Opinion

Here's what we're thinking about. Have an opinion you'd like to post here? Contact the editor: davestone13@gmail.com. We'll consider it.

Old Mail Piles Up in Trellis/Nisi's Entrance, Then...

Re Trellis/Nisi: Cautiously, Some Promising News

03/05/2017 - 11:06

Midweek, I checked out Trellis/Nisi again, as I have many times since summer when the Nisi sign began pulsing, flowers first graced empty tables and wine bottles waited on bright glass shelves. Disappointed, I found mail two week old reflecting sunlight just inside the door.

I challenged Hudson about their plans, now that Nisi seemed to be sinking. But then, something interesting happened.

Democracy, Roosevelt Island Buzzword Buzzes Again

02/23/2017 - 17:52

Is the concept of "democracy" used and abused anywhere more than it is on Roosevelt Island?

Is RIRA Really Electing RIOC Board Members?

02/20/2017 - 11:53 Updated 1 year ago

So, what do you get when you mix Joyce Short's resuscitation of the Maple Tree Group with the former Main Street WIRE's casual relationship with journalism?

You get Opportunity Knocks for Seat on the RIOC Board, Short's fractured headline in the print edition, a deceptive foray into alternative reality.

Still Your New York

02/15/2017 - 21:55

Today, we face an affordability crisis that threatens New York’s very soul. Everywhere I go, people tell me they feel their ability to remain here slipping away. On Monday, I devoted my annual State of the City speech to telling New Yorkers about how we are tackling affordability and to deliver a simple message: This is still your city.

Your Turn To Stand Up To Trump

02/15/2017 - 20:41

Have you been looking at Washington and wondering, "How did this happen?" If so, here's your chances to do something about it. Throw your grassroots support behind the movement.

Free Parking on the School Lawn Where Trees Were Removed

So You Thought the Story About PS/IS 217 and the Trees Couldn't Get Worse... Guess Again

02/13/2017 - 19:40

Discouraged by the lack of response from elected and other officials, I'd decided to let the issue of PS/IS 217 thoughtless destruction of healthy trees slide for a while. But in the absence of any oversight from RIOC, Ben Kallos, Gale Brewer or the Board of Education, the school bluntly took another step toward becoming Roosevelt Island's worst neighbor.

Alexander the Great Mosaic / Naples National Archaeological Museum

Do You Have a Calling?

02/12/2017 - 11:13

Have you got a calling? A mission you feel compelled to pursue? I have. Mine’s writing off-key. The first time I put pen to lined, school paper, my story was about interracial romance between teenagers. In 1961.

Stories began escalating in my head when I was thirteen and have pestered me ever since.

Later, I began to wonder, is the common wisdom true? Is it always wise to follow that call?

Roosevelt Island Redux: Smoking Pot In Public

02/05/2017 - 16:04

Purple haze, all in my brain

Lately things they don't seem the same

-Jimi Hendrix

New York at the Center of a Nation In Crisis

01/28/2017 - 18:36

Late last evening, Mayor Bill de Blasio, leader of the country's largest sanctuary city, responded to President Donald Trump's blanket ban on Muslims from seven countries and denial of the neediest refugees. Trump's executive orders openly favored Christians. We include the mayor's response in full.

Ron Musto: "Farewell, Fresh Direct"

01/25/2017 - 10:44

As the Roosevelt Island Daily reported, many Roosevelt Islanders avoid shopping at Gristedes for various reasons: prices, freshness, store policies, and they now shop at Wholesome Foods, the Deli, or off-island at Whole Foods, Associated or a vanishing number of other supermarkets. And some use delivery services like FreshDirect and PeaPod.