City Offers Goldwater Campus As Possible Site for Science / Engineering College

The prospect of the Goldwater Campus being put to use as other than a hospital campus has popped up once again. This time as a possible site for a future science or engineering college with a 99 year lease to the institution that comes to it with an option to renew it.

Links: WSJ article; NYT Article

The idea of a top university space at the site would seem more appealing to Island residents than simply selling the site to residential developers but even this idea would drive rents and housing costs further up, due to increased demand for student housing, on the Island making it increasingly difficult for current residents to remain.

Roosevelt Island Weekend Subway Disruptions: 11 of 14 Weeks and Running

Today's NY Times included a column by Clyde Haberman bemoaning the fact that for many New Yorkers the arrival of the weekend just brings another headache ...the weekend subway service disruption.

This is something the residents of Roosevelt Island certainly know about. By my count, including this weekend, we will have had reduced service for 11 weekends out 14 weekends so far in 2008. I would like to see which station is hit the hardest throughout the system. I can't imagine there are too many that beat us but at least we have the Tram, for now, to offset the outages.

Any bets on how many weekends we will get to by the end of 2008? The closest gets a pizza on me.

The tally so far includes:
(1) 1/5-7; (2) 1/12-14; (3) 1/19-21; (4) 1/26-28; (5) 2/2-4; (6) 2/16-18; (7) 3/1-3; (8) 3/8-10; (9) 3/15-17; (10) 3/29-31; and (11) 4/5-7

-----Original Message-----
From: Clyde Haberman
Date: Fri, 04 Apr 2008 14:30:23
To:rooseveltisland360@gmail.com
Subject: Re: Fw: Your NYT Weekend Subway Disruption Column

Many thanks for your note and the link to the blog. It does indeed sound as if Roosevelt I. may win the weekend disruption derby, dubious though that title may be.

What can I say except, Happy Trails.
All the best,
Clyde Haberman

Geography Defined Typographically

This image of Manhattan (apparently below 96th Street) and Roosevelt Island is from FFFFOUND and was found via today's NYT City Room Blogtalk posting.

I cannot decide yet if our island looks lonely hanging out off to the right like that. I guess we shoudl be thankful we were invited to the party.

Roosevelt Island Apartments After a Category 3 Hurricane?

The NY Times is running a story about possible housing solutions after a Category 3 Hurricane would displace thousands of New Yorkers. The above rendering was from the winning entry in a competition titled "What if New York City" where entrants were asked “to generate solutions for post-disaster provisional housing.”

Perhaps RIOC should start placing orders for these units now if the predictions are that in the next few years a major hurricane will be hitting the area.

Resident Profiles: The DJs of Coler-Goldwater Radio - 88.1 FM

The City Section of the New York Times, Sunday, February 3, 2008, includes a great article about two men who, despite the hard knocks life has thrown them, are using their time to bring music to others via their on-air radio shows and in turn have also helped themselves. It's a great article and worth reading. The men profiled are Joel Malament and Peter Brenner.

Just another story of how life continues and thrives, despite the odds, at a hospital most Roosevelt Island residents and certainly most NYC residents, know little about.

NY Times Neediest Cases: A Roosevelt Island Resident Profiled

“Ms. Palanco, who has been deaf since birth, lives with her husband, Gustavo Palanco, and their four children in a duplex apartment on Roosevelt Island. She holds a steady job assembling office chairs at the Pibbs Industries factory in Queens and has joined an online deaf community that speaks in sign language via Web cam.”

- The first paragraph in the full article.

NYT: Next Stop Commuter Series - Roosevelt Island

With all the fun last week I forgot to update everyone regarding the NY Times article on the Tram. Link through to the final article HERE.

I was glad to help out and happier that Billie Cohen, the reporter got to speak with Judy Berdy of the RIHS and Greg Paravati one of the Tram operators. So far the article has gotten positive responses and to be honest jumped this blog's hit count on a daily basis.

NYT Commuting Series “Next Stop” : Roosevelt Island

Today started with meeting Billie Cohen, the New York Times reporter, who is currently spending each day this month commuting by every known method into NYC and sharing her stories within the Next Stop series.

Ms. Cohen found me via my blog and the public comments I submitted to the NYT regarding commuting via Tram. Knowing that I could only spend a few minutes before and during the Tram trip with her I invited along Judy Berdy, President of the Roosevelt Island Historical Society.

We also timed our trip to take Cabin 2 with Greg Parvati, one of the long time tram operators. Greg has been with RIOC for over twenty years now and if anyone has interesting Tram stories to share it is him as well as Judy Berdy. My understanding is that Ms. Cohen took several tram trips this morning so I expect she gathered plenty of stories and insights about the Island, our Tram and transportation to/from Roosevelt Island.

So look for a story about commuting via Tram over the next few days in the New York Times.

Santa Flies by Helicopter to Roosevelt Island

The following are two articles from the New York Times Archive reporting events on what was then Welfare Island related to Christmas. The first from 1952 reports that Santa had to deliver presents to Welfare Island via helicopter as vehicle traffic was not possible. The second from 1927 addresses a gift of carillon bells to the Church of the Good Shepherd which were rang for the first time on that Christmas eighty years ago today.

