in association with Website NYC10044 www.nyc10044.comRoosevelt Island’s Community Newspaper

Vol. 22, No. 12 Saturday, January 26, 2002

Next scheduled issue:Saturday, February 9

Challenges to SouthtownContinue Despite Rulings

by Dick LutzThe Roosevelt Island Committee

of Community Board 8 wants theCity Council to conduct a hearingto clarify its powers to hold theState accountable for management– or mismanagement – of the Is-land.

That’s the subject of a resolutionpassed unanimously last month bythe Community Board at the re-quest of its Roosevelt Island Com-mittee, composed of co-chairsPatrick Stewart and DeirdreBreslin; and Nneka Pope.

At a meeting Tuesday night,Stewart outlined Roosevelt Island’soptions for the future: “There arethree avenues of approach availableto the citizens of the Island,”Stewart said. “We can stay as weare with RIOC running the Island;we can [support] a RIOC controlledby elected residents as put forth bythe Maple Tree Group; or we caninvestigate the possibilities of re-turning the Island to the City ofNew York.”

As to the last possibility, Stewartdescribed two parallel tracks thathe feels could lead to the City’s tak-

Website NYC10044 www.nyc10044.comWhat’s Behind the Fence View from Eastwood shows the Southtown site, which came abuzz with activity shortly afterthe Appellate Division of the State Supreme Court ruled in favor of RIOC in a legal action that could have deraileddevelopment under the current Hudson/Related plan (the case is being appealed further). Outlines show the pits dug forthe first and second buildings with rock outcroppings that must be removed. A red bus is passing the gate to the site. Atthe site of building 2, test piles are being driven. Several other pieces of construction equipment were active on the siteTuesday morning when this photo was taken.

Concreteforms

BlackwellHouse

Redbus

rock

rock

Building 1

Building 2

by Robert Laux-BachandThe outlines of Southtown’s first

two buildings are rapidly takingshape as Monadnock Construction,Inc., completes a relatively shallowexcavation.

The digging is alittle more than 75 per-cent complete andshould be done inabout two weeks, saidScott Weiss, projectmanager for AMEC,the company that isoverseeing the workfor the Roosevelt Is-land Operating Corp.

Weiss, who hasbeen on duty heresince December, 2000,said part of his job is to be a liai-son for all Island residents. He toldThe WIRE this week that he wouldbe willing to participate in a townmeeting to answer any questions

Southtown Construction Gets Seriousresidents may have about theproject. Some of the infrastructurework, for example, will alter pedes-trian and vehicle traffic patterns.

As the work goes on, residentswho walk past the con-struction site may beable to pick out severaldistinct sounds on theother side of the tallplywood fence: chip-ping, like a jackham-mer, and drilling, asexcavators clear outseveral rocky out-croppings, and thethud of a pile rig,which is pounding testpiles to gauge soil re-sistance. The excava-

tion itself is no more than about 6feet below grade, enough to createa basement, although footings willbe deeper.

The foundations of the 16-storybuildings will rest in part on theIsland’s bedrock, or gneiss, and inpart on piles driven into the earthon a site that was once a quarrysupplying stones for Island build-ings. (They later became part ofthe seawall when buildings weredemolished.) The crane, or pile rig,is working within the 9,000-square-foot space of Building 2, which willbe occupied by staff members ofthe Cornell Weill Medical Collegeand their families.

Building 1, the northernmost ofSouthtown’s projected nine build-ings, will be occupied by employ-ees of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. It has afootprint of 14,700 square feet.The two buildings will have a totalof 395 apartments and are beingdeveloped by The Hudson Compa-nies, Inc., and The Related Com-panies.

Monadnock Construction, a $50million company headquartered inBrooklyn, is associated withHudson and has been the contrac-

tor for all of Hudson’s housing andcommercial sites. Monadnock isserving as the general contractor forall the work on Roosevelt Island,and the company’s project managerhere is Greg Bauso. Twenty-fiveto 30 workers are on the site now.

Weiss said that residents shouldbe able to see the superstructuresof the buildings rising up by mid-May, with the masonry and win-dows going in by mid-August.

New at Cabrini Fr. Peter A. Miqueli isthe new priest of Roosevelt Island’sCatholic parish. He’ll be the subject ofa future WIRE profile.

Scott Weiss

Briefly...Members of a Maple Tree Group

(MTG) delegation who met withGovernor George Pataki twoweeks ago describe the State’schief executive as being “very re-ceptive” to the idea of more resi-dent control of Roosevelt Island.MTG wants most RIOC Boardmembers to be residents elected byresidents, and wants the Boardempowered to hire professionalcommunity management.

“The Governor said he’ll take avery hard look at what he can dofor us,” MTG said in a brief reportto the Residents Association Com-mon Council. The report went onto say that Pataki asked “his topaide” to “stay on it” and work withthe Island’s legislators in an effortto structure a bill that will get ap-proval all around. A further reportis expected at the February 6 Coun-cil meeting.

Island’s CB8 Reps Want anAudit and a City CouncilHearing on Island Matters

ing the Island back from the State,terminating the 99-year lease underwhich the State controls the Island:

• One track involves the CB8resolution, which asks the CityCouncil “to conduct a hearing toestablish and clarify its authorityand responsibilities in regards tothe proper execution of this Lease.”

• The second track involves urg-ing the City Controller to audit theLease – in effect, to scrutinize Stateperformance of its duties as a les-see.

Either or both approaches,Stewart told the gathering in theIsland House community room,might ultimately lead to a City take-over of governmental and fiscal re-sponsibility for the Island, withoutwaiting until 2068, when the Leaseends.

