ago on a gentler Roosevelt Island, an editor assigned me the job of finding a local woman he’d heard about, an animal rescuer. He hoped I’d track her down and create an upbeat story for his local print newspaper.
A few days later, I caught upth wi Rossana Ceruzzi as she pedaled her bicycle under the Queensboro Bridge near where the pickleball courts are today. She had a basket filled with first aid material plus meds donated by vets – all for animals. I followed as she tended to an injured bird on the lawn behind Goldwater Hospital. The goose could not rejoin its flock – honking out in the East River – because an injured wing made flight over the seawall railings impossible.
Ceruzzi spends much of her time on spay, neuter and adopt efforts for stray cats but has wider reach. When we spoke over the phone yesterday, she was arranging shelter for a rescued infant squirrel. You’d never expect this work to spark the kind of hostility it gets from RIOC, but somehow, it did. It still does.
Fast Forward
RIOC’s war on Ceruzzi and the animals, especially the cats, first raged in late spring 2018. In a bizarre move, RIOC, led by Mary Cunneen, abruptly shut off WFF’s water supply. Summer heated up, and without water for the sanctuary, tragedy loomed. Cunneen, now RIOC’s Acting COO was then Director of Parks.
In the text message shown above, Cunneen failed to mention that the “comfort station” water supply was roughly 100 yards away. This meant WFF volunteers would be forced to lug heavy buckets of water the length of a football field multiple times every day. When challenged, Cunneen backed off the “pressure and flow” nonsense before moving on to others that were also debunked. Her actual intentions gradually became clear..
Responding to requests from The Daily, RIOC danced around like a inebriated Fred Astaire, dissembling and dodging and jumping from one falsehood to the next. Stupid hardly described its attempts to push WFF out. But without any good reason they could point to, RIOC’s team made shit up. Then, it tricked beleaguered Communications Director Alonza Robertson into lying on its behalf. (Read about it here.)
This backfired because it eventually led Frank Farance, a former Common Council President, to a discovery. RIOC had been feeding contaminated water, not just into the sanctuary but into public fountains all over the Island for decades.
On to 2020
As the ill-conceived remaking of Southpoint Park rolled out, Ceruzzi found that RIOC left WFF out of their plans. After plowing down countless trees, bushes and grasses along with the sanctuary on the east shore, WFF had no place to go with or without its rescues.
That led to heavy pressure from supporters and an out of control screaming barrage from CEO Susan Rosenthal. “I don’t give a fuck about your cats” was the theme. The confrontation left Ceruzzi in tears, but Chief Operation Officer Shelton J. Haynes came to her aid. He – and anyone else within a mile – heard the screaming.
Soon after, Haynes arranged for a new sanctuary in another area of the park.
Before the park’s official reopening, Ceruzzi transferred her animals – cats, opossums, Canadian geese – into the new, more commodious shelter. But near disaster soon struck again.
Punishing Protest?
With a fearless willingness to get into trouble for a good cause, Ceruzzi organized protests over a radical plan for rebuilding the Southpoint shorelines. RIOC’s plans for the last natural shorelines on Roosevelt Island including plowing over hundreds of trees, ripping through countless wild grasses and killing dozens of animal species.
Although unsuccessful, Ceruzzi’s Save Our Shorelines (SOS) protests embarrassed and/or pissed off RIOC. In an unprecedented move, within weeks, RIOC’s Chief Council Gretchen Robinson demanded that WFF begin paying $400 monthly rent for the use of RIOC’s space. No other local nonprofit had ever been charged rent for using its property.
This was punishment for Ceruzzi’s having spoken up. It reignited RIOC’s war against the animals, Ceruzzi and WFF. Imperiling WFF’s existence, Robinson refused negotiations. If WFF did not pay up, she texted lawyers, RIOC would take possession of the animals and dispose of them as they saw fit. This was harsh, even for RIOC.
Assembly member Rebecca Seawright saved WFF and its sanctuary by appealing to common sense. With COVID wrecking businesses all over the city, this was not a good time for suddenly slapping WFF with rent.
