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.
11/22/2017 - 10:07
Updated 2 years ago
There's still some space left before we plunge into the Jerry Blue level of frustration. But RIOC’s lack of community engagement, expanding cluelessness under the combined “leadership” of Andrew Cuomo and Susan Rosenthal, leave us with limited fresh air, and it’s escaping fast.
Read more
11/19/2017 - 23:27
Updated 2 years ago
If news of the pricey Winter Wonderland planned for Roosevelt Island this holiday season left you feeling anything from underwhelmed to dubious, you probably aren't going to feel any better now that the build out is underway. It promises to be everything we were afraid it would be.
Read more
11/14/2017 - 10:30
Updated 2 years ago
Nearing the finish line for grants from Public Purpose Funds should be a time for excited anticipation, but again this year, RIOC can't seem to get out of its own way and creates unnecessary conflict.
Read more
11/12/2017 - 18:44
Updated 2 years ago
When I read this statement from our State Assembly Member Rebecca Seawright, "I am pleased to report that I just received notification from the MTA that additional Q trains are coming to the Second Avenue Subway as a result of continued advocacy by our local groups... and local elected officials," I jumped off my chair. On further review, the news wasn't so great, but still, maybe you and Ben can put your heads together to enact a rescue.
Read more
11/09/2017 - 10:12
On an otherwise quiet Friday afternoon, I read a forwarded email in which RIOC Assistant General Counsel Lada Stasko rejected a Freedom of Information request. Her explanation: “Please note that the Budget Bulletin H-1032-Revised, dated July 16, 2014, applies to State agencies, and RIOC is not a State agency.” (emphasis added)
Read more
11/02/2017 - 16:21
Updated 2 years ago
At RIOC's last Board Meeting, a kerfuffle over the big red RI Icon, the first of two, erupted when President/CEO Susan Rosenthal lobbed, "It's a done deal," back at historian Judy Berdy in answer to her protest. Who was right?
Read more
10/29/2017 - 08:48
Updated 2 years ago
Just when you thought you'd seen the worst of Roosevelt Island's community disintegration, with large volumes of rentals converted to foreign student warehousing and quick turnaround (and completely illegal) Airbnb-style mini-hotels, more bad news arrives about heartless, downstream effects.
Read more
10/23/2017 - 18:40
Updated 2 years ago
You may not have heard the term, but pivoting is an art politicians work to perfect. Watch any news show or, for a great example, a Sarah Huckabee Sanders press conference. A question is put forward, and a strategic answer pops out that responds authoritatively on something not asked.
Pivoting is a dodge. With politicians, it's typical dishonesty. With a State agency trusted to serve residents' interests, it's also immoral.
Read more
10/18/2017 - 18:41
Updated 2 years ago
The worst kept secret on Roosevelt Island is that we have lots of location signage, good stuff too, easy to follow and right where visitors need it to be. The best kept is why it never benefits the struggling Main Street retail corridor.
Read more
10/08/2017 - 09:18
In my twenties, overturning everything I thought I knew about life by reading Kurt Vonnegut's novels, I heard that No More Blue Mondays, the subtitle for Breakfast of Champions, was about his taking medications for chronic depression, and I cringed. My hero had a mental illness? Now, we know that what's been hidden so long is that it's about as common and every day as catching the flu, and a new program Make It OK is out to change our minds .
Read more