The reason why the City Coun-cil might need to hold hearings to“clarify its authority” is that theLease names the now-defunct CityBoard of Estimate as having thepower to consent to modificationof the Island’s General Develop-ment Plan. What’s unclear is

See CB8, page 4

See Construction , page 4

by Robert Laux-BachandOpponents of the Southtown development plan have not given up the

fight despite court rulings in 2000 and 2001 upholding the project.Roosevelt Islanders for Responsible Southtown Development (RIRSD)

has submitted a motion asking New York’s highest court, the Court ofAppeals in Albany, to accept its challenge to the decision handed downlast month by a five-judge appellate panel.

Another opponent, Robert Chira, an Island lawyer representing theAlternative Southtown Design Committee, has prepared a motion askingthe Appellate Division of the state Supreme Court, in Manhattan, to allowa re-argument of the appeal. Chira further asks the court for permission toappeal to the high court should his request for re-argument be denied.

The latest motions represent a distillation and refinement of the casesthat the Southtown opponents lost before the Appellate Division, whichrejected challenges to Justice Harold Tompkins’ July 2000 ruling in fa-vor of the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation (RIOC) and its de-velopers, The Related Companies and The Hudson Companies.

Chira, who sued only RIOC, says the appellate judges erred in notfinding that the repositioning of Southtown’s northernmost buildings 100

See Challenges , page 6

by Robert Laux-Bachandand Dick Lutz

As the Tramway shutdown en-tered its third month, there weresome signs of progress this weekin efforts to get the system runningagain after a maintenance mistakeleft the haul rope more than eightfeet short.

A spokeswoman for the State La-bor Department in Albany told TheWIRE that a stamped, or certifiedsubmittal of the engineering plans fora proposed solution was turned inWednesday by American Tramways,Inc., which operates the Tram.

A New York State-licensed en-gineer must stamp, or sign off, onthe plans before they can be re-viewed by the department’s Divi-sion of Health and Safety. The

Schedule for Tramway’sReturn Still a Question

division’s engineers are reviewingthe submittal, prepared in Switzer-land, which calls for wrapping the41-millimeter-thick haul rope 1.5times around the cable car’sbollard, and securing it with extraclamps. The spokeswoman said thedivision’s engineers would be ableto handle the review in-house andthat such a review typically takesabout a week.

Normally, the haul cable, whichruns off a motor on Roosevelt Is-land, is wrapped three times aroundthe Tram car’s bollard, or drum.The 1,000-meter rope pulls the cab-ins and is balanced by a counter-rope that runs through the massivecounterweights on the Manhattanside of the Tramway. The shorterwraps will save about 11 feet of thecable, which is actually a steel-wound polypropylene rope.

Red Blomer, the president ofAmerican Tramways, told TheWIRE earlier this month that thecompany had informal contactswith the State engineers in the daysfollowing the accident in Decem-ber. Blomer and Armando Cordova,lead supervisor of the Tram’s 21-person work force, were reportedto have met this week with the Stateengineers at the capital and re-ceived assurances that a decision

See Tram , page 6

2 • The Main Street WIRE, Sat., Jan. 26, 2002

Managing Editor – Dick LutzChief Feature Writer – Anusha Shrivastava

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LettersLettersLettersLettersLettersTo the Community:

If you have gotten this far in The WIRE then you must care about thequality of life on Roosevelt Island. I therefore suggest that you call thefollowing numbers and register your complaints and concerns. Pass thesenumbers along to your neighbors and urge them to call. Identify your-self as a resident and say whatever it is that is on your mind regarding theIsland. We can no longer afford to be apathetic. This will be a start.

Marybeth Labate, Chair, RIOC: 518-473-9462 or 518-486-3370Robert Ryan, President, RIOC: 212-832-4540A. Gifford Miller, Speaker, City Council: 212-535-5554Pete Grannis, Assemblymember: 212-860-4926Olga Mendez, State Senator: 212-860-0893

Karen Puritz

To the Editor:I don’t know if I’m the only one

to make a complaint about thecrowding on the F train.

On Wednesday, January 16, Istood, along with countless others,letting 3 or 4 trains go by withoutroom to get on. The next morningI had to ask people to move in, inorder to get on. Again, people onthe platform were saying, “Let’swait for the next train.”

Why do the residents ofRoosevelt Island have to suffer? Ifmore people are using trains com-ing from Queens, the MTA shouldput more trains on. I’m quite sureif a survey was done it would showhow much ridership has gone upsince the Q was eliminated, butresidents here are now suffering theadditional burden of increased rid-ers.

Rosemary Dringus

To The Editor:The Town Meeting RIOC held on Thursday night [January 17] to talk

about the Tram was a disgrace. One thing you have to give RIOC –they’re masters at avoiding the real issue.

The problem is very simple: There is a transportation requirement onthis Island for Tram service every 7½ minutes during peak hours andevery 15 minutes off peak. If there weren’t, the Tram wouldn’t run thatoften. That requirement does not go away just because the Tram is down,nor does RIOC’s obligation to meet that requirement go away. (Re-member, the subway platform is not ADA compliant, so the train is notan option for many residents.)

The answer is also very simple: Intelligent compromise – more buses.Until the Tram returns to its normal schedule, during peak hours theresidents give up the 7½-minute interval and all buses run at 15-minuteintervals for the rest of the usual Tram timetable. Anything less is inad-equate. Certainly since, as Rob Ryan stated, American Tramways ac-cepted complete responsibility for the problem, we should expect themto reimburse RIOC, but that’s not our problem, it’s Rob Ryan’s. Onewould think that the President of RIOC would be able to negotiate thatreimbursement deal.

