Monday, January 3, 2011

It's Time to Say Goodbye to this Blog....



This day has been coming for a long time. It's been a long time since I have seriously been able to give this blog the time and energy it deserves. Things changed in my life and the blog unfortunately became another casualty.

I have had a lot of fun writing it. It may not have been the most newsworthy and certainly not always the most timely but I feel it added its presence for a time to the discussion and helped bring Roosevelt Island into the greater consciousness of the City.

I thank the folks over at the NY Times City Room and the NYT Blog Talk posting as well as the folks over the Village Voice Running Scared blog for noticing this blog from time to time and highlighting several stories. My favorites were the ones involving the FDR memorial, the red bus, our subway station, its escalators, the bike racks, the fire call boxes among several others. I loved writing about our playgrounds as I am a parent to young children and I always tried to write partially from the perspective of a parent/resident of the Island.

I enjoyed the rivalry I had in the beginning with Rick over the Roosevelt Islander when I had more time and it became fun to see which one of us got a story onto the blogs first. Rick usually had the more in depth story as he has been amazingly dedicated to bringing another daily news source to residents and nonresidents alike about this little island. I will miss that fun. I encourage everyone to follow the Roosevelt Islander as it's a great blog to keep up with what's going in between issues of the Main Street WIRE.

I also thank Matt Katz and Frank France for including me in all correspondence and meeting notices about RIRA issues that came up along the way. Also kudos to Steve Shane for always responding to my email inquiries even if at times he really thought my question was obvious. Judy Berdy gets a special thanks for sending pics and news stories my way and for being a good friend.

I started this blog to show friends and family members what life was like here via my 360 degree videos I used to shoot and then with the encouragement of the folks at Outside.In (a blog and news aggregator who told me to add text) I started writing in addition to shooting 60 second videos.

But now it feels right to officially wind the blog down. I don't intend to turn off the blog as I think there are some good pieces and videos still worth viewing but don't expect there to be any new posts. In a short time I also will be shutting off the ability to add any new comments so the ongoing discussion / gripe sessions regarding Eastwood and Ron Vass will need to find a new home.

Thanks for the fun to everyone and feel free to say hello as I am keeping the email address RooseveltIsland360@gmail.com for anyone that wants to write or kibitz.

Regards,

Eric S.




18 comments:

  1. dommage, je lisais ce blog depuis la France pour prendre des nouvelles de Roosevelt Island, mais je te comprends. Alors bonne continuité dans la suite de ta vie sans ce blog.
    Cordialement et bonne année 2011

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  2. Really enjoyed your blog- thank you for all your posts on Roosevelt Island. Best of luck in all you do, and Happy New Year!
    Kay

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  3. thanks for running the blog, it was a great resource. best wishes!

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  4. Thanks for taking a stab at blogging. You were my first online RI resource just after I moved here in 2008, and gave some great insights about this strange little island that I now call home.

    Good luck in 2011!
    - JW

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  5. Thank you, Eric, you raised the profile of our little Island in NYC -- no more "isolated enclave on the East River," as some folks thought of us.
    Best to you and your family in 2011.
    Francine

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  6. i hate what have become of this island . you new people have changed this island you should all go to hell

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  7. I really hate goodbyes, I hope you'll return again someday.

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  8. i hate all these new people with money who have moved onto the island . this island always had a good home feeling to it . but no more .rioc is useless .they do nothing as this island is being handed over to the rich jewish builders . no more affordable apartments. what the hell is rioc doing about this .to all low and middle income people on the island , i say to you do not move , that is what the rich owners want . they want low and middle income people off the island . all the owners of these buildings are rich jews , they are the ones who run this island , dont move stay on your welfare and sec.8 dont let them win .because the only way you can afford to pay the rent is because you get sec 8 . so dont give it up ,rioc should demand that a few affordable apartment buildings be build here .

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  9. oldtimer you are right . but you cannot do anything about it . do you really think that these rich owners of these buildings give a s...t about low and middle income people . these men are all about making money .its too bad rioc is letting this go on . just look at what happend to eastwood . how the hell did rioc let this happend .this island is for the high income and the rich. this is not what it was build for .i hate all the new people who have moved here

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  10. all the new members on the rira all have alot of money . these are the new type of people on the island , i say to all of you go to hell

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  11. rioc is useless, they are in bed with the rich owners of these buildings , they do not care about the low and middle income people on this island ,

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  12. roosevelt island .becoming all white.as new rich white people move here . its too bad because this island was made for all incomes and all rices , but rioc says nothing about this . .rioc is useless and is in bed with the rich building owners .

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  13. so you dont want to hear about the injustice that was done to many many people in eastwood . but you a want to know what is funny . whats funny is i am the only one who writes on your blg.thats whats funny without me there would be nothing on this blg at all .also everything i said on this blg is true . about ron vass and what happend 5 years ago in eastwood . but no one wants TO GET INVOLED TO FIX IT , RIOC IS IN BED WITH KILNERs OFFICE and the whole agreement needs to be looked at because people were paid off , no one wants to open a cann of worms ,also the wire has never said a word about all of this ,

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  14. Hey 0ldtimer , That was racist
    Plain and simple.

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  15. to carol yes it is racist . and it also is true and you know it ,how many new black and hispancic people do you see moving onto the island . see think about it i say the truth .

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  16. I agree RIOC is all about the money and Eastwood is in the dumps. The Sec 8 and low income Tenants are the ones being treated poorly. We can't get service repairs on a timely basis nor would they move us on a timely basis because they give the apartments to outsiders first.

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  17. You're all full of crap. RIOC is in place to run the island as a whole. They're not in bed with any of the building owners or managers. Why do people insist on making s..t up. Rich or poor, black or white - RIOC is here to help everyone. Stop being part of this island's problems and start being part of the solution.

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  18. Howdy, I actually love reading through your posts, thank you for the truly great post!

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