I admit I have no knowledge of current popular music or who DJs Andrew Andrew are but if they are shilling for Roosevelt Island and standing up as residents I support them.
Apparently they let it be known where they live and they spoke about living on Roosevelt island to the folks over Daily Intel / New York Magazine and how they feel empowered by the positive attitudes shown by some of our differently abled residents.
After seeing the above picture I actually recall seeing two guys dressed alike walking around the island not knowing that it was them.
An unconfirmed report has indicated that the Roosevelt Island restaurant Trellis may have been closed by the DOH.
According to the DOH website, Trellis was recently inspected twice at the beginning and end of May each time requiring a follow up inspection. It is unknown what triggered the reported closure or for how long the restaurant will be closed.
According to a RIOC Advisory issued this afternoon the scheduled maintenance work has been completed early and the Roosevelt Island Tram will be put back into service at 5pm this afternoon. The Tram had originally been scheduled to return to service tomorrow morning at 6am.
Free service will be provided to all riders through 2am tonight. Queens/Manhattan express bus service is being terminated. It is assumed this is effective as of 5pm as well.
"Sunday June 29th @ SOUTHERN TIP OF ROOSEVELT ISLAND
:: (SUMMER)TIME UNAMPLIFIED ACOUSTIC BBQ :: an afternoon of folks playing songs lackadaisical-like :: 4TH ANNUAL BBQ!
:: Extra Life ---------------> duo version :: Aa aka BIG A little a :: Warmer Milks :: Pink Reason :: Pterodactyl -------------> duo plus buds! :: the Shoe ---------------> feat Jena Malone :: Stars Like Fleas :: Ezekiel Healy :: Dave and Ryan from Tall Firs :: the So So Glos :: Wonted Haunts -----> feat Tim Traynor :: Pure Horsehair :: Todosantos ----------> duo :: Vultures :: lots and lots and lots more lineup tba!!!
[ SOUTHERN TIP OF ROOSEVELT ISLAND ] enter at corner of Main St & Road 3 Roosevelt Island, NY F to Roosevelt Island 11am to sundown ALL AGES FREE!! bring bbq stuff -- MAP --> http://maps.google.com/maps?oi=map&q=Main+%26+Road+3,+10044 -- LOOK --> http://toddpnyc.com/images/roosevelt_island.mp4.file -- LOOK--> http://toddpnyc.com/images/mattandkim.mp4.file -- LOOK--> http://toddpnyc.com/images/dirtyprojectors.mp4.file
The park is right in the middle of the East River, the city and the river swirl serenely around you - you could throw rocks at the Midtown Skyline. And there's this ruined castle-like 1850's city smallpox hospital [ http://rihs.us/landmarks/renwick-1.jpg ] down there too (legendarily haunted). Take the F train all the way there (there's a "Roosevelt Island" stop), and bring your guitars & beach umbrellas & blankets & folding chairs & your beverages (IN A CUP, NO GLASS OR OPEN CONTAINERS) & your hibachis & charcoal & stuff to grill & whatnot. "
One of the few rules I learned from my days in boy scouts was to respect our flag. As a result since I have moved here to Roosevelt Island I have winced almost every day I pass the flags flown at the Main Street traffic triangle and at Firefighter's Field. I am not a flag waiving lunatic but seeing those flags as tattered at their edges as they are is just wrong.
What has also bugged me is seeing these two flags flown 24 hours a day in every kind of foul weather. I can deal with the bad weather as I don't really expect to see RIOC or the PSD raising and lowering the flags daily but it has always been my understanding that under the US Flag Code (yes it's an actual law 1,2) that flags flown at night must be lit via a spotlight or other means.
I finally got to a point where I raised each of these issues to Stephen Shane, RIOC President, who has assured me that each flag will be examined (and I inferred replaced by his emails) and that lighting will be investigated and addressed. Lighting for the Main Street traffic triangle will be worked out once the traffic and pedestrian reconfiguration, currently under way, at that location is completed.
This Saturday evening, June 21st, Roosevelt Island residents will have the choice of seeing two movies or perhaps seeing in effect a double feature.