RIOC backed down, but then, it later got even, taking away nearly all of WFF’s annual public purpose funding.
RIOC’s tangled War on Ceruzzi, WFF and the animals
Even before Ceruzzi formed the Wildlife Freedom Foundation, RIOC relied on her for animal rescues, starting with Island Cats where she was a founder. RIOC staff, usually from Public Safety, called at any time of day or night when abandoned or distressed animals were found. Without a formal agreement, Ceruzzi answered, and she always got Public Purpose funding as recognition.
That changed when RIOC – without explanation – sliced her normal Public Purpose grant of $12,000 to $1,000 in 2023. RIOC hired a third party to make decisions and divvy up $150,000 among local nonprofits. Lacking local insight, it overturned existing relationships and hurt WFF and others.
A chain reaction then ensued leading into the current incarnation of RIOC’s war.
A Meeting with Haynes Before the Storm
Worried about how the loss of funds would impact her budget amid post pandemic cost increases, Ceruzzi sought a meeting with RIOC CEO Shelton J. Haynes. Her concerns extended to how she could continue the rescue work she had been doing for RIOC for years.
“Am I supposed to work for free?” she asked
In a December meeting that included Chief Counsel Robinson, Haynes acknowledged the unfairness and agreed to award a $15,000 annual contract with WFF. It’s pocket change for RIOC and well within the limits for discretionary spending.
But before the deal was formalized, Haynes and Robinson were suddenly exiled in paid suspensions. The reasons had nothing to do with WFF, but as new leadership stepped in, they refused to honor Haynes’s commitment. Only Cunneen among the interim leadership team had been part of the RIOC war on WFF, Ceruzzi and the cats.
Cunneen still wanted the sanctuary out.
A meeting turns cold, Continuing the RIOC War
Again, Ceruzzi asked for a meeting. In March, it was with the interim leadership team. Deputy General Counsel Gerrald Ellis and CFO Dhruvika Amin joined Cunneen. Also present was were Community Relations Director Bryant Daniels and staff attorney Lada Stasko.
When I later quizzed Ellis about his rejection of Ceruzzi’s request, he cited inadequate documentation regarding her expenses, which seemed after the fact. But something else came up, a suspicion that she was a loyal Haynes ally, which by now is like poison. Ceruzzi fiercely denies that and, moreover, says she was never told about an expenses misgivings.
then, cunneen wades in
Ceruzzi says that she didn’t know why Cunneen, her old nemesis, attended the meeting, but before it was over, she found out.
As everyone prepared to leave, Cunneen took her off guard with a question: How long did she plan on leaving the “bin” she managed inside the bus garage for trapping cats.
In a campaign aimed at rescuing cats dumped on the upper floors of Motorgate, Ceruzzi got permission from Hayes for a cage where the cats could be lured. She’d taken extra effort in insuring it was not intrusive. It had not been a problem for at least six months. She explained all this to Cunneen who she suspected, based on past experiences, of creating and continuing the RIOC war.
But Cunneen was determined, and Ceruzzi got six days notice.
Good afternoon,
Rossana, to follow up on our conversation this email serves to notify you that the kennel in the picture located at yhe bus garage must be removed. The kennel must be removed by June 21, 2024. Thank you
Kevin Brown
Director/Chief
Brown earns a spectacular $167K per year for what amounts to little more than a sit around the office and do nothing job. He took the assignment with as much disregard as disrespect. Check the email – he couldn’t be bothered to spell check or use proper punctuation.
But the RIOC War May Be a One Way Street
Although Ceruzzi complied, the problem of cats abandoned on the upper floors at Motorgate continued. And RIOC being RIOC, staff reporting to Cunneen continued calling Ceruzzi for assistance.
When she asked them if she was expected to work for free, they answered, “We don’t know what else to do.”
“Of course, I’ll help with the animals,” she said, although still burned by her treatment form Amin, Ellis and Cunneen.
She began putting feeding stations around the exterior of Motorgate, luring the strays, but they kept disappearing. In confidence, RIOC staff said the person removing them was Tom Imperati, the Assistant Director of Horticulture and Grounds, but that’s unproven.
