The Roosevelt Island Residents Association (RIRA) will have our monthly RIRA Planning Committee meetings on the third Wednesday of the month: November 19 at 8-9 PM via Zoom.
Last month we covered several topics, which are carried forward in our Program of Work.
- Topic: RIOC’s Preliminary Budget for 2026-2027. Discussion: Last month we had a good presentation of the 2026-2027 proposed budget. This month we will follow up with more analysis and prepare feedback for RIOC for their December RIOC Board meeting, which will approve the budget.
- Issues on long term financial planning for RIOC. Discussion: Last month we discussed this topic briefly, including RIOC looking for long-term funding sources.
- With an annual operating budget of approx. $20 million, which derives most of its revenue from the 20-ish ground leases for housing developments, using back-of-the-envelope estimations, each building provides, on average, about $1 million in revenue. If RIOC were to build on two new sites (steam plant, and at/near Coler hospital), this will only add about $2-4 million in annual revenue – which might be fine for RIOC over the next 10 years, but not for RIOC over the next 30-40 years. Then, add in necessary capital projects for climate adaptation and sea-level rise – none of which are in RIOC’s long-term budgets.
- Unlike Battery Park City Authority (BPCA), which has substantial commercial tenants in the financial industry to cross-subsidize the residential aspect of that community, Roosevelt Island and RIOC are almost exclusively a residential community with no commerical tenants to cross-subsidize (no different that other taxing villages/etc. around the State). This needs to be understood by the community before RIOC seeks to increase fees that the community would bear.
- Roosevelt Island Master Lease Renewal (expires 2068, now extended to 2078). Discussion: We discussed this at the last meeting and explained why this is urgent: approaching the 40-year window that would affect buildings’ financing and mortgage rates for condo/co-op. Here are some important topics that continue the discussion:
- Ideas like building “buying back affordability” by creating more affordable housing within our existing housing stock. In the past decade or so, affordable housing has been rapidly decreasing – we used to have much Section 8 housing (80-90% Area Median Income – AMI) and other affordability plans. Regardless, there are several important strata for affordable housing in AMI (80-90%, 100-150%, 150-200%) and these kinds of strata have remained relatively consistent over decades – we should plan for them.
- RIOC announced that the master lease was extended 10 years to 2078 – which is good for pushing off the deadline as I don’t believe there will be agreement prior to 2028. This is a complex process because creating these affordable structures only allows for 30-40 years of horizon, not 50-99 years. While the master lease might be extended, it probably makes sense NOT to agree to a long-term (e.g., 50+ years) formula on affordability, as needs will adapt. This was the case in the 1970s with the original Mitchell-Lama complexes that had ONLY 30-year ground leases, not 99-year ground leases.
- What role does RIOC have, say, 50 years from now – or even 30 years? Does it make sense for the Island to revert back to the City (with appropriate transfer and taxing of properties, and the City has much more taxing resources City-wide), or do we live with RIOC with limited taxing but, essentially, very high tax bills (in the form of ground lease payments) to cover the Island’s budget? Believe it or not, RIRA was discussing this topic in the 1990s-2000s as we sought resident representation on the RIOC Board. Why many residents enjoy the services of RIOC and our community, there is only so much RIOC can do with limited taxing revenues – the tax bill will come at some point and, if you own a co-op/condo, your buyers will understand this, too.
- What about transportation? Again, RIRA has had significant discussion on this topic over three decades and understands it well. There are two aspects: intra-Island (red bus) and off-Island (subway, tram, ferry, bus, etc.). If we are going to continue building on the Island for transit-oriented population (the hospital and its patients are not in that category), then we should look at two ideas: (1) hollowing out the 60 St tunnel ventilation shaft (right next to the Tram) to create a subway station on the R-W-N lines; and (2) a transfer walkway (just below street level) to connect to the Tram and 63 St subway lines for a free transfer. While #1 would provide additional capacity for Roosevelt Island, it is probably too big a cost for RIOC to take on with an Island-only benefit. By adding #2, then it becomes an important transfer point (Tram, 60 Street lines, 63 Street lines, possibly ferry) – which has significant value MTA system-wide – and possibly eligible for Federal, regional, and State funding – which might make the project financially viable. Right now, one or all of RIOC-City-State should authorize a study to understand the budget and benefits for such a project.