Starting at 7:30 pm at the Roosevelt Island Visual Arts Association (RIVAA) residents can vew on the island the film "A Necessary Music" which was filmed on Roosevelt Island as a collaborative work between Beatrice Gibson and Alex Waterman. You can read more about this film by linking HERE to past blog posts about the film or linking HERE to the film's website.
Starting at 8:45 pm RIOC presents 'The NeverEnding Story" which is being shown on a large inflatable screen over at Firefighters Field. As previously reported the RIOC Summer Film Series has been moved this year from Southpoint to Firefighter's Field to allow for greater access as opposed to residents having to navigate the unpaved paths required to get to Southpoint.
Starting last week as reported by the Roosevelt Islander, Escalator 416, which is the lower of the two "up" escalators has been sporadically in and out of service. The last two nights have been no exception. And due to the fact that service has been sporadic it appears that the MTA can get away without listing this escalator out of service. If you do see the escaltor out of service please report the outages by calling (718) 243-3222, even if the outage is outside the 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. time period the MTA office is open.
The only consolation is that by this lower escalator being out of service riders can choose to go down to the train platforms and attempt to take the elevators up to the street as opposed to being surprised by getting stuck at the upper mezzanine and being forced to walk up the upper escalator ES 413.
It appears that at least one resident on Roosevelt Island is complaining that fellow island residents are not returning their Zipcars in a timely basis resulting in a less than satisfying service model. Having access to a local and efficient rental car service is something any resident can appreciate. Do you belong to Zipcar and what has been your estimate of how it works here on Roosevelt Island?
The following video is just a short snippet of the sights and sounds of Roosevelt Island Day which is held annually. Due to the rains the evening's concert was cancelled but all in all everyone had a great time. Certainly the kids did.
Gene Russianoff was kind enough to answer a second question today, June 13, 2008, regarding Roosevelt Island ridership levels in his guest column "About Mass Transit" on the NY Times City Room blog.
Marie Babcock (Resident):
Q. Who is monitoring rider usage and population shifts? I live on Roosevelt Island.The rerouting of the Q and F trains and the huge population increase on Roosevelt Island in recent years has caused a major problem here. At rush hours the F trains are so packed arriving here that we are not able to board. Sometimes three trains will pass through with only a small number at the packed station able to board. Now the RI Tram is in need of some long shutdowns due to overdue repair work. It can only get worse.
Gene Russianoff:
A. I have received a number of e-mail messages about crowded conditions on the F at Roosevelt Island. Clearly, whatever New York City Transit’s operations planning department is doing is not enough. Or worse yet, the Queens Boulevard line is at capacity and no more trains are possible. Maybe your elected officials should ask Transit’s President Howard Roberts, Jr. to come to a morning rush hour.
A story that is never discussed on Roosevelt Island is whether there is truth to the rumor that the signs are haunted, that at night they glow to garner attention and that they speak to each other.
Some say that many of the signs have been spotted disembodied from their polls when the moon is full seemingly trying to free themselves of their bond to the island.
Over the two years that we have lived on Roosevelt Island we have managed quite well without a car to patronize the Long Island City Costco location. Generally we walk to Costco and take a car service back with the trunk of the car service loaded down justifying the $6 to $10 fee charged for the short one way trip.
I keep thinking how can we do away with even this added cost? After all we only live across the East River. Walking presents challenges as there is only so much stuff you can stuff into a granny cart or shove into a backpack. Bicycling presents the same challenges along with weight distribution issues on a bicycle being walked back on the Roosevelt Island Bridge.
The answer was provided by Ikea of Copenhagen which apparently offers bicycles with trailers to their customers to carry their purchases home. The trick is now convincing my building to allow me to store a trailer such as those pictured in our bike room. Keeping the trailer in my apartment is not an option. In all seriousness I'd be willing to look into buying such a trailer and sharing the costs with other residents if we could solve the storage and access question.
Perhaps we can convince ZIP Car to get into the bike / trailer rental business opening up the option to all residents?
Based on the below statistics it appears that Roosevelt Island residents have not been taking advantage of or see the benefit of taking the Red Bus during the morning rush hour periods, to Queens Plaza or during non-rush periods into Manhattan directly. I would expect that this weekend the numbers will spike higher as I recall weekends being a pretty high usage rate during the Summer of 2006 when the Tram was out and during Subway disruption weekends. But we shall see what happens.