Real Escapes from Roosevelt (then Blackwell’s) Island

I must admit I was delighted when my Second Dock post of two days (Dec 19) ago was picked up and featured under the Daily “Blog Talk” post by the New York Times City Room Blog. I was more amused by their summarization of the piece as “Escape from Roosevelt island” focusing in on my concerns of needed transportation alternatives if the Tram, subway and Bridge were all out at the same time.

I believe many of the added visitors I received that day were looking for prison escape stories. I figured I should oblige as Roosevelt Island was once the home of New York City’s Penitentiary, the famed “Big House” that criminals were sent up the river to, before it moved to Riker’s Island. So courtesy of the NYT here are partial accounts of two such escape attempts (from 1875 and 1894) and the headline referring to the transfer of inmates to Rikers in 1903

Will Roosevelt Island’s Elevators and Escalators Be Part of the Planned MTA Automated Monitoring System?

The New York Times is reporting today, December 17, 2007, of an MTA project to “hook up more than 300 elevators and escalators in the subways to a computerized monitoring system that would allow it to respond more quickly to breakdowns.” The plan still needs the approval of the full Authority but the prospect is encouraging. Reading through the articles it appears the plan is focusing on elevators first.

According to the article “[t]here are 158 passenger elevators in the subway system, including 138 in 61 stations that are fully accessible to disabled people, according to the transit agency. There are 169 escalators. The subway system has 468 stations.”

Using simple division that means the two elevators on Roosevelt Island account for just over 1% of the total elevator population no matter which figure is the denominator. Not much percentage wise but at least we are on the board. Since we have a higher percentage of wheelchair residents than most neighboprhoods anytime these elevators go out of service we should be yelling louder.

Our 10 escalators account for just under 6% of the total escalator population. At 6% that is nothing to sneeze at. What bugs me and most residents is why are the new escalators already are out of service as often as they are. If they are being “rested” during off hours can that be posted at the track level or at the lower mezzanine before individuals start heading up to find that the escalators from Upper Mezzanine to the street are out of service? Can we automate those fancy LED lights at the bottom to inform us of these outages?

Based on these percentages and our resident population I would hope that our elected representatives work to ensure our elevators and escalators are included in the final MTA automated response plan once it is approved earlier than later.

Roosevelt Island’s Name Changes – A Short History

What did FDR, Marcus Garvey, and Roberto Clemente all have in common? They each had destinations re-named in their honor by NYC on July 19, 1973. In FDR’s case it was then Welfare Island which was being re-named. The Island bore the name “Welfare Island” for a mere 52 years as opposed to the Island’s prior name “Blackwell Island” which it bore for much longer. The second image below details this discontent with the name change to Welfare Island.

NYT: “Roosevelt Island” – The First Thanksgiving

Roosevelt Island residents call them “pioneers” but this 1975 New York Times article refers to these first residents of the newly renamed Roosevelt Island as “pilgrims” on their first Thanksgiving on the Island. To view on the entire article double click the “partial” text provided below.

NYT: Letter to Editor - Nov 6, 2007

In response to yesterday's New York Times editorial that there isn't much to do on Roosevelt island the below letter was submitted and published today:

The View From Roosevelt I.

There’s more to Roosevelt Island than a tram ride to and fro.

There’s a quiet East River walk with spectacular views of Manhattan, highlighted by the United Nations and arresting river traffic.

A historic lighthouse opposite Gracie Mansion on the north end and preening cormorants on a rocky island on the south end. Traffic sounds are distant.

Occasionally there are lovers by the river railing. Seagulls seem tamer. And on a sunny morning Manhattan seems marvelously manageable.

Robert Solotaire
Portland, Me.,
Nov. 5, 2007

Thank you Robert! Why we did not write ourselves I cannot say but I am sure glad you did.

Roosevelt Island's PS / IS 217 Earns a “B” on City Issued Report Cards

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein today released the first-ever Progress Reports on the City's public schools. Based on the searchable listing published by the NY Times today the local primary / middle school earned a “B” grade.

Double click the above image to enlarge it.

Per the official news release issued by NYC the grades are based on three major categories including:

“….school environment (15%), student performance (30%), and student progress (55%). "School environment" includes the results of surveys taken by parents, students, and teachers last spring, as well as student attendance rates. The "student performance" category measures actual student outcomes-whether elementary and middle school students are proficient in reading and math and whether high school students are graduating. "Student progress" has the highest weight because it measures how schools are helping students improve year-to-year-gains in reading and math proficiency for elementary and middle school students, and credit accumulation and Regents exam pass rates for high school students.”

I will admit I am a bit confused by this scoring system. When I was a kid in school passing was a 65 or better. Or was it 55? Either way how a 59 warrants a grade of a "B" makes no sense. The new math?

