Roosevelt Island Elected Officials and Community Leaders Urge Engineering Schools To Apply Here – We Will Welcome You, We Will Work With You and We Want You, World Class Engineering School

Image from Today’s Press Conference Earlier today, Roosevelt Island’s city (NYC Council Member Jessica Lappin ), state (Assembly Member Micah Kellner and Senator Jose Serrano ) and federal elected officials (representative from Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney’s office) joined with Roosevelt Island Operating Corp ( RIOC ) President Leslie Torres and community leaders at the Manhattan Tram Station Plaza to urge that Roosevelt Island be selected as the site for New York City’s state-of-the-art- Applied Sciences and Engineering School proposed by Mayor Bloomberg and the subject of this Applied Sciences NYC Request For Proposals. During the press conference held at a noisy Manhattan Tramway Plaza next to the Queensboro Bridge, Ms Lappin presented some of the benefits for a University selecting Roosevelt Island as the site for it’s facility – easy public transportation access with the F Train and Tramway, wonderful parks, revitalized Main Street Retail, including a Starbucks for coffee drinking students, an excellent public school with a gifted/talented program and noted that Governors Island and the Brooklyn Navy Yard just can’t compete with Roosevelt Island. Ms Lappin acknowledged that development in New York City can sometimes be contentious but in the case of a world class engineering school located on Roosevelt Island she promised:

We will welcome you, we will work with you and we want you. We did not want a hotel when that was proposed, we didn’t want a big box store or luxury condos, but a world class engineering school- We Want You

Here’s the video from the entire press conference

You Tube Video Of Roosevelt Island as Silicon Island Part 1

You Tube Video Of Roosevelt Island as Silicon Island Part 2 Sorry about the background noise from the traffic. More information on the possibility of a world class engineering school being located on Roosevelt Island available from previous posts, including proposals by Stanford University and Cornell University. Below is press release from Ms. Lappin’s office:

Council Member Jessica Lappin, Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney, Assembly Member Micah Kellner, and State Senator Jose M. Serrano are officially supporting the citys efforts to bring a world class engineering school to New York City – and want it to be located on Roosevelt Island. They have formed a coalition in support of an engineering and applied sciences campus where Goldwater Hospital currently sits and were joined at a press conference today by Roosevelt Island Operating Corp President Leslie Torres, Roosevelt Island Resident Association President Matthew Katz,and other community leaders.

Last week, when Mayor Bloomberg issued a Request for Proposals and invited universities to submit bids, he offered the option of a privately owned site or one of three city-owned parcels: Goldwater Hospital on the southern tip of Roosevelt Island, part of Governors Island, or a portion of the Brooklyn Navy Yard. He has also pledged up to $100 million in infrastructure upgrades for the project.

Roosevelt Island wants to become Silicon Island, CouncilwomanLappin said. Its a perfect fit for a top-tier engineering school. Its accessible, has great amenities, and already has partnerships with world-class scientific institutions.And while development in New York City can be fraught with contention, we want interested universities to know that we welcome you.

“Roosevelt Island is an ideal setting for a top-flight institution of higher education, said Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney. With its geographical proximity to the many world-class scientific research institutions on Manhattans East Side, the current site of Goldwater Hospital would provide an excellent home for a campus dedicated to engineering and the applied sciences. I am proud to join with Councilwoman Lappin and other local civic and government leaders in pledging our whole-hearted support to welcome such a facility to Roosevelt Island.

This applied sciences campus is a fantastic way of letting the high-tech world know that New York City is open for business, said Assembly Member Kellner. Roosevelt Island is such a wonderful and diverse community with so much to offer I could not think of a better place for a New York school to locate its technology hub. Even more exciting is that thousands of new jobs will be just a tram ride away.

The Roosevelt Island community has been extremely receptive to the idea of bringing a competitive engineering school to the island, said Senator Jos M. Serrano. Its access to mass transit, proximity to midtown Manhattan, and welcoming residents will ensure a smooth adjustment for any school coming into the area. Roosevelt Island is truly looking forward to helping to strengthen the fields of science and health in New York City.”

Roosevelt Island residents have been concerned about the use of the Goldwater Hospital site since we learned that it would close by 2014, said Matthew Katz, President of the Roosevelt Island Residents Association (RIRA). A research facility has the potential to be a good fit for that ten-acre site and to enhance the quality of life within this planned community. To that end, the Roosevelt Island Residents Association has created a committee to liaise with the prospective academic institutions and with the City Economic Development Corporation and we look forward to a productive process.

“We are excited at the prospect of a world class research university on Roosevelt Island,” said Leslie Torres, President of the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation. “The Island’s location and reputation for innovation make it an ideal spot for any institution.”

Hudson & Related have been developing and investing in Roosevelt Island since 1997, including six new residential buildings and subleasing the retail corridor on Main Street, said David Kramer of The Hudson Companies, Inc. We couldnt think of a better neighbor to the south than an applied sciences campus. Such a campus would have a tremendous economic impact on the City as a whole and Roosevelt Island in particular.

Roosevelt Island is the perfect environment for a world-class institution of higher education, said Peter Gray of Manhattan Park Associates. A facility of that caliber would bring increased economic vitality and prestige to the island and would be a wonderful addition to the rich diversity of people who live and work here.

A representative ofCommunity Board 8, members of the RIOC Board and Roosevelt Island Disabilities Association President Jim Bates also lent their support for bringing an engineering school to Roosevelt Island.

Before issuing this RFP, the city received 18 less formal expressions of interest from 27 schools around the globe. The NYC Economic Development Corporation estimates the project will generate $6 billion in economic activity, hundreds of new companies, and more than 22,000 permanent jobs for New Yorkers over the next 35 years. Proposals are due by October 28th and the city is expected to select a bidder before the end of the year.