- What about solid waste? Will the AVAC be extended to new developments? We have the AVAC, which is essentially single stream waste. This could be expanded into multi-stream with different selector fittings on source and destation. Maybe we work with merchants on organics (food) and receive fees for making our AVAC system more financially viaable. For other kinds of utilities (electicity, heating) there exist regulatory infrastructure to manage this (e.g., “district” utilities), and it would allow our existing infrastructure to generate revenue that, otherwise, would go to off-Island to carting companies.
- What about parking? In RIRA, we’ve mentioned adding a “sixth quadrant” to fill out the current parking garage over the red bus depot and to satisfy current/future parking needs. But if we had the right kind of pricing, Motorgate could add a “seventh and eighth quadrant” over the AVAC to support commuter parking – drop the car off in Motorgate (no additional Island traffic) and transfer (via red bus) to the 60 St and 63 St subway lines, the tram, and the ferry – and if they build out the 53 St shaft (in South Point Park), you can add another advantage. That doesn’t really change the character of the community as these commuters are only on the red bus – but it brings in revenue for the Island, which can include subsidies because the transit hub would now have a regional value to the MTA. In general, there are ways our (RIOC’s) existing assets can generate more revenue without it affecting the residents.
- There are many other good ideas, too. Come to the meeting and share your brainstorming.
- Topic: Roosevelt Island Traffic Planning – Car, Bike, Scooter, Pedestrians. Discussion: We had good discussion on Bike Route planning and prior RIRA work, there is additional research, we will continue the discussion. This area involves several aspects of transportation planning and understanding various needs and hazards of roadway, pathway, and sidewalk users.
Here is the Zoom link and the Agenda:
Date: November 19, 2025
Time: 8-9 PM
Zoom link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85861228983?pwd=eE4H3oXpiB7MJ4UAvSXRRud9vFYFLf.1
Meeting ID: 858 6122 8983
Passcode: 591680
Agenda:
1. Welcome
2. Review Agenda
3. Planning Committee topics:
3.1 RIOC’s Preliminary Budget for 2026-2027
3.2 Roosevelt Island Master Lease Renewal (expires 2068)
3.4 Roosevelt Island Traffic Planning: Car, Bike, Scooter, Pedestrians
3.4 Issues on long term financial planning for RIOC
4. Review of action items and task assignments
5. Future meetings at 8-9 PM: Dec 17, Jan 21, Feb 18, Mar 18
I look forward to your participation in this effort!
EDITOR’S NOTE – During last evening’s (November 17) Roosevelt Island Historical Society (RIHS) panel discussion on Roosevelt Island Politics, RIHS President Judy Berdy asked:
How does this community formulate our activism? We’re going to have a lot of activism needed within the next few years….
Former Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC) Board Director Margie Smith replied:
… It used to be the Residents Association.
What typically happens, you get annoyed at something. Somebody sees something, … All of a sudden, you’ve got a dozen people who say, … We need some kind of a group that’s going to do something and you get a WhatsApp thing and everybody sends I was on the line for 3 hours and they send it to Rick and Rick publishes something and so then the politicians get to know. But typically the activism happens when something bad happens…
Current RIOC Director Lydia Tang answered:
It always started out with grass roots. I guess the sad thing about the Residents Association is, whatever it is now, I would say it is illegitimate. That would be my my word for it. But I don’t know per se.
… I’m actually a neighbor of Frank Farance. He lives a couple of doors down from me. And when I said to him, “When were the elections?” Because I used to be on the Residents Association. I used to run the elections on the Residents Association?
He said, “Oh yeah, there were elections” and I had never seen a single poster. I didn’t even get to vote. I would have loved to vote, but I didn’t even know who was running for my building anyway. So, that’s for me is very sad.
(Here’s Mr Farance promoting the 2024 RIRA election.)
Current RIOC Director Howard Polivy added:
RIRA has an interesting and sad history, but the Residents Association is really necessary on the Island.
The Residents Association was very active until about 2020. Like any organization, there’s politics and infighting. And as soon as anything breaks the concentration and the continuity, it begins to fall apart. It’s not too surprising.
I see a room full of people who have some interest and some energy…. I think there’s an opportunity and a necessity to get people to reorganize themselves because as you’ll hear with the new considerations under the lease with the City and the State, an active Resident Association is necessary. The last time this was very useful was when Cornell campus came…
Here’s the discussion from last night’s panel discussion about RIRA and community activism.
Here’s the October 29, 2025 RIRA Planning Committee meeting
and supporting materials.