Roosevelt Island Historical Society President Judy Berdy

Image Of Ms Berdy And Assembly Member Seawright From Lynn Strong-Shinozaki was honored at the Women Of Distinction Awards ceremony hosted by NY State 76 District Assembly Member Rebecca Seawright.

According to this Press Release from Assembly Member Seawright’s office:

In honor of Womens History Month, Assembly Member Rebecca A. Seawright (D-Manhattan) hosted a Women of Distinction Awards ceremony to recognize the extraordinary women on the Upper East Side and Roosevelt Island. The awards ceremony was held at the Womens History Celebration and ribbon cutting for the Community Office Grand Opening reception held at 1365 First Avenue on Friday, March 20th at 2pm. Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, State Senator Jose Serrano, Council Member Ben Kallos and Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer were in attendance to recognize the outstanding work of the local nominees and to welcome the new community office. Mrs. Brown entertained the crowd with a poetry reading.

I applaud the achievements, leadership and noteworthy contributions of women in our community, said Assembly Member Rebecca Seawright. It is important to recognize the women who came before us like Julia Richman, the first Jewish principal, first woman to be appointed a District Superintendent and the namesake of a fabulous public high school in my district. We stand taller because we stand on the shoulders of the women who came before us and they deserve to be recognized. I am thrilled to honor the following Women of Distinction:

Judith E. Schneider

Patricia Saunders

Barbara Chocky

Yvonne Fitzner

Judith Berdy

Monica Iken-Murphy

Jill Eisner

Helaine Eisenberg

Betty Cooper Wallerstein

Winifred Cudjoe

Helene Goldfarb

Rebecca Ocampo

During March 23 Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC) Governance Committee meeting on Public Purpose Funds, Ms. Berdy explained the time consuming problems of obtaining NYC Council Discretionary Funds and advocated on behalf of local community organizations receiving needed funds from private developers. Ms Berdy made this plea:

… Go to the developers. Get them to donate to the community this year. they all are making lots of money. David Kramer is opening his rental office in 6 weeks… All of these people are making xxxxx good money and Cornell is screwing the community by not giving us a cent….

… If RIOC is stuck for a year, then I think it is time that everyone who has business on this Island, the big corporations, come up and help the community. Because without the community this is nothing. Every single organization was started by people who live on this Island and work on this Island and care about this Island….

… Get the xxxxx developers, get David Kramer. 100 Grand to Monadnock and Related is chicken feed. Get them to contribute….

Ms. Berdy also suggested putting a toll booth on Main Street to charge $100 per cement mixer. Here’s Ms. Berdy’s full plea to the RIOC Governance Committee.

An audio web cast of the full March 23 RIOC Governance Committee meeting is here.