Looking at these stats it would appear that RIOC may decide that the Red Bus option should not be repeated during the planned 2009 outage as they are using this outage as a gauge torwards resident usage for that later period.
My only thoughts are that I wonder if greater use would be made of this option if the Red Bus would to first loop around the Island as the Q102 does before it leaves the Island. Could it be that for many residets the added time to first get themselves to Gristedes is an added impediment to the use of this option?
A good question asked of Mr. Shane by Patrick Stewart, a member of the RIOC Board of Directors, is of the stats provided how many riders were seniors or disabled for whom the subway stairs / escalators / elevators may prove challenging. Mr. Shane has not responded to that question or may not have thta level of detail availabel to him if it was even captured at all.
I will admit for my purposes taking the bus to Queens Plaza puts me further away from my commuting goals distance wise and it makes no sense for me during rush our periods. If the subway goes out though this option will be imperative for all residents wishing to head off the island.
-----Original Message-----
From: "Stephen Shane" Date: Thu, 12 Jun 2008 11:32:23 Subject: Red Bus Ridership during Tram outage - Stats for 6/11/08:
From RI to Queens Plaza (6AM-9:30AM): 16 passengers 8 trips
From QP to RI (returns): 0 passengers 8 trips
From RI to Manhattan (10AM-2PM): 9 Passengers 5 trips
From Manhattan to RI (returns at 10:30 AM-2:30PM);\: 8 Passengers 5 trips
From RI to Manhattan (7PM-11PM) 9 Passengers 5 trips
From Manhattan to RI (returns at 7:30PM-11:30PM): 9 Passengers 5 trips
We shall see as the word spreads and/or sinks in. Hard to justify at this level! An experiment.
Steve
Stephen H. Shane President & CEO Roosevelt Island Operating Corp.
My Day 2 experience was limited to arriving before 8am and getting on a F Train within a few minutes without issue. My advice which applies any dayu of the work week is get tothe platform before 8am and your issues will be mininmized.
The Main Street WIRE is reporting that approximately 100 individuals were left on the Manhattan bound platform between the period 825am to 845am. Even on a normal operating day during that time period it is expected that a number of riders will not be able to get on crowded trains.
Red Bus Schedules - New Service to Manhattan During Non Rush Hours
RIOC President Steve Shane announced yesterday that RIOC decided to provide off hour service directly to 60th Street in Manhattan in addition to rush hour service to Queens Plaza. Just as the Roosevelt Islander applauded RIOC yesterday for this decision I too thank Mr. Shane for this added service as I am sure it will be an aid to residents who find the stairs at both the Queens Plaza and Lex / 63rd Street subway stations too much too handle.
A copy of the updated Red Bus schedule will be available throughout his outage in the left side bar to this blog. Just doble cvlick to link tothe schedule and then double click to enlarge the image.
Gianluca, this post was photographed so you could see, from California, updated pictures of Riverwalk Court (415 Main Street) and I figured while I was out I might as well take pictures of 405 Main Street as well.
I started shooting from right outside the subway station and then proceeded to walk clockwise around the three buildings 425 - 415 - 405 Main Street. 425 Main St. is already complete and occupied.
Is it me or does Riverwalk Court, 415 Main St., contain more glass in it's exterior shell / skin than any of the 6 buildings constructed to date?
UPDATE:
Each of the photos in the above slide show can be found on Flickr HERE.
In Yesterday's NY Times City Room, June 9, 2008, a call was put out for mass transit questions to be posed to Gene Russianoff of the Straphangers Campaign. I submitted a question regarding the Roosevelt Island F train stop and increasing ridership. The text of my question and Mr. Russianof's response as posted in this evening's City Room post is below.
Roosevelt Island 360:
Q. Over the last 6 months various state and local legislators have requested NYCTA President Howard Roberts to review the transportation needs of Roosevelt Island with its growing population, taking into account its location on the F Line and the fact that the Tram will be out of service for a good chunk of 2009 due to its rehabilitation. His reply each time has been that the F line has excess capacity to handle the current needs and projected needs of the island. In your experience do you believe that there is excess capacity on the F line as it leaves Queens during the morning rush hour to handle an extra 3,000 plus riders that are expected to move onto Roosevelt Island in the next few years?