As per the Gothamist: "The Daily News' Errol Louis likes the report cards, Diane Ravitch doesn't and Inside Schools explains what the different components, from the grade to other factors like "student progress," mean. You can download the Excel file of grades here (XLS)."

Links:

New York Times article re City Issued Report Cards

Inside Schools.org profile of 217

Inside Schools Blog

NYC Public School Parents Blog

NYT Editorial : A Roosevelt for Roosevelt Island

Today's New York Times includes an editorial supporting the construction of the Louis Kahn FDR Memorial:

"The eminent architect Louis Kahn was commissioned to design the memorial, and his concept was simple and elegant. Drawing inspiration from Roosevelt’s defense of the Four Freedoms — of speech and religion, and from want and fear — he designed an open “room and a garden” at the bottom of the island. Trees on either side form a “V” defining a green space, and leading to a two-walled stone room at the water’s edge that frames the United Nations and the rest of the skyline."

"There’s a magic to the project. That the task is daunting makes it worthy of the man it honors, who guided the nation through the Depression, the New Deal and a world war. As for Mr. Kahn, he died in 1974, as he passed alone through New York’s Penn Station. In his briefcase were renderings of the memorial, his last completed plan."

No mention is made in the editorial about the concerns of the residents of Roosevelt Island just praise for the design, FDR himself, and for Kahn.

NYT City Room Posts about Haunted Roosevelt Island

The New York Times City Room blog tonight published a post titled “Answers about Haunted New York”. Kate Davey, “the co-founder of the Web site findingDulcinea … and is an expert on the tales and legends of New York’s paranormal history, is taking questions from City Room readers this week of which one of the first questions addresses the haunted history of Roosevelt Island.

Bet you did not know that the play The Tap Dance Kid was about a family of dancers from Roosevelt Island and the story includes a visit to the “kid” from his ghostly grandfather encouraging him. The Times blog post also addresses the real life ghostly encounters known to many Octagon residents as well as several other claims and ghostly accolades accorded the Island.

Check it out at this LINK.

Roosevelt Island Could Have Had Four (4) Bridges

Yes, it’s true at this moment I am obsessed with the concept of bridges. In July 1969, a plan to develop Roosevelt Island with private funding was delivered to then Governor Rockefeller which proposed a “commercial, intellectual, recreational and residential “city of the future” housing 150,0000 people.” To be honest I don’t care about all the promises this plan offered.

All I care about is that it envisioned 4 bridges connecting this island to either Manhattan or Queens. Under the plan there would have been “four broad bridges modeled after the Ponte Vecchio in Florence and containing along their length shops, hotels, banks, theaters and restaurants”.

As we all know the Kahn plan was not to be and the State went with the plan proposed in October 1969 by Ed Logue of the Urban Development Corporation.

But why did they think one bridge was enough. Couldn’t they foresee that having only one means of “natural” egress would not be enough.

We will never have more than we have now bridge-wise but a blogger can dream can’t he? And did I mention that the Northernmost of the planned bridges would have exited into the parking lot of what is now Costco in Long Island City. That would have been sweet.

Map Source:
New York Times “Think Tank Director Proposes $2 Billion Plan to Develop Welfare Island as “City of the Future”” July 10, 1969

Roosevelt Island’s Westview Complex Cited in State Report Regarding Corruption / Mismanagement at Subsidized Housing Complexes

According to today’s New York Times, Thursday, September 20, 2007, the report issued by State Inspector General Kristine Hamann, indicated that:

"The state housing agency’s “deep and systemic failure” to properly oversee the rapidly dwindling supply of subsidized middle-income housing has led to the deterioration of the buildings, an increase in rents and a waste of taxpayer money."

The report apparently also included references to Westview:

"At the highly desirable Westview complex on Roosevelt Island, investigators found a troubling proposal to convert the building to market-rate condominiums. The Division of Housing and Community Renewal granted a proposed buyer a waiver in 2004 to manage the complex. By August 2006, 31 apartments in the complex had been vacant for about a year, despite a waiting list of 1,000 and a policy that “there should be no vacancies in subsidized housing in New York.”

It appears that the operator was warehousing the vacant apartments in anticipation of a windfall from their sale as condominiums. Nevertheless, the report said, an agency inspector “termed the complex’s inflated vacancy rate ‘satisfactory.’ ” The sale fell through in March 2006."

NY Times (9/02/07): Living On / Roosevelt Island

The New York Times Real Estate section this Sunday, September 2, 2007, will includes an article, by C.J. Hughs, titled “An Island Joins the Mainstream”. The article is part of their “Living In” series here retitled “Living On” due to the neighborhood’s island status.

The article is your standard real estate review of the island’s Mitchell-Lama history, the rental levels and costs, and also talks about the newer market rate apartment buildings and construction growth. I suppose it is the newer market rate apartments and the existence of our Starbucks and the pending Duane Reade that justify the “Joins the Mainstream” designation.

The article includes your standard Tram shot of the newest Riverwalk construction site and the riverfront facing Manhattan as well a few graphics. As is normal for the “Living In” series there are discussion of the schools, transportation, and area history. Pretty standard review.