Previous RIRA Common Council Meeting
I received the following message from the Roosevelt Island Residents Association concerning their monthly meeting later tonight.

Roosevelt Island Residents Association

AGENDA

Date: Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Time: 8:00 P.M. – Finish
Place: Good Shepherd Community Center, 543 Main Street
1. Public Session (8:00)
– Amalgamated Bank presentation on change of ownership of NYNB branch, 15 minutes

2. Roll Call (8:15)
X 3. Approval of Agenda (8:20)
X 4. Approval of Minutes (8:20)
5. Treasurers Report (8:30)
6. President’s Report (8:35)
– Internal correspondence
– RIOC agenda item for RIRA Upcoming June 17 Town Hall meeting
7. Committee Reports (8:45)
Government Relations – M. Smith
– Report on RIOC elections
Public Safety – R. Schuppert
Housing – J. Micheff & L. Strong-Shinozaki
Social, Cultural and Educational Services – N. Leopold
– Committee report
Island Services – A. Hamburger
– Committee report
Planning – M. Katz
Communications – E. Erickson
Status report on RIOC long-term budgeting.

8. Old Business (9:45)
9. New Business (9:45)

10. Adjourn

X Agenda items requiring action
Town Hall Meeting for June RIOC Board Meeting: Wednesday, June 17, 2009, 8-9:30PM
Next Meeting: Wednesday, September 9, 2009 (Mailing Deadline: September 4, 2009)
Future 2009 Meetings: October 7, November 4, December 2
RIRA Committee Chairs Planning Meeting, Summer 2009: To be announced, in Sunday afternoon July/August

Another item agenda is a resolution supporting the Roosevelt Island Disabled Association proposal for a FDR Memorial that includes a representation of FDR in a Wheelchair or on Crutches:

PROPOSED RESOLUTION REGARDING MEMORIAL DEPICTION OF PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT IN THE PLANS FOR THE KHAN MEMORIAL PARK

WHEREAS: From its initial planning stages, Roosevelt Island was conceived as a place in New York City that could be accessible and comfortable to disabled residents;

WHEREAS: We live in the America of President Barack Obama and Supreme Court Nominee Sonia Sotomayor – the America where now more than ever before we are witness to an unprecedented abundance of role models from previously underrepresented segments of society, who have overcome racial, ethnic, and class struggles to rise to the highest levels of leadership;

WHEREAS before them was President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who despite being disabled by Polio and confined to a wheelchair, was elected President of the United States, and is now remembered as one of the most effective and courageous men to have led this country;

WHEREAS school aged children have been awakened now to aspire to higher achievements, once thought to be beyond their grasp, a memorial depicting President Roosevelt, as he truly lived, in a wheelchair or in crutches, would have the same effect on the disabled community to see that one of our most beloved presidents was able to overcome his disability and be elected to the highest office in the country.

WHEREAS: The continued resident population of Roosevelt Island, uniquely comprised in significant part by many disabled persons, residing both independently in apartments or within the two chronic care hospitals located on the island, renders a true an accurate portrayal of President Roosevelt more meaningful and poignant on Roosevelt Island than any in any other location

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Roosevelt Island Residents Association supports a plan for the Khan Memorial Park that celebrates President Roosevelt as a disabled person by depicting him in a wheelchair or on crutches.

For clarification purposes only, it is not the Khan Memorial Park but the FDR Memorial Park. In its present form it just seems as though it is really a Louis Kahn memorial.Below are the minutes from last meeting, report from Island Services Committee and Youth Services Sub-Committee. There’s More!