RIOC’s leadership is a chaotic mess, drowning in incompetence and ethical lapses, neglecting the community’s needs while funding personal agendas—will accountability ever surface?
by David Stone
The Roosevelt Island Daily News
The (Obscenity) Mess at RIOC
Sometimes, it’s the little things – like when RIOC released its November Newsletter two days before Thanksgiving. It never mentions the holiday nor does any following advisory wish the community well over the long weekend. Sounds like a small, though foolish omission, but consider what else the state agency skipped…
- Roosevelt Island’s iconic AVAC system has been out since before Thanksgiving, from the Octagon to 405 Main. Hallways stink from putrefying garbage jammed into open plastic bags. Why? For how long? Not a word from RIOC before the staff scurried off for the holiday… nor since.
- Scandals erupting over PSD with an open letter appealing for community help circulating.
- After one year, the status of CEO Shelton Haynes and Gretchen Robinson. Both still receive full pay for… nothing. This suggests the board, led by Howard Polivy, never had anything serious on either of them. Was it a power grab?
- Who’s in charge? Let’s not get too excited about the “interim leadership” team? The only one of that group with genuine leadership skills, Gerrald Ellis, left six months ago. RIOC, as a result, is directionless. Like children abandoned in the woods, the babes all pursue personal agendas without any common purpose.
- An extensive list of unaddressed infrastructure needs. Eleanor’s Pier and The Prow remain shrouded for months now. No plan seems in place for fixing them. Main Street is a pot- and sink-holed disaster. What happened to the traffic plan? The east seawall remains at risk of “catastrophic collapse” as high rises abut the broken structure.
The Mess: Corruption or incompetence?
Concerned about corruption as well as just good judgment, we’ve asked RIOC about multiple issues. Sometimes, they lie. Sometimes they beat around the bush. But all of the time, its a mess and nothing gets done.
- Giving away public resources is as unethical as it is usually illegal. Yet, RIOC gives away exclusive rights to collecting fees at the Farmers Market to the PS/IS 217 PTA. RIOC refuses all request to explain or justify. The permit is given without any charge. It’s a preferential giveaway.
- Conway Ekpo, a board member, has a clear conflict of interest with his duties. He served as the top financial officer for the PTA. His children attended the school. While there is no suggestion of wrongdoing, it’s ethically standard to disclose such conflicts, however small. When asked if Ekpo has disclosed his conflicts, RIOC instead argues that he doesn’t have to. They are ethically wrong.
- On November 22nd, the south Tram cabin was out all day. No notice until after 5:00 in the afternoon. When asked about the lack of any notice, RIOC is again silent.
- We’ve repeatedly asked RIOC to describe any steps taken over the multi-fatal spraying of pesticides on Southpoint Park. Their spokesperson, Bryant Daniels, first answered with a lie about the timing. When presented with photographic evidence, RIOC managers clammed up. Informed sources argue that COO Mary Cunneen is covering up for her “pet,” landscaping manager Matthew Kibby.
- Kibby and Cunneen are implicated in the disappearance of cats. These cats were under the care of the Wildlife Freedom Foundation in and around Motorgate. WFF reports steady harassment from Kibby, and Cunneen’s efforts at forcing WFF off the Island are well-documents. From our animal-loving community to an international audience, folks admire WFF and its founder Rossana Ceruzzi. But RIOC hates them and continues harassing them from the board through the interim leadership to the management staff.
Finally
The above scratches the surface of concerns and mismanagement. It’s enough, though. RIOC needs a clean slate, and the community deserves it. Residents pay for nearly all of RIOC’s operations but have no input. Staffing is so excessive and salaries so bloated, only unorthodox, risky actions balance the budget.
And out of that, Roosevelt Islanders get this mess? A feckless board rubber stamps everything, and the community pays the balance. The Tram losses millions every year catering to tourists; residents pay the difference but can’t ride. Spending is so reckless overall that RIOC digs into interest income to cover over 25% of its spending. It’s an accident waiting to happen, except it won’t be an accident. It’s deliberate mismanagement rolling close to the gutter, almost in.
I Take the Tram Because I Have To
There are people on this Island you learn to recognize long before you ever learn their names. Like the real estate man with the blue goatee, the one whose name I keep forgetting, though I could pick him out of a lineup any time of day.