Gene Russianoff:
A. Unfortunately, I can’t tell you what the capacity of the F train is on Roosevelt Island. What I can tell you is that there is a long history of transit officials not keeping up service with ridership increases. I would press my elected officials to push New York City Transit to do an updated “traffic checking” review. Or do one of your own. I’d be happy to talk to community activists. One anecdote: Way back in the 1980’s, transit officials wanted to close an entrance at 110th and Central Park West. We visited the site and saw that a new apartment house was just being finished – right next to the entrance. To quote David Mamet, who are these people?
So it appears we have some terminology to present to the MTA reps who show up at the June 24th Community Board 8 meeting regarding Roosevelt Island transportation issues. "New Apartment House" huh. It seems we can show several new apartment houses since the MTA switched out the Q Train for the present day F Train.
Double click the image image to view the SkyFox video regarding the Roosevelt Island Tram outage.
Parts of the video are new from today but parts are stock footage from the April 2006 unscheduled Tram outage when riders were stranded over the East River. Note the old "The Tram" logo as opposed to today's RIOC logo.
The Main Street WIRE, in the form of Dick Lutz, stood this morning on the Queens bound subway platform at the Roosevelt Island station and counted how many subway riders were left behind on this the first morning rush of the Tram's 9 day plannned outage. His count: Zero.
I myself was on the platform for the short period between 745am and 750am or so. I came onto a basically empty platform except for a few riders like myself who just descended the escaltors. A train showed up within 5 minutes with room enough for the hundred or more riders that had accumulated in those few minutes.
As the WIRE Bulletin posited it is unclear if the lack of riders was due to many staying home due to the excessive heat predictions or other factors. The real question is how was the platform between 815am and 845am which is usually the heaviest period of traffic.
Based on this morning I would advise all resident commuters to leave earlier than usual to ensure a stress free ride as much as possible.
Almost three months ago I ran a post titled "From There to Here: 23rd St/Ely Ave to Roosevelt Island". At that time the post was responding to a blogger that found themselves on a rerouted F train that became an V Train and the blogger was unsure how to recover and still get to Roosevelt Island. Yesterday evening, during rush hour, selected F Trains were also rerouted but in this case my wife was able to get out and at Lex/ 53rd and walk to the Tram. Starting today that option does not exist for the next ten days so the question is worth visiting again.
As I stated in my comments back on March 19th, two possible mass transit solutions are possible and any Roosevelt Island resident that has been reading all our prior service disruption notices would know at least th first one:
(1) Stay on Queens bound F, now running on the V Line, and take it to Roosevelt Ave and then switch back onto a Manhattan bound F train, or
(2) Take the Queens bound F, now running on the V Line, to Queens Plaza. Transfer from the subway to a Roosevelt Island bound Q102 Queens Bus.
If anyone has any other suggestions please let us know. We’d like to hear them.
Starting tonight at 10pm the Roosevelt Island Tram will be out of service until Thursday June 19th at 6am. The below image, courtesy of the Main Street WIRE, lists the Red Bus schedule of service to Queens Plaza South / Jackson Avenue.
Apparently Southpoint Park is becoming such a popular destination here on Roosevelt Island for Whiffleball afficionados that they have defined how many feet the centerfield fence is from home plate. Although some residents have questioned their math. Doubleclick the image to see the "654" designation.
In all seriousness does anyone know what the numbered boxes / placrds are sitting at down at Southpoint Park? I have not been down there recently but as always am curious to learn more about whatever is going on around here.
The above picture is one of several on Flickr regarding a whiffleball game at Southpoint Park.
