Image From The Public Record Roosevelt Island’s own version of Wikileaks continues – below are the Roosevelt Island Residents Association (RIRA) Committee Reports for tonight’s Monthly April 2011 meeting. These reports had been made available on this blog for a couple of years until a majority of RIRA members banned the release of these reports to the Roosevelt Island community prior to the Monthly RIRA meeting following the release of what some RIRA members thought were embarrassing Committee Reports. Despite the ban by RIRA, here are the Committee Reports. The Public Safety Committee Report:

Meeting with Keith Guerra 3/10/2011

Present: Pete Digilio, E. Feely-Nahem, Howard Polivy, Keith Guerra, Renee Bryant

After introductions, concerns of the committee were raised in the order presented in the agenda.

The purpose of the proposed meeting was reviewed, explained as a quarterly follow up to issues discussed, and the initiatives that had been promised by Chief Guerra in response to the meeting held in December 2010.

Discussion on the limited visibility of the vertical patrols in the WIRE buildings was discussed. Guerra stated that he stressed it in Januarys supervisors meeting and he will remind them in March. He will also suggest that they return to the front desk to sign out if they are not doing so. He stated that the Supervisor will just show up and that they must call in to report where they are. Statistics were provided for January and February of the buildings as follows:

Building January February
Westview 114 111
Island House 80 84
Roosevelt Landing 925 751

The committee expressed concern over traffic control at the bottom of the ramp. Guerra stated it was not the highest priority but that it was happening. Committee members informed him that although there was a presence, they rarely directed traffic. Guerra stated that he would continue to monitor situation.

Motorgate patrols have been more visible it was noted.

Parking enforcement was again visited by committee members due to what committee members felt was a continued lack of enforcement i.e.: the continued presence of certain vehicles that are not legitimately exempt from parking regulations, parked without being ticketed in the North and South Town area. Mention that tours in these areas do not seem to be conducting visual sweeps of the area, or getting out of their vehicles was addressed. Guerra stated that he make sure that the tour moves more slowly through the area on the way to the Tram post.

Clarification was given of areas where vehicles are allowed to park/not allowed to park.

Gated area by Tram: For tram employees

NYS Placards on Dashboard: can park on the street, but not in areas that say no standing or no stopping, not allowed in crosswalks, or in front of fire hydrants. They can park in no standing unloading areas. These vehicles do not have to pay the meter. Handicap parking is available in Motorgate, for those individuals with NYS placards, on the ground floor, for free.

Hang Tag and license plate; Must park in handicap-designated areas without exception. Have to feed the meter anywhere else. Hang Tags have a few spaces designated in Motorgate, as well as in front of the post office.

Vehicles are not allowed to park under the ramp, except the Dry Cleaners vans who have a deal with RIOC to use this area during business hours when they are shuttling clothes between stores. School buses are also allowed to idle there, but not park after hours, but the handicaps vehicles are only given an exception in snowstorms.

We were informed that recently 3 sergeants had relinquished their positions, and 3 others had been promoted. They are seasoned officers and are presently waiting for a spot in the academy.

It was confirmed that the bicycle pump is available 24/7 at the PS Office. They have 2 hand pumps available.

They have been patrolling the sea wall and have arrested two people, one is staying with residents without permission, and the other came here to Tag. Mention of an increase in gang activity in the form of graffiti, and some possible recruitment efforts. Guerra is planning a community educational workshop in the future on this subject.

Discussed suicide incident and the slow response time with traffic control and learned that once NYPD comes on to the scene, Public Safety officers establish the 2nd perimeter and are there to assist the NYPD. Guerra stated that there were 4 calls for service at the time of the incident as well, with a soccer game in the field. He only had 5 working officers at the time, until 3pm when 5 more came on shift. The initial 5 remained and at this time, they did begin to direct traffic at the bottom of the ramp and redirect the flow up the side of the island. He stated that his officer was remiss in informing him that the suicide had landed in the middle of Main Street and he had thought that once NYPD had arrived the situation was in control.

The Planning Committee Report:

Subject: RIRA Planning Committee Report
Date: 2011-04-03
From: Frank Farance

The RIRA Planning Committee did not meeting face-to-face in March, but we continued discussions via E-mail. Our next meeting is Wednesday, April 20, 2011 at 8:30 PM in the Island House Community Room. RIRA members are welcome to attend.

We have had some ongoing discussions on the seven topics in our work programme (below). Note that topic #7 has an item for action on the formation of a new subcommittee within the RIRA Planning Committee.

Matt Katz, Aaron Hamburger, and I have been following the progress of the Red Bus service. We will provide updates at the April RIRA Common Council meeting.
Frank Farance RIRA Planning Committee Chair

Status Report on Topic #1: Blackwell Park Planning

In the 2008-2010 RIRA session, we had collaborated with RIOC on a Master Plan. We need to provide continuity for RIOC so that community involvement is not lost. The Blackwell Park Subcommittee (of the RIRA Planning Committee) was handling this task. We have new/different members this RIRA session, so we need to make sure there is follow-up. Also, Rosina Abramson was our RIOC point of contact, but she left at the end of 2010, so we need to re-establish a connection.