Let’s not miss RIOC’s approach to managing this Island. When resi-dents asked why the buses didn’t show up on time, why the elevators atthe Tram were out of service so often, why some physically challengedpeople were left waiting in the street because there wasn’t enough roomon the bus, Ryan’s answer was, “It shouldn’t have happened, but youneed to tell us these things.” Interesting management style: “I just givethe orders. If they don’t get carried out, that’s your fault. It’s your job totell me, because I don’t check.”

Good thing the airlines don’t work that way: “That plane shouldn’thave crashed. I told my mechanics to tighten those screws, but I dependon the passengers to tell me if they hear things banging around in theengine.” I can’t believe I actually have to point this out, but RIOC oughtto look into a concept called “Quality Control,” where management ac-tually checks to see if the assigned work is being done.

Certainly the residents should complain more, but realistically, if RIOCwanted to hear from us, they’d have a system in place so we could beheard, instead of the current procedure where we get to speak at RIOCBoard meetings three times a year and the Board members don’t evenhave to stay and listen. They’d have a two-way communication struc-ture in place that continually seeks input from the residents and tells uswhat’s going on.

Residents have just two requests:RIOC : Do your job or get out of the way and let the residents take over.RIOC Board members: Become part of the solution instead of the

problem. Do your job by making RIOC do theirs.Margie Smith

To the Editor:The Catholic Diocese of St.

Frances Xavier Cabrini has lost itssaintly priest, Father Luke McCann.

Why he was transferred from thiscommunity where he is so wellloved and needed is a mystery. Hiskindness and gentleness to littlechildren, the elderly and handi-capped, was very touching. Hisservices weekday mornings in thelittle chapel were beautiful and en-lightening and filled an emptyspace in my heart and soul.

My prayer for Father Luke is thathis new congregation appreciateshim and accepts all the love he hasto give.

He will be sorely missed here andI, for one, will never forget him.

Marian Valentine

To the Editor:I write to clarify the recent appeals court Southtown decision:• It did not rule that residents could not challenge RIOC decisions that

may conflict with the Island’s General Development Plan (GDP). In-deed, it adjudicated most of the two petitioners’ various challenges.Moreover, the lower court had ruled the petitioners had legal standing tobring such suits and this ruling was not even contested by RIOC on appeal.

• The appeals court did not rule that the GDP is only “illustrative,” butrather the proposed site plan on a map attached to it. The court simplyquoted from the GDP, which states the final location of all “improve-ments” (buildings, parks, etc.) is not necessarily as indicated on that map.

• The other petitioner [RIRSD] asked the court to interpret the leaseitself rather than defer to RIOC’s interpretation. This was an attempt tocircumvent the difficult standard applicable in Article 78 challenges,which require that you show RIOC’s interpretation was unreasonable(“arbitrary or capricious”). The appeals court did not address the issueraised. Instead it ruled the residents had no standing to challenge thelease as “third party beneficiaries.” (I promise your friend a bicycle ifyou pay me $100; you pay me; your friend can sue me if I do not deliverthe bicycle. He is the third party beneficiary of our contract.) The courtthen ruled under the Article 78 standard that RIOC did not act arbitrarilyor capriciously in interpreting the lease. The third party beneficiary rul-ing does not affect the rights of residents to challenge RIOC’s futureinterpretations of the lease or GDP requirements, but they will have todo so under the difficult Article 78 standard.

• The appeals court did not bar RIRA’s intervention only because itsought entry three months after the deadline. It ruled the lower courtproperly exercised its discretion to bar its entry because RIRA advancedno argument not already raised by the other two petitioners.

• There is no “right” to a further appeal to the State’s highest court. Itaccepts few appeals, only about 5% of those requested.

Robert ChiraAttorney for Alternative Southtown Design Committee

To the Editor:The last issue of The WIRE carried a notice that the Roosevelt Island

committee of CB8 had raised a proposal that NYC be asked to reviewthe Lease between the City and the State of New York.

Such a proposal implies an inference that the State agency (RIOC) hasbeen doing something improper in the terms of the Lease.

One interesting aspect to this CB8 proposal is that Patrick Stewartserves on both the CB and on the RIOC Board. Being an insider,Mr. Stewart is in a unique position to know if reasonable grounds existto suggest that RIOC may be operating in contradiction to the Lease.Has he raised any such questions in public? Is he aware of improprietyon the part of RIOC and remained mute on the topic? Does he suspectsuch impropriety and, even though a member of RIOC Board, is unableto make the public aware of the details of the impropriety?

It is strange that anyone should seek an investigation of his/her ownaffairs and conduct.

David Bauer

“So, Russell, what do you love about music?”“To begin with... everything.”So goes a conversation toward the end of

Cameron Crowe’s film, Almost Famous. Itmakes me think of a conversation with myselfthat I have often:

“So, Dick, what do you love about RooseveltIsland?”

“To begin with... everything.”I love the people who dwell within a spec-

trum of intensity that ranges from limp to fa-natic, and the way the fanatics put all they haveinto every cause, each charg-ing his life and mine with anenergy of conviction thatknows no compromise.

And the bricks. I love thezee-bricks that make thisplace something special anddifferent. I love even theones that have broken and that RIOC has al-lowed to break more.

The grass, wherever it may be found, whetherit is in the small cherry grove that lies riversideto Westview or the larger one south ofRivercross. Even the weeds that get hold of thesoil when RIOC cannot get organized to do themowing.

And the Tram. Especially the Tram. TheTram, even when RIOC is trying to cut its hours.Indeed, I love even the attempts to take it awaybecause they are so desperately dumb that theyare lovable in their total ineptness.