Update 12:30 pm
Stephen Shane, President of the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation, e-mailed me a few moments ago with information regarding the numbered cubes. He referred me to his March 15, 2008 WIRE RIOC column where he wrote:
"In an episode reminiscent of our own UFOs , six (6) freshly painted, labeled (1-6) and latched cubes of approximately three feet at each dimension, enclosed on five (5) sides were discovered at the top of the grassy embankment just south of the Ruin. After investigation, it was determined that without prior notification, the MTA police had left them there as part of a canine training exercise. Roswell, New Mexico? "
Of the six resident elected RIOC Board Nominees it was hoped that the Governor would without question appoint four and the Mayor would appoint the two he is allowed by law to appoint. In a strange turn of events Governor Paterson's staff has recommended to the Governor that he only pick three of elected resident nominees and re-appoint a current resident RIOC Board member who voluntarily chose to not run in favor of the election process.
This blog and I personally agree with the Roosevelt Island Residents Association, the Main Street WIRE, and my fellow blogger The Roosevelt Islander that the Governor and Mayor be urged to appoint all six nominees based on the desires of the resident population of Roosevelt Island.
At present I am unaware of the circumstances causing the Governor’s staff to make their recommendations but will work with RIRA to voice the message that all six should be appointed.
According to the Main Street WIRE bulletin issued this morning and the WIRE’s Roosevelt Island Blog the Governor’s office is expected in addition to David Kraut, who currently sits on the RIOC Board, to nominate Fay Christian, Dr. Kathie Grimm, and Jonathan Kalkin. That would leave the Mayor’s office the ability to appoint two of the remaining three elected nominee candidates: Frank Farance, Erin Feely-Nahem and Howard Polivy. The mayor is allowed to appoint two individuals of which only one has to be an island resident. If events continue on this path one of these three individuals will not be appointed despite the wishes of the resident poulation.
OK, this bike ride still has some bumpy spots as I ride from Lighthouse Park down to the Roosevelt Island Tram station, along the East River, but how many 20 year bikes have shocks that can make a video camera look good.
Later in the week I'll post some other island shots and figure out the smoothest path to ride around the island.
Just South of Roosevelt Island and across from the United Nations lies U Thant Island. Between Roosevelt Island and U Thant is a small islet which may or may not be the remains of the former Delacorte Fountain. My fellow blogger the Roosevelt Islander is asking today if anyone knows the name of this islet if it even has one.
If you can help please let him (and me) know the answer? I am that curious.
I have been informed that RIOC has scheduled "The Never Ending Story" as the first film in the Roosevelt Island Summer Movie Series to be held at Firefighters Field. The series begins Saturday, June 21st at 8:45 pm for thepre-show and a 9:00 pm film start. Firefighters Field is located just across from the Tram and the Riverwalk buildings currently under construction.
As reported in prior posts the movies have been moved from Southpoint Park this year to Firefighters Field to allow more residents and guests access to the site as the gravel path and incline made it difficult for many to attend.
At best this was a shaky ride over the Roosevelt Island Bridge. At worst I could have lost the vegetables I had tied in a milk crate on the back of the bike. Luckily that did not happen.
Pardon my choice of a song but it was late and the selection was not that great. OK, it's not the great "Taxi" theme song car ride across the bridge but few videos will attain that status and this is not one of them.
Tomorrow's New York Sun, June 5, 2008, includes an article, available online now, by Real Estate Reporter Candace Taylor, which examines the convergence of the planned 2009 Roosevelt Island Tram outage with the increase in housing stock on the island. I spoke with Ms. Taylor a couple of weeks ago in prep for her article and outlined my concerns regarding these issues.
As expected the sales staff at Riverwalk see no issue due to the existence of the subway station despite our consistenly losing weekend service due to construction and security projects. Only Bruce Becker, the Octagon's developer, proactively began steps to bring another mode of transportation to the Island which hopefully will be operational by the Tram's outage. The question is will that even fill the need.
In 2006 when the Tram was offline for 4 months only two to three of the Riverwalk buildings were occupied. By the time the Tram goes offline six of the planned nine buildings will be open and filling up. During the last outage the Octagon had only just opened and now it is fully operational. As State Assembly Member Micah Kellner indicates the island is "literally bursting at the seams". This outage will truly test the limits how far the F train and Red Buses (to Queensboro Plaza) can handle the expected growth.
According to an article in today’s New York Sun (see above image) the BOE is considering a plan to rezone children from overcrowded Manhattan schools to schools considered under utilized including Roosevelt Island’s PS 217 and PS 47 The School for the Deaf on 23rd Street. Just to let those Upper East Side Manhattan parent’s know a secret, PS 217 is part of Manhattan’s District 2. It is that fact that allows a number of Roosevelt Island school age children to attend public school in Manhattan.