Upcoming Actions: Re-affirm existing RIRA members of the committee. Re-establish connection with RIOC on this planning topic.

Status Report on Topic #2: Long-Term Financial Planning/Budgeting for Roosevelt Island

In the 1990’s there was a state subsidy of $1.6 million. As presented at the November meeting, the RIOC CFO has presented a bleak financial picture. We should be investigating the amount of revenue lost by the lack of State and City taxes returning to Roosevelt Island. By saying “lack”, it doesn’t mean zero, it means that we aren’t getting our fair share. The purpose of this activity would be to research and calculate what our fair share might be, and then to make suggestions on how to acquire that kind of funding and/or services.

Upcoming Actions: Need to get financial data. Need to determine a set of comparable communities and criteria for comparison.

Status Report on Topic #3: Amendments to Roosevelt Island’s General Development Plan (GDP)

There is an existing GDP, but more will need to be said about the present and near-future configuration of the Island. One might ask: Why worry about the GDP if most of the development (except Southtown 7-9) is complete? Answer: The GDP also identifies open spaces, parks, etc. and if the GDP becomes a weak document (because both sides, City and State, are ignoring it in residential development areas), then it becomes equally invalid on designation of park spaces and such. This activity would look towards providing revised wording (even though we aren’t a party to the contract) and advocacy through the Mayor’s office.

Note: The GDP explicitly does not cover the use of the Goldwater Hospital space.

Status Report on Topic #4: Island-Wide Evacuation Plan

At present there is no Island-wide evacuation plan, but RIOC has plans for several kinds of emergencies (snow, cold, heat, power failure). Normally, the City’s OEM (Office of Emergency Management) coordinates all of this, including ordering evacuations, i.e., the Mayor orders this, not RIOC. The lack of planning for Island-wide evacuations has been a concern of residents for many for years. We plan on working with RIOC, the Roosevelt Island CERT, and the City’s OEM.

Upcoming Actions: I have spoken with Howard Polivy, Chief of the Roosevelt Island Community Emergency Response Team (RI CERT). Howard, Matt Katz, and I will meet soon with RIOC staff to review the existing plans. (Note: The three of us have been involved in this for the past several years.)

Status Report on Topic #5: Main Street and Retail Planning

We recognize that the master-lease process is ongoing within RIOC, but there is a need for resident input on planning topics that are long-range, not merely short-term questions of providing specific services. We plan on coordinating and collaborating with the RIRA Island Services Committee to formulate RIRA planning positions.

Denise Shull is our liaison to the RIRA Island Services Committee, who is leading this effort in RIRA.

Status Report on Topic #6: Roosevelt Island Waterfront Planning

This work involves coordination with the NYC Department of Planning and their “Vision 2020” effort (a comprehensive waterfront plan).

Upcoming Actions: Matt Katz has distributed a new version of the plan and it will be discussed at the upcoming RIRA Planning Committee meeting.

Status Report on Topic #7: Goldwater Hospital Replacement

The City has plans to close the Goldwater Hospital (the structure south of the bridge) and possibly replace it with a science park. Recently, we’ve heard that Stanford University, among others, are interested in this site, see “http://nyc10044.com/wire/3113/StanfordProposal.pdf”. We have yet to determine RIRA’s involvement in this effort.

Based upon encouragement from RIOC Director Jonathan Kalkin, RIRA President Matt Katz, and RIRA Common Councilmember Denise Shull, RIRA should become involved and establish a community position on the support for this project. Just like the Blackwell Park Committee, we should have a similar framework of participation (not necessarily same people as Blackwell), and a similar approach towards interaction and making recommendations to RIOC and NYC. The Blackwell Park Committee was a good and successful framework for RIRA/RIOC/etc. collaboration.

First, we need to establish a subcommittee. Although the RIRA Planning Committee can create its own subcommittee, it would be better to do it at the RIRA Common Council meeting so it has more visibility. The RIRA Planning Committee requests the following motion for approval at the April RIRA Common Council meeting:

“RIRA establishes a Southern Development Review Committee (SDRC), a subcommittee within the RIRA Planning Committee, with the following terms of reference (1) the SDRC is focused upon the southern part of Roosevelt Island at the present Goldwater Hospital and adjacent areas, and its future development; (2) the SDRC is a forum for the Roosevelt Island residents to provide input, comments, and review; (3) the SDRC may make recommendations for RIRA’s review and approval; (4) the SDRC will liaise with RIOC, NYC, and any potential developers.”

Once the subcommittee is established a chair should be appointed, which would be done via a separate motion. We ask for volunteers to join the new RIRA subcommittee.

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