I love the memory of Al Weinstein, fight-ing for the Tram. Plunking a chair down atthe front of Good Shepherd Chapel and point-ing out the absence of Dr. Jerry Blue, comingout for a moment from his genteel suit of di-plomacy and showing us the fire that madeRoosevelt Island and the Tram his Island andhis Tram.

And there is the image of Sister ReginaPalamara, telling us that, on the way to yet anotherTown Meeting about the Tram, she prayed to aSaint named Al Weinstein, and then laying it onthe line like no nun I have ever heard or seen.

I love Archie Seale and Patrick Stewart andso many who, because of the roles they play inthis game of life, do not and cannot love me; I

love them because there is texture and richnessin the complexity of the practical and philo-sophical matters on which we disagree.

I find that I can love even Jim Whalen orDebra Mount Cornet as one or the other blastsaway at me in yet another screed that I thinkpasses only for an angry and ill-reasoned firstdraft, because the richness and texture that pas-sion adds to this Island are felt at their heartsand dig at their souls, as silly and misplaced asthe passion may be.

I even love the way philosophical allies cantake their cause and its pros-ecution so seriously that theycan disagree passionately andangrily about the finer pointsof what must be done for TheCause, and then lose that an-ger and keep the passion overcoffee at Trellis.

There is so much to love about Roosevelt Is-land.

At another point in Almost Famous, themother of child-journalist William Miller,played by Frances McDormand, quotes Goethe:Be bold, and mighty forces will come to youraid. If there is any single editorial message thisnewspaper seeks to bring to its audience, it isthat message. While timidity and fear will be-get only more reason for timidity, bravery andguts and determination are their own rewardsand they are the only path to what this Islandcommunity deserves.

To me, being bold means going all-out for alocally elected RIOC Board of Directors. Itmeans making the leap of faith that in this com-munity we have the intellectual wherewithal andcommitment to make this community greater byfar than it could ever be while under remote rulefrom Albany. Being bold means shedding thefear that is bred when we have lived for so longunder the sheltering safety of a State govern-ment that has shown repeatedly that it produceslittle safety and robs us of the responsibility weowe ourselves.

Being bold means making the leap with con-fidence that at the end of our trajectory therewill be mighty forces coming to our aid.

DL

More Letters, page 3

The Main Street WIRE, Sat., Jan. 26, 2002 • 3

TheRIRAColumn

Senior Center

Compiled by WIRE staff – Fax information to 755-2540e-mail ComingUp@MainStreetWIRE.com

or click on the e-mail link at www.nyc10044.com

There is no charge to list Islandevents here. E-mail information toEditor@MainStreetWIRE.com, fax to755-2540, or leave copy at the deskat 531 Main Street, addressed to TheWIRE. Provide a telephone numberfor possible follow-up. Matthew Katz

RIRA Presidente-mail: matthewkatz@rcn.com

Home-delivered meals available: 744-5022, ext. 1203

Tue., Jan. 29, 9:30 a.m., Closed RIOC Board Executive SessionMeeting, New York State Housing Finance Agency, 641 Lexington Av-enue, Conference Room A (4th floor), for discussion of projects pro-posed by RIOC’s real-estate marketing consultants.

Mon., Jan. 28, 7:45 p.m., Maple Tree Group Meeting, Chapel ofthe Good Shepherd; issues in a resident-elected RIOC Board.

Tue., Jan. 29, 6:30 p.m., Magician Matess, Library. Free. Childrenof all ages are welcome.

Fridays, 7-9 p.m., Sketching Sessions, sponsored by Roosevelt Is-land Visual Arts Association, 546 Main Street, 12th floor. Small fee.For information, call (212) 755-1771.

Sat., Feb. 2, 7:00 p.m., Concert – Georgie Bonds and the Blues-keepers, PS/IS 217 Auditorium, presented by the PS/IS 217 BeaconProgram of the Roosevelt Island Youth Program. Free.

Wed., Feb. 6, 8:00 p.m., Residents Association Common CouncilMeeting, Chapel of the Good Shepherd.

Sat., Feb. 9, next issue of The Main Street WIRE. Deadlines: Ad-vertising in the paper, Fri., Feb.1; decision on stuffers for TheBag, Mon., Feb. 4, with materialsdue Thur., Feb. 7. Future issuesgenerally every two weeks as fol-lows: Feb. 23, Mar 9, Mar 23,Apr. 6, Apr. 20, May 4, May 18,June 1, June 15, June 29 (Fourthof July issue), July 27 (reducedsummer schedule), Aug 24, Sept.

7, Sept. 21, Oct. 5, Oct. 19, Nov. 2 (pre-election issue), Nov. 9 (post-election), Nov. 23, Dec. 14 (holiday issue). Phone/fax for news,826-9055/755-2540; phone/fax for advertising inquiries, 751-8214/755-2540; to list your organization’sIsland events here (no charge), faxinformation to 755-2540, or e-mailComingUp@MainStreetWIRE.com.

Thur., Feb. 14, 6:00 p.m., TheSlocum Burns!, U.S. premiere of1999 documentary film by ChristianBaudissin about the loss in 1904, inthe East River, of 1100 passengersaboard the steam paddleboat GeneralSlocum, followed by a discussion with historian Ed O’Donnell; SegalTheater, CUNY, Fifth Avenue at 34th Street. Free.

Sat., Feb. 16, 6:00 p.m., PTA International Dinner at PS/IS 217;parents invited to bring foods representing their home countries. Infor-mation: 980-0294, ext. 2108.

Tue., Feb. 19, 6:30 p.m., Book Discussion, Surfacing by MargaretAtwood, Library. Advance registration required.