It would be ironic if the BOE did rezone East Side kids to PS 217 as currently there are Queens kids bussed into PS 217 as space is available for kids to attend. I believe the kids being bussed in are also attending based on the “No Child Left Behind Program” and their local zoned schools are not meeting their educational needs.
At the same time, some Roosevelt Island kids that may have attended PS 217 for Kindergarten and into First Grade are pulled out by parents looking for schools with better average grades than PS 217 as well as due to fears of alleged disciplinary problems in the upper grades. The school is a K through 8 school.
As quoted in the NY Sun article, Mary Silver, a member of the District 2 community education council “described the response of parents as "emotional."”:
"Frankly, telling a kindergarten parent that you're going to ship their kid to Roosevelt Island is not going to help you make friends and influence people," Ms. Silver said. "Why don't you send them to Princeton? It's crazy."
Well Ms. Silver I can tell you the issue of PS 217 is an emotional issue for parents of school age kids on Roosevelt Island not just parents concerned about a possible rezoning plan which will probably never come to pass. I have met several groups of parents who over the years tried to organize groups of parents to band together and send their kids into PS 217 but many break down and send their kids off island for wanting a better school and not willing to invest the time, and energy into what they see as not a sure thing.
Overall the issue of PS 217 is a shame and has a history of bad politics, missed opportunities, and plain old misinformation. I don’t even know all the facts as I have heard PS 217 at one time was one of the top schools in NYC not just District 2. The crazy thing is the grades are supposedly improving and the teachers and administration at the school are known to deeply care about the kids and their school.
It is a great building and a shame more island kids dont attend school in it. For disclosure purposes I will admit my own kids attend different District 2 public schools in Manhatan.
Getting back to the rezoning plan, I doubt if it will ever happen. And if it did happen forcing the Queens kids to be pushed back into their old school districts watch out as then you’ll really have people screaming.
A few nights ago, on Sunday June 1st, I was walking to and from Gristedes on the Eastern side of Main Street. After crossing over the ramp up to the bridge it was apparent that we need more light under the parking structure along that section of sidewalk between the ramp across to the old escalator entrances near Gristedes. The lack of light in that section is bordering on unsafe.
On my walk home that evening I stopped in at the Public Safety office and registered my request and concern with the officer on duty. He indicated he would file a report and that it would be reviewed by his supervisors. I will have to check back tonight to see if any additional light has been added or bulbs changed as I was unable to do so these last two nights. Both the officer working the desk and a fellow officer agreed that section is pretty dark.
Update 12:00 Noon:
,/p>
I was contacted this morning by Stephen Shane, RIOC's President, that it would have been quicker for me to contact RIOC directly so that their Engineering Department could attend to the lighting issue rather than my stopping in on PSD. As I replied to Mr. Shane, at that moment, I thought of the issue as a safety issue and thought it appropriate to go to them.
I will also admit by Monday morning I had forgotten about the issue until I saw the above picture in my camera. In the end Mr. Shane is correct that issues concerning Island operations and facilities should be reported to RIOC's offices directly for more appropriate action.
Hey the Farance kids got that sidewalk fixed real quick after sending Mr. Shane their letter so he is apparently ,aking sure such things do happen.
Apparently the NYC Public Advocate’s office in conjunction with the Mayor’s office will, in the coming weeks, be sending out paper surveys to 100,000 New Yorkers on a variety of topics regarding the level and quality of city services. It should be interesting to see what results. Comments I have read on the web include whether the survey should have been set up electronically enabling the entire City to participate as opposed to a paper system which will be more costly to administer and tabulate.
I wonder if a survey of RIOC and the services provided on our little island would enable us to learn what our populace finds important and how they feel RIOC is performing.
I am not advocating such a survey should immediately be set up as I am very often disappointed when turnouts are low as they can very often lead to more finger pointing as to whether the survey and votes are truly valid to begin with if and when the percentages of respondents is so low.
