Hey neighbors — mark your calendars! On Thursday, October 9, 2025 at 1:00 pm, RIOC is hosting a Lunch & Learn on Roosevelt Island featuring Fear City: New York’s Fiscal Crisis and the Rise of Austerity Politics, with Dr. Kim Phillips-Fein (Columbia) leading the discussion.
What’s Fear City About?
The book dives into one of New York’s most dramatic chapters: when the city teetered on the edge of bankruptcy, the federal government stepped in, and public institutions were deeply reshaped.
It traces how fiscal crises and austerity policies forged new expectations for government, public services, and who pays the price during hard times.
This is a lens on how economic decisions echo into current debates about budgets, services, and who gets heard.
About the Speaker
Dr. Kim Phillips-Fein holds the Robert Gardiner–Kenneth T. Jackson Chair of History at Columbia University. Her work is known for bringing clarity to the ways economic policy, politics, and public life intertwine.
Why You’ll Want to Attend
- Fresh Perspective: If you care about New York’s urban and economic trajectory, this talk connects past crises to contemporary policy.
- Community Discussion: A chance to engage with neighbors over questions like: Who bears the burden in times of scarcity? And what do we want public services to look like going forward?
- Accessible Format: It happens over lunch, so it fits nicely into the mid-day hour.
Event Details
- Time: 1:00 pm
- Where: Sign up here
Before the Door Closed
The May 14 RIOC board meeting began with public concern over the steam plant and ended with two votes that revealed more than any report could. Some meetings announce themselves by what is said. This one announced itself by what the room permitted to move and what it stopped before it could breathe.