Again, following Ellis’s departure, Ceruzzi asked for a meeting with Amin on August 12th.
Hi Dhru,
Hope you had a good weekend.
I have been receiving multiple calls from residents and RIOC employees regarding the cats/kittens presence inside and around the area of the bus garage and AVAC.
Back in June I was asked to remove the kennel strategically positioned and discreetly hidden inside an unused area the bus garage to lure and trap the cats that otherwise will continue to multiply.
Subsequently, I have been trying different ways to get the cats so to lure them. I placed 2 containers with food/water in the West/South corner of the area (see pics) where there is absolutely nothing that might create issues, troubles, complications to workers and drivers. Or so I thought. Sadly, Tom Imperati has added to his daily duties the removal of those containers.
Cost aside, doing so he has been preventing me from trapping the cats/kittens making impossible my “work”.
Most importantly, he is putting at risk the life of those cats/kittens. One 9 week old kitten died this past Saturday evening due to horrible circumstances inside the Post Office garage because he was starving. (Report with PSD)
Dhru, I would like to kindly request a quick meeting/tour with you (it will take no longer than 10 mins) to better show you in loco the situation.
Best,
Rossana
Amin did not respond.
Rallying the Troops
As so often happens these days on Roosevelt Island, Ceruzzi turned to community-focused RIOC board member Ben Fhala. After reading her story, Fhala reached out to Amin, who promptly apologized, as well Operations Committee chair Fay Christian. Amin is on vacation, but Christian promised to add Ceruzzi’s concerns to the next committee agenda sometime in September.
In the meantime, the RIOC war worsened. Wars don’t start without antagonists, and they don’t end until the antagonists go. That’s right. They go. They don’t change.
The cats are missing
“Cats are gone and they did not move somewhere else on their own,” Ceruzzi wrote in an email. She included her suspicions, which we will not share for now.
After three and a half days, two missing kittens showed up. Both were frightened, and one, according to Ceruzzi, seemed ill as if drugged.
Amin asked Chief Brown for help locating the missing cats. This is about as useful as shipping mosquito repellent to beachgoers in Antarctica. Brown said he’d stay right on top of it.
Instead, he dispatched Lieutenant Barry Hazelwood to look for the missing cats. No coordination with Ceruzzi meant that , whatever his good intentions, Hazelwood would not know what or how many he was looking for. He, of course, soon reported that he’d found them.
Disbelieving, Ceruzzi returned to the Motorgate area herself, finding some, but not all of the cats returned. “Only a few Cats are back and one of the 2 kittens that ‘reappeared’ looks ill like drugged up,” she wrote. Gradually, a few of the others wandered back to the area.
A Search
Last weekend, Ceruzzi and volunteers went searching for the still missing cats. She found several on the far side of the Island, near McManus Field.
“Someone took them there,” she concluded. “Cats are territorial. They stay where the food is and wouldn’t go over on their own. Somebody had to take them.’
RIOC insists that its employees had no involvement with the disappearing food dishes or the missing cats. Ceruzzi is certain she knows who was responsible and has a story, but it’s speculation. There may be some smoke, but no fire has been found.
Similarly, RIOC has not explained why its employees continue calling Ceruzzi for rescue help after denying her compensation.
Finally, the Rioc wars
Some facts are missing, and some incidents are unexplained. But the presence of a RIOC war on WFF, Ceruzzi and the animals is undeniable. Far too many incidents have left a mark.
We also don’t know what the hell the reasons are, and with RIOC’s notorious lack of transparency, we may never find out. RIOC needs leadership, leadership that cares that its mission is more than words filling in a webpage gap. Without leadership or clear, committed goals, RIOC’s a high paying venue for personal agendas and lallygagging.
This positions the state agency as a stranger in a community that deserves better. Some good people are onboard, but they aren’t standing up to the bad actors. This must change before more damages and bad feelings further undermine the value of local government working in tandem with the people it serves.
You Can FOIL* It
On April 15, at the Steam Plant Demolition Town Hall, a simple exchange revealed something far more consequential than anything formally presented that evening.