In the last six months we saw Islanders participate in the ballot process “electing” our RIOC Board Nominees in what was seen as a record turnout where 1718 ballots were submitted. This election coincided with the general February 5th primary drawing voters into PS217 and other voting locations. We also saw a paper survey regarding the FDR Memorial which included a centrally located ballot box at the PSD office where 207 island residents participated. This was seen as a low turnout.
If the RIOC Board Nominees are actualy seated on the Board a future "survey" of RIOC will include if they are elected again and appointed again.
Would a survey of RIOC and the services they provide yield any new and usable information without it becoming a venue for extremists with axes to grind to make unnecessary noise? Perhaps. What do think? Could it be useful and what questions should be asked? I am guessing RIRA has run similar surveys in the past and I plan to look into their results if they are still available to gauge what level of turnout could be expected if another survey would be run today.
In the end I would expect it always a good thing to see what people think so if anything improvements can be made and perhaps new services provided where they are needed.
Ok, maybe I missed something in the Roosevelt Island tour guide class but I thought the lamps in the Lighthouse were no longer lit? Has the Abominable Snowman returned and turned on the light? I thought this was the last time the Lighthouse was lit. I have a feeling my Historical Society membership is about to be cancelled for not knowing this simple fact.
Mystery fact request: Who can find and provide a link to a web page that details the last lighting of the Roosevelt Island Lighthouse? Or at least prove to me that it is still lit on a regular basis and I have been a very bad resident to not know this.
Top photo by Shawn.nyc on Flickr. WIRE photo and issue can be linked HERE.
A couple of comments regarding the upcoming June 24th CB8 meeting regarding the state of Roosevelt Island's transportation infrastructure and needs. The first is that apparently as I have been driving the CB8 staff a bit nuts regarding the status of their April 2007 Queensboro Bridge access resolution they actually sent me a formal invite to the meeting. The second for anyone interested is they (CB8) also sent me a copy of the actual letter sent by them in April 2007 to the NYC DOT requesting a study be undertaken.
Prior to receiving either of these letters I had actually submitted a FOIL request to the DOT to see if according to the DOT records if they had even received CB8's resolution. I am being told in their below reply that I should expect a formal reply by about June 10th. I also asked what their response was to the CB8 resolution. My bet is if they actually respond all I will get is a copy of the CB8 letter to them which I now already have.
I have asked CB8 if they ever got a formal response as I though that was what CB8 Transportation Co-Chair Jonathan Horn had indicated to me. But so far the folks in the CB8 office have not provided any such response to me. If DOT shows up June 24th I am sure we will hear their response.
Roosevelt Island Operating Corp.: Rosina Abramson, 60, joined as vice president, planning and government affairs. She had been deputy commissioner at the state Division of Housing and Community Renewal.
....Judith Berdy, president of the Roosevelt Island Historical Society, said that while the Octagon has a long reputation as a mystic place, it's steeped in history....
Note: Click on either image to link to the articles excerpted.
All comments are now moderated and due to the nature that this blog is INACTIVE comments left will only be periodically reviewed and approved if at all.
Where previous comments were essentially unmoderated I have grown tired at seeing the same old comments posted by a few individuals unhappy about the state of various affairs on this island. My suggestion is find a constructive and new outlet for your grievances. Better yet get involved and change things if you desire change. If you are looking for time to stand still ...deal with it as it's not happening.
Perhaps start your own blog. They are free at Blogger.com
Local bloggers wanted to provide content to this blog under their own name as team members. Contact Eric.
This Blog's Status.....
This blog is currently inactive.
If a Roosevelt island resident is interested in writing for this blog please let me know. Several contributing correspondents would be an interesting avenue to bring theg blog back to life.
The banner's central photo is copyrighted by Rick Anderson and can be seen in its original format here. The image I am using is an altered version, which updates for added structures and removals of those lost. This version was found here.
Disclaimer:
The views expressed on this blog are that of the author alone and are not condoned by any third party.
The images presented on this blog are generally credited to the photographer and/or videographer. Any images not expressly credited are protected under the fair use doctrine.
Occasionally images or partial images are posted for demonstration purposes and may be altered for information purposes only.
If an image is being used that is protected under copyright the holder of that copyright is welcome contact me at the following email address: RooseveltIsland360@gmail.com
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