Sat., Mar. 2, 7:00 p.m., Concert – Los Soneros de Oriente, Sonstyle Afro-Cuban song, PS/IS 217 Auditorium, presented by the PS/IS217 Beacon Program of the Roosevelt Island Youth Program. Free.

Wed., Mar. 6, 8:00 p.m., Residents Association Common CouncilMeeting, Chapel of the Good Shepherd.

Tue., Mar. 19, 6:30 p.m., Book Discussion, The Reader by BernhardSchlink, Library. Advance registration required.

Monday10:30, Blood Pressure Screen-

ing12:45, Arts & Crafts (RIDA)

Tuesday10:00, Jazzercise1:30, Games (RISA)

Wednesday9:15, Stay Well Exercise10:00, English as 2nd Lan-

guage (beginner)11:00, English as 2nd Lan-

guage (intermediate)Thursday

10:00, Tai Chi10:30, Creative Arts12:30, Movie7:00, Dance Class

Friday9:00, Citizenship10:00, English as 2nd Lan-

guage (beginner)10:15, Resumes Feb. 1: Yoga

Stretch11:00, English as 2nd Lan-

guage (intermediate)11:15, Stay Well7:30, Lotto

Saturday7:30, Bingo (RISA)

Special EventsMon., Jan. 28, 10:00, Health

Lecture, How to Speak with YourDoctor, and Blood PressureScreening

Mon., Feb. 11, 11-12:30,MetroCard Bus

Letters deadline for Feb. 9 issue: Feb. 4.Letters received after deadline will be considered on a space-available basis.

To the Editor:Perhaps Mr. Edelman should

think first of his safety and not walkalong the promenade on a cold win-ter night. I feel very safe here after24 years. However, I do not temptthe fates by walking on emptypromenades on a winter night.

Luckily the gun was plastic, orwe might have been writing anobituary for you, Mr. Edelman.

Forget the macho stuff and givethem your money; beats your life.

Judith Berdy

To the Editor:Thanks for the very compelling

first-person story that Lee Edelmanwrote about his recent mugging onthe river promenade at night. I havetwo short comments about it.

First, it would’ve been interest-ing to learn whether those teenmuggers were local or “imported,”if only to help pinpoint the sourcesof our problems and what we cando about them. (I know that le-gally, you can’t publish minors’identities, but does the prohibitionextend to mentioning where they’refrom, if you don’t give exact ad-dresses?).

Second – and this is not to jus-tify the deterioration of the Islandover the past few years – I feel thatMr. Edelman was really temptingfate by using that promenade atnight. When I moved here in ’94,it was safe to walk on both prom-enades at all times of the day andnight. Now I only use them onweekends and in broad daylight,when there are lots of other peoplearound. Otherwise, I just don’t feelsecure, and what happened to Mr.Edelman proves me right.

It’s too bad (but it’s a fact) thathere, as in the rest of New YorkCity, if you snooze, you lose – yourwallet, and maybe much more.

Patricia Duarte

To the Editor:Lee Edelman’s recounting of his

mugging was chilling. He is verybrave and very fortunate. His ex-perience mandates that, in additionto the usual patrols, the length ofthe promenades encircling the Is-land along the West and East Chan-nels should be patrolled by PublicSafety, and more frequently thanever. In light of the train-serviceextension into Queens and easyaccess to our Island, not doing sowill render these areas off-limits tolaw-abiding persons and allow thecriminal element to control the en-tire Island.

Let’s not merely cringe and hide.It’s important that we become moreinvolved in our own security andtry to give assistance in any waythat we can. Mr. Edelman said thathe called out for help and no onecame to his assistance. This is ap-palling. With practically everyoneowning and carrying a cell phonethese days, the very least a personcan do in a situation like this is todial 911. Also, the MTA employ-ees should have done more to helphim. If the Island becomes dan-gerous for residents, it also be-comes dangerous for those whowork here.

A happy and safe 2002 to all,Connie Gironda

Sign up for e-mail bulletins...Website NYC10044 will e-mail you when there isimportant Roosevelt Island news, betweenissues of The WIRE, posted on the website.To add your e-mail address to the list, send it ine-mail to editor@MainStreetWIRE.com, with thesubject line Add . Or check www.nyc10044.comregularly for the latest developments.

New York’s first (only?) snowstorm of the wintercame and went last weekend, briefly blanketing theIsland in white. Like all City snow, it was beautiful asit descended, and then it was slush. My wife hasyearned for snow all winter. My thoughts are on springtraining, pitchers and catchers, and the Mets’ pros-pects this year.

By the time you read this, the latest in a long line ofTram contretemps will be behindus and contingency plans will be inplace for the duration of the pre-dicament. Many of you attendedthe town meeting called by RIOCon January 17 to discuss the lossof Tram service. Islanders ex-pressed their frustration over theextended Tram outage and RIOC’sprovisions for alternative transpor-tation.

Some of you were outraged by American Tramways’error in measuring and cutting the haul rope. I can’thelp thinking of NASA’s multi-million dollar screw-ups in space, caused by confusion over whether met-ric or English system measurements were used. I re-member airline accidents caused by experienced pi-lots who neglected to lower the flaps on landing justonce, having done it correctly thousands of times.Inexplicable human error happens. The test of a sys-tem is its anticipation of snafus.Snafu is a military term meaningsituation normal, all fouled up. Ihave heard the word “fouled” re-placed with a synonym, however.

My chief concern is that eightweeks have passed since Thanks-giving and the start of Tram repairsand maintenance. Eight weeks inwhich a Tram, carrying 500 passen-gers per hour (1,000 passengersduring rush hours) was replaced byone red bus carrying approximately50 riders every hour. At the townmeeting, Rob Ryan, RIOC presi-dent, said that no one called theRIOC office to complain, so howwould they know there was a prob-lem?

