The RIOC experiment has failed miserably, collapsing under mismanagement and shattered community ties, demanding urgent and innovative leadership to revive its disastrous legacy.
by David Stone
The Roosevelt Island Daily News
Has the RIOC Experiment Failed?
When things change dramatically, when they go bad, pulling back for a cleaner look makes sense. We say this knowing full well that RIOC will never do that. But somebody should…
Because the RIOC Experiment failed.
In 2019, when planning for an expansion and upgrade for Lighthouse Park, RIOC invited the community to a planning session. In the years since, engagement has practically vanished.
Original conditions
It’s gone on so long. Many people forgot that the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation (RIOC) was an experiment from Day One. There was nothing like it before and nothing like it since.
The Roosevelt Island Operating Corp. was created in 1984 by the State of New York.
Its purpose:
"Plan, design, develop, operate, and maintain Roosevelt Island." Two words are missing: “Engage” and “Successfully.”
The Missing Link
- Successfully – Finding a single activity where RIOC meets community expectations is a challenge. Public Purpose Funds are too low while RIOC salaries boom. Transportation is in crisis as Red Buses have been unpredictable. Many Roosevelt Islanders won’t or can’t use the Tram slammed with tourists. RIOC’s budget is a shambles out of necessity, wrestling with unresolved past mistakes.
The RIOC Experiment in Practice
RIOC’s enabling legislation’s biggest failure was failing to establish community engagement. Votes on leadership or how it spent community money did not appear. But amendments fixed that – or so it seemed.
Laws set aside a majority of seats on the RIOC board to community members. It worked well for a while. The board actually openly debated issues. Budgeting, for example, and the viability of service contracts. Today, though, the board is as useless as a one-legged man in an ass-kicking contest.
Andrew Cuomo is the key here. After becoming governor, he squashed an existing commitment to electing local board members. That cut community ties to the board, but he went further. Dancing along the borders of legality, he left board seats vacant when members retired. This gave Albany an unintended majority, allowing the state power legislation denied them.
Before falling under Cuomo’s spell, David Kraut protested RIOC’s killing the Roosevelt Island Youth Program, clearly stating the problems that will slowly undercut the board.
Under Cuomo’s leadership, RIOC destroyed the popular Roosevelt Island Youth Program, adding a new limb of bureaucracy. The board fired CEO Susan Rosenthal without a hearing, then failed to support her successor, Shelton Haynes. This led to the leaderless debacle we have today.
And let’s not forget Governor Kathy Hochul. Assembly Member Rebecca Seawright and Senator José Serrano sponsored new legislation. It would correct some of the problems built up under Cuomo. The legislature passed it with huge majorities, butHochul vetoed every bit of it. It was not re-introduced.
Wrap Up
Imagining a successful, engaged RIOC without knocking it down and rebuilding from scratch is hard. Politicians and local officials birthed numerous strategies that exploit loopholes for their benefit. Goodwill, it seems, isn’t enough anymore. Mistrust far outweighs trust.
It’s easy to see why. RIOC is effectively about RIOC. Excess staffing and bloated salaries mar the surface. Little suggests community interests play a significant role in decision-making. During an interval while Gerrald Ellis oversaw RIOC, engagement began increasing. But Ellis is gone now, and so is the engagement.
As practical example, most of the AVAC system recently went out of service. There was not a peep of information from RIOC until it went on long enough to prompt community protests. If that doesn’t illustrate the lack of engagement enough, look at the Tram. RIOC not only breaks the law by refusing to protect the rights of disabled passengers. It bludgeons trust, denying residents priority boarding that the law clearly allows.
Perhaps most disgusting is an interim leadership effort at putting the Wildlife Freedom Foundation out of business. Admired internationally, WFF is under constant attack from key RIOC executives and board members.
The RIOC experiment failed. Any objective observer sees it. What’s needed now is the creative kind of leadership that brings change and community involvement. Experience tells us that Assembly Member Rebecca Seawright and Senator Liz Krueger are up to it.
Can they overcome Governor Hochul’s glaring incompetence?
“I Can Ask”
Chair Fay Christian opened the Operations Advisory Committee on February 12th, reading out member names from a prepared sheet that omitted Melissa Wade. It didn’t feel intentional, but it struck me as odd precisely because it came from something prepared. Lydia Tang gently corrected her, noting that Wade was, in fact, a member of the committee. Wade met the moment with grace, or perhaps she simply wasn’t bothered by it.
