Island Cats requests volunteers for feeding North Station on Roosevelt I.

The following is a reprint of a post made by a resident on the OctagonRI.com website. I thought it worth publishing here. Thanks Julie and Jennifer for letting everyone know about this!

Hi, Folks: Many of you are probably familiar with the wonderful organization called Island Cats. Briefly, they are a non-profit, volunteer-run organization that performs trap-neuter-release and adoption of stray cats on the island. Last year alone they performed surgeries on over 50 cats and were able to adopt over 25, releasing the feral (and therefore unadoptable but now sterile) ones back into well-managed colonies on the island.

They have two main feeding stations on the island, one of which is at the periphery of the ball field near the Octagon. The station consists of two sheltered water and feed areas, with several "condos" that the cats use to stay warm in the winter. These stations are completely run by volunteers, who feed once a day (dry and canned food). Most of the volunteers buy their own food to use and feed once a week or so. However, if finances are of concern, individuals have said they could provide the food. It literally takes 10 minutes of your time.

I perform the Sunday feedings and get a great deal of joy seeing them come running up when you whistle!If you think you could be of service, please contact Jennifer Dunning at ri.cats@yahoo.com. They are in particular need of folks for Weds and Thursday, so if you are a stay-at-homer or only work part-time, you would be perfect! Thanks for your consideration. Jules

The above picture taken within the gardens at Roosevelt Island is by Mayotic and can be found on Flickr HERE.

FYI: The Roosevelt Island "Prow"

On March 5, 2000, the F.Y.I. column in the New York Times ran the following Q and A regarding the construction of one of the few Roosevelt Island “points of interest” that point to the island being an island. If anyone has additional information regarding the design and construction let us know.

I have always wondered why at that spot and not somewhere else. I suppose it had to do with the boat landing referred to below. All I know is that every time my kids and I walk up that part of the promenade we have to build in a few minutes, at least, to play on the “boat”.

“A Nautical Stage

Q. A strange object that looks very much like a rusty old ship's prow protrudes from Roosevelt Island's west sea wall. It appears to be ''sailing'' across the channel toward 79th Street in Manhattan. What is it?

A. It's a performance stage and observation platform, built over an old boat landing in 1997 and designed to look . . . well, like a ship's prow. It projects about 50 feet out into the West Channel, and consists of a flat, unadorned concrete wedge clad with rusty plates of steel. Two small slots near the tip -- presumably for imaginary anchor chains -- are the only real nautical embellishment, though a few heavy mooring posts have been placed nearby.

The prow is in Octagon Park, in the northern section of the 157-acre island, below Coler Memorial Hospital. Nine acres of the 15-acre park, which was designed by Weintraub & di Domenico, a landscape architecture firm, were completed in 1992, but the prow is in a treeless forgotten area near the vents for the city's unfinished Third Water Tunnel. Set along a tattered section of the promenade, it is, at best, a diamond in the rough, though the view of Manhattan is stunning."

View from the South

Nautical Moorings

Octagon Dock

According to a conversation I had with an Octagon resident this past Summer this dock is probably not able to accept Ferry Service as it is wearing structurally such that the "contact" made with repeated moorings would cause it increasing damage. It appears safe for pedestrian traffic but beyond that it would probably not hold up to an official inspection to receive ferry service. At least that was the opinion of that resident.