The Tram has been in operationfor a quarter of a century, and Is-land old-timers tell me that theTram has been out of service forextended periods on many occasions. The problem isthat there are no standing contingency plans on file atRIOC that survive changes in administration. RIOC’sinstitutional memory seems to last as long as its presi-dents’ tenures and then, like the wheel, must be rein-vented. This is inefficient and no way to run anything.

I’m glad the frequency of bus service to Manhattanhas been doubled during rush hours. Clearly, it’s theright thing to do. However, this plan should have beenin place from the git-go. And American Tramways,which has accepted responsibility for the human errorthat precipitated this latest event, should have been

To the Community:We wish sincerely to thank all of

you who have given us your sup-port, showed concern, and be-stowed good wishes on us afterhearing of the assault Lee sustainedbefore Christmas. This has touchedus and continues to touch us deeplyand, to know that we have such acommunity that makes this pos-sible, adds a dimension that is re-ally beyond compare anywhere elsein New York. Thank you.

Lee, Kasiaand Julian Edelman

Letters from page 2

prevailed upon to pay for even greater frequency ofservice from the git-go. I would urge RIOC to antici-pate our needs, just as they do the need for rock saltfor the streets in winter. You don’t know when thestreets and sidewalks will be icy, you just know that,sooner or later, they will.

I was privileged to be one of the members of theMaple Tree Group who met with Governor George

Pataki and his staff on January 11.Our group had worked for monthsto prepare a presentation thatwould, briefly, outline our concernswith the present administration ofthe Island, detail the criteria for fu-ture development, and discuss aproposal to modify the legislationthat created RIOC in 1984. This billwould provide for the elected rep-resentation of Island residents on

the RIOC Board of Directors and would incorporatethe hiring of trained, experienced management of RIOC.

We met for an hour with the Governor’s chiefs ofpolicy and legislation, John Cahill and James Capiello;with our State Senator, Olga Mendez; RIOC Presi-dent Robert Ryan; and Governor Pataki. I was im-pressed by the level of knowledge evinced by Mr.Cahill and the Governor, and by the quality of theirquestions.

Explaining why our proposal wasthe best solution for residents wasthe easy part of our pitch. Clearly,a governing body answering di-rectly to the community and electedby the community will be more sen-sitive to the needs of that commu-nity. Convincing the Governor ofwhy this plan was in his best inter-ests was harder. Certainly, hewould be foregoing the opportunityfor a number of patronage jobs.Also, Island developers have sup-ported his political aspirations.Why then, give this up?

We think, because it’s the rightthing to do, and the Governor is onrecord as saying so. He is a long-time advocate of enhancedparkland and for local control ofsmall communities. In his recentState of the State address, he men-tioned the critical need for afford-

able housing so that people can remain in their com-munities. He has said, “Too often, faceless bureau-crats tell local government what it must do and whenit must do it. This Governor believes in the power ofthe people to make decisions for themselves.” Andalso, “Improve the ability of local governments to de-velop and implement local open-space plans to pro-tect locally significant open space.”

Just before Governor Pataki left us, he asked hislong-time friend and our long-time advocate, SenatorMendez, what she thought of our plan. Olga said,“This is an idea whose time has come.” ’Nuff said.

News Updates:Website NYC10044www.nyc10044.com

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Much of the other work in themeantime will not be visible, asMonadnock and its subcontractorscomplete the infrastructure of the19-acre site.

Water and sewer lines and theAVAC garbage disposal pipe mustbe extended to Southtown, andWeiss said that he wanted to com-plete some of the more disruptivework associated with these projectsbefore summer.

Two 19-inch AVAC pipes, bur-ied five feet deep, run on either sideof the Island. Southtown will beconnected to the east line, whichterminates near the kiddie lot southof Eastwood. Weiss suggested thatthe work of cutting the AVACtrench could curtail use of the play-ground for a brief period.

More disruptive, perhaps, will bea connection to the Island’s storm-drainage system, which will bedone in about six weeks. Weisssaid a trench will have to be cutacross the West Service Road, theonly connection betweenNorthtown and structures to thesouth – the Tram, the Steam Plant,and Goldwater Hospital.

The details of this job, which willtake about three weeks, have yet to

whether that power now resideswith the Mayor or with the CityCouncil.

While hearings to explore theCouncil’s authority might not leaddirectly to a City takeover becausethere are many related problemsthat would have to be solved, suchhearings might represent a poten-tial embarrassment to the State ad-ministration at a time when Gover-nor George Pataki is preparing torun for re-election.

Similarly, an investigative auditby the City Controller might havemore potential for embarrassmentthan for actually spurring a moveback to City control.

Representing AssemblymemberPete Grannis, Tony Morenzi toldsome 25 residents at the meetingthat “under the lease, the City Con-troller is the only official with theauthority to audit the lease and saywhether the State has violated itsterms.” Morenzi said that CityController Bill Thompson’s staff“has not said no to it yet. We be-lieve they are looking at this issuevery seriously and we’re waitingfor a determination of whetherthey will go forward with an au-dit to see if New York State has

be worked out, Weiss said. But itappears that the sidewalk leadingto the subway station will have tobe torn up, and that pedestrian traf-fic will be rerouted to the esplanadealong the East River. Much of thiswork could be done at night, headded, with the roadway plated forrush hours, or even rerouted.

As for the traffic turnaround nearthe Tramway station, Weiss heldout little hope for Island motoriststhat a more convenient location willbe available in the near future. Thenorthern tip of Southtown isdensely packed with utility linesand can’t accommodate a trafficcircle at this point, he said. A newturnaround will have to wait 18 to24 months, when Main Street is ex-tended straight through to the Tramstation.

