A document was published on the OPNLTTR web site dated March 26, 2022 purportedly shared by a group of Roosevelt Island Operating Corp ( RIOC ) employees raising serious allegations of wrongdoings against RIOC President Shelton Haynes and certain members of the RIOC executive staff.
Click here to read the full document.Among the allegations are:
activities)
This morning, I sent an email to RIOC President Shelton Haynes asking for
comment regarding the allegations:
have any comment on the following allegations:
OGS vendor and recommended by New York State, which was not the case.
all activities to operate the site including renovations of the
storefront (brokered by Hudson Related), equipment, furniture, signage,
and fees to the doctors. These purchases, however, are listed under
different line items in the RIOC budget.
received in five days rather than RIOCs Net 30 requirement. When this
unique request was flagged, Haynes bullied staff into meeting the
terms requested.
on the following:
Covering Up a Negligent Death at Sportspark Pool
On Sunday, May 16th, a swimmer at RIOCs Sportspark Pool died due to
negligence of RIOC lifeguards and personnel. Upon learning of the death,
Haynes quickly and quietly met with RIOC Public Safety Department Chief,
Kevin Brown; Deputy Director of RIOC Public Safety Department, Anthony
Amoroso; Assistant Vice President of Administration (formerly the
Director of HR), Tajuna Sharpe; General Counsel (formerly the Internal
Controls Officer), Gretchen Robinson; and the Assistant Vice President
of Special Programs & Operations (formerly the Director of
Operations), Altheria Jackson.
Video footage of the incident shows that RIOC lifeguards were not at
their assigned posts and not paying attention to the pool. For this
reason, it was other swimmers in the pool who took notice of the young
man, who had been in distress for so long that he had sunk to the bottom
of the pool.
Video footage also shows that poolside efforts to revive the young man
were chaotic, with members of the public administering CPR before any of
the lifeguards. The lifeguards on duty that day were either fired or
left due to the traumatizing incident.
In the weeks following the death, staff working closely with Haynes were
threatened and verbally told not to email any correspondence related to
the incident and that all discussions and communication about it would
be done over the phone, only, per advisement from General Counsel
(formerly the Internal Controls Officer), Gretchen Robinson.
As related to executives receiving overtime pay:
Historically, executives were not qualified to receive overtime pay.
Changes made specifically to the employee handbook to benefit Haynes and
other executives to receive overtime pay for board and committee meetings,
and community functions held after normal business hours and on the
weekends.
Also:
Haynes has been known to secretly record conversations with staff,
including the former President, Susan Rosenthal. In 2019, Haynes recorded
Rosenthal speaking to him with explicit racially charged language, where
Rosenthal referred to him by the “N-word”. Instead of reporting
Rosenthal’s behavior and the incident to Albany, Haynes shared the
recording with a select group of minority subordinates to gain sympathy…
There has been no response from RIOC at time of publishing.
Prior to the document being posted on the public OPNLETTR website, it was sent to Roosevelt Island elected officials included Assembly Member Rebecca Seawright and NYC Council Member Julie Menin.
Asked to comment of these allegations, a spokesperson for Assembly Member
Rebecca Seawright reports:
The office receiveda document via an anonymousemail on
March21. The document has been referred to the New York State
Inspector General’s office for review.
NYC Council Member Julie Menin replied:
Any and all allegations of wrongdoing must be taken with extreme
seriousness and I expect the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation to
provide a statement addressing the concerns outlined in this
document. All claims must be expeditiously and thoroughly
investigated and the public must be apprised of the results of the
investigation.
The Roosevelt Island Daily first reported existence of this letter last Friday.
Click here to read the full document.
Stay tuned.
UPDATE 4/12 – RIOC remains silent on these allegations.NYS We Deserve Better has a Twitter feed.
– Hiring of cronies and promotions with fictitious titles to reward loyalists
-Over the top spending with little to no oversight
Interested in learning more? Read and retweet our story to help bring change to our workplace and community. https://t.co/lpqI1sB4uZNYSWeDeserveBetter (@NYSWEDESERVEBTR) April 10, 2022
Group claiming to be @RIOCny employees continue to bring pressure on current @RiocCeo , Executive Staff and Directors by recalling past episodes of corruption found in 2014. https://t.co/JSgbne9Uay @JulieMenin @SeawrightForNY @SenatorSerrano @SenGianaris @GovKathyHochul https://t.co/01nK9lVIOu
Roosevelt Islander (@Rooseveltisland) April 8, 2022
UPDATE 4/15 – It is not known whether any of these allegations were the sole Agenda Item
during last evening’s secret RIOC Board meeting
held in Executive Session closed to the public via video conference.