The extension of Main Street,and indeed the whole configurationof the Southtown site, will be amajor landscaping project. Weisssaid that 30 percent of the materi-als excavated as the sites are con-structed – those big piles of dirt thatcan be seen over the fence – wouldbe used as backfill for the build-ings themselves, while the remain-ing 70 percent would be recycled

on-site to raise the general grade.And one part of the project is 95

percent complete. That is the newsports field, north of the TramwayPlaza, which was sodded last fall.Weiss said it should be ready foruse this summer. The blocky whitebuilding east of the Tram andpower plant is a combinationpumphouse and locker room forsoccer and baseball players.Monadnock, as the general contrac-tor, is responsible for a full year ofmaintenance before RIOC takesover, Weiss said.

Weiss describes his role, in part,as that of a “safety net.” From histrailer near the Tram, he worksclosely with the contractors whoare transforming the geography ofRoosevelt Island. But he tries tokeep the residents’ interests inmind: “I don’t want the pile rigdriving piles at 6:30 in the morn-ing, I don’t want 14 concrete trucksrunning a convoy down MainStreet, I don’t want the kids in thetot lot to play in the playgroundnext to a machine.”

Construction from page 1CB8 from page 1

l ived up to the terms of theLease.”

Morenzi and others in the meet-ing cited deterioration of BlackwellHouse, the Chapel of the GoodShepherd, and other landmarks, asevidence that the State is not keep-ing up its end of the lessor-lesseebargain.

Morenzi added, “If a determina-tion was ever made that there areviolations to the lease, I don’t knowwhat that would trigger, if anything.It’s never been done before. All ofthis is new ground that we’re try-ing to open up.” Rhetorically, headded the question, “Why wouldthe City want to take [RooseveltIsland] back? They would have tosee a benefit to taking it back. Soall this is [a] big unknown at themoment.”

Breslin suggested that withCouncilmember Gifford Miller,who represents the Island, nowleader of the City Council in hiscapacity as Speaker, the Councilmight be more willing than in thepast to attempt clarification of itsauthority over Island land use, andthen perhaps move to hold the Stateresponsible for execution of theterms of the lease.

Updates: Website NYC10044www.nyc10044.com

The Main Street WIRE, Sat., Jan 26, 2002 • 5

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feet closer to the Blackwell House was a vio-lation of the State Environmental Quality Re-view Act. He makes the same point aboutthe north building – Building No. 1 – block-ing views of “the historic QueensboroBridge.” (The Hudson-Related plan forSouthtown replaced an earlier version inwhich the northerly buildings were placedfarther away from the Blackwell House andRivercross. The buildings in the originalplan, however, were higher than the 16-storyapartments that are being constructed now.)

The court’s third error, Chira says, is thefinding that “the approximate six acres ofBlackwell Park required by the lease’s planare met by adding 1.86 acres of non-parkspace across the main road to the admitted3.86 acres of said Park that now exist.”

These points were brought before thelower courts, but Chira and the attorney forRIRSD, Christopher DeMayo, have addedan extra element of salesmanship in the newpleadings in a effort to frame the issues asbeing of wider interest or as potentially pre-cedent-setting.

Chira, for example, argues that “movingthese two buildings 100 feet closer toBlackwell House is equivalent to placing twohigh-rise buildings closer to the White Houseafter an environmental study had concludedthat the buildings of a prior plan farther awaywould create a negative visual impact.”

While Chira invokes a blot on the WhiteHouse, DeMayo casts the issue as an urgentmatter of preservation: “A park is at stake.The answer to the question will determinewhether thousands of present and futureRoosevelt Islanders and others who visit theIsland will be able to use and enjoy the parkdescribed in the GDP, or whether that greenspace will be built over.”

Indeed, RIRSD’s summary presented tothe Court of Appeals states flatly that “thiscase centers around Respondents’ efforts toconstruct high-rise residential buildings inBlackwell Park.” The GDP reference is tothe General Development Plan included inthe lease between RIOC, which runs the Is-land, and the city, which owns it.

Chira makes the point that under the GDP,Blackwell is supposed to be a “park,” notjust open space, and that borrowing non-ad-jacent open spaces to come up with about 6acres is an unacceptable concoction of the

courts. He would also confine BlackwellPark to the east side of the Island.

Chira’s case for re-argument reflects hisopinion that the Appellate Division failed todeal with his objections to the design ofSouthtown. The larger issue he offers forpossible Court of Appeals’ consideration iswhether the Hudson/Related plan is incon-sistent with the lease’s public park require-ment. He cites a 2001 case, Friends of VanCortlandt Park v. City of New York, in whichthe Court of Appeals found that legislativeapproval was needed to build a water treat-ment facility at the 1,122-acre park in theBronx even though the facility was mandatedby federal regulations.

The questions in RIRSD’s 20-page casesummary are less easily summarized becausethey are presented as matters of “pure statu-tory interpretation” dealing with judicialstandards of review and the interplay of sev-eral laws. But the language of the brief isclear in its characterization of the AppellateDivision’s December 18 decision as beingcontradictory and confusing.

The three questions are whether the RIOCBoard’s approval of the project in Septem-ber 1999 was illegal because the boardlacked a quorum; whether the court wasoverly generous in allowing RIOC to inter-pret the GDP; and whether the reduction ofBlackwell to 3.86 acres falls below the “di-minishment” of the park allowed under theGDP.

RIRSD has argued on appeal that the lawcreating RIOC as a nine-member board issilent on the question of a quorum, and thatin the absence of clear authority to the con-trary, the state’s General Construction Lawmust apply to RIOC’s actions. If you ac-cept that reasoning, there were not enoughboard members present on September 22,1999, to conduct business – even thoughthere may have been enough “yes” votes atthe time to approve the Southtown resolu-tion, as provided under the RIOC statute.This is an apparent conflict in New York lawthat RIRSD wants the Court of Appeals tosettle “with the creation of a more generallegal rule.”

DeMayo’s firm, LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene& MacRae, has failed thus far to engage ei-ther its opposing law firms or the appealsjudges in this debate, despite presenting the

question as a basic democratic right. TheHudson/Related law firm, Sive, Paget &Riesel, has argued that the question is irrel-evant because RIRSD did not raise it on thetrial court level. But DeMayo is making afresh pitch now in an attempt to interest thehigh court.

The second matter – the standard of re-view – is related to the sort of question lay-men are confronted with when they serve onjuries and are told that the conviction of acriminal defendant is subject to proof “be-yond a reasonable doubt.” The standard ofreview for a public body’s false interpreta-tion of a law is whether it acted in an “arbi-trary and capricious” manner. RIRSD con-tends that the trial judge applied this stan-dard to RIOC’s treatment of the General De-velopment Plan even though the GDP is acontract, not a law.

Nevertheless, RIRSD also argued that, inits own action, brought as an Article 78 chal-lenge to a government action, the narrowcriteria of a contract dispute did not apply.“The Appellate Division, disregardingRIRSD’s characterization of its own lawsuit– as well as the maxim that the plaintiff isthe master of its own pleadings – analyzedthe issue as if RIRSD had brought a third-

party contract claim under the GDP. On thisanalysis the court concluded that RIRSDlacked standing.”

DeMayo continues: “But, as RIRSD re-peatedly noted, the GDP is not just any con-tract, it is a special contract in that RIOC’sconduct under it is limited by a particularstatutory provision,” and therefore is action-able under Article 78. RIRSD’s brief theninvites the Court of Appeals to settle ques-tions of review standards and determinewhether an Article 78 proceeding can be usedto challenge an agency’s conduct under acontract.

Finally, the RIRSD case summary insiststhat the defunct city Board of Estimate’s re-fusal in 1990 to validate a reduction in thesize of Blackwell Park, as requested byRIOC, should be treated at face value as awish to maintain the park at “approximatelysix acres.”

Looking at the big picture, DeMayo says:“Deciding Question Three will afford theCourt the opportunity to reaffirm principlesof contract interpretation in a novel setting:the 99-year lease between the City of NewYork and a New York agency, and the Gen-eral Development Plan incorporatedtherein.”

Challenges from page 1

School SeeksCareer Speakers

PS/IS 217 is seeking Career Day speakers.The event, scheduled for Friday, March

22, gives sixth- through eighth-graders achance to hear from professionals in manydifferent fields, and to ask questions about avariety of occupations.

Presenters usually speak about how theygot their current job, skills and educationalrequirements, compensation, benefits, a typi-cal work day, and the satisfactions and chal-lenges of the work. The event lasts throughthe morning, into lunch.

Volunteer speakers are asked to call Su-san Cohen, Guidance Counselor, at980-0294, ext. 2422.

will be made soon. The State agency’s en-gineering services unit issues permits fortrams and ski lifts.

If the state approves the engineering fix,the Tram could be running again by themiddle of February. If a new cable has to beinstalled, however, Blomer has said it couldbe months before the Tram resumes opera-tions. The rope is manufactured in Europe.

The Tram employees were furloughed onDecember 21. Twenty of the workers aremembers of Local 30 of the Operating Engi-neers union, and a union business agent,Gerard Devine, told The WIRE that he waspursuing a claim for back wages for theworkers through the American ArbitrationAssociation, as provided in the workers’contract. “They were laid off through nofault of their own by the actions of an out-side contractor,” Devine said. “It’s not sup-posed to happen that way.”

The Tram workers, who were especiallyworried that they would lose their healthbenefits after the end of January, have alsoreceived some assurances of help from RIOCPresident Robert Ryan and other RIOC offi-cials, who conducted a town meeting on theTram last week.

In the Thursday night meeting at theChapel of the Good Shepherd:

• RIOC President Robert H. Ryan said thatAmerican Tramways, the contractor operat-ing the Tramway and doing the current re-furbishing work, had admitted “full respon-sibility” for the error in cutting the cableshort, but Ryan stopped short of sayingAmerican Tramways would pay for a re-placement cable. He said the current focusis on getting the Tram back in service.

• Several Tramway employees addressedthe meeting. Robert Kelly pointed out that,in the past, when one company ran the Tram

and hired another to do maintenance work,workers were not laid off when there was aproblem. He said that in the present arrange-ment, with American Tramways operatingthe Tram and performing the maintenancework, there is no one holding the companyaccountable for mistakes. He called thepresent arrangement a “conflict of interest.”Residents applauded that point.

• Ryan compared “rumors” he had heardabout wheelchair-bound Islanders being leftto wait another hour for a bus ride at theManhattan side, to the child’s game of “tele-phone.” But later in the meeting, residentEddie O’Flynn said he had been presentwhen a Goldwater Hospital patient was de-nied a ride because there was no more spacefor chairs.

• Ryan cited bus ridership figures averag-ing 30 passengers or less as justification forhourly service each way, but RIOC later re-sponded to resident criticism by adding morerush-hour trips starting Tuesday.

(A fuller report of the meeting is availableon Website NYC10044 at www.nyc10044.com.)

Tram from page 1

The Main Street WIRE, Sat., Jan. 26, 2002 • 7

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