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.

New From RIOC: Map & Self-Guided Tour of Roosevelt Island That Isn't

01/16/2018 - 10:07 Updated 1 year ago

Early this month, local resident and marketing consultant Janet Falk discovered something in a visit to Sportspark: a Roosevelt Island NYC Map and Self-Guided Tour produced by RIOC. There has been no public announcement and copies were not provided to the Historical Society's Visitor Center. We can only hope it was a limited printing - very limited - of a brochure, riddled with errors, that gives every indication that it was composed by someone unfamiliar with Roosevelt Island.

Is Roosevelt Island still a community or an investment opportunity?

2017, A Year When RIOC Screwed Tenants and Cuddled (Some) Landlords

01/05/2018 - 10:29 Updated 1 year ago

Opinion: The surprising thing, when RIOC turned a cold shoulder to tenants, this year, was how openly it was done. Same thing with handing out special favors to landlords Hudson Related and Grenadier/Manhattan Park. You don’t have to decipher their motives or guess at why the State agency enjoys immunity from this behavior — or thinks it does — to recognize the damages.

Cross Purposes: RIOC's Messy Attempt to Connect with Residents

12/20/2017 - 18:09 Updated 1 year ago

In her President's Report, the segment which for all intents wraps up each RIOC Board Meeting, President/CEO Susan Rosenthal made a curious announcement. RIOC is hiring a "public information officer" to improve communications with the community. But that covers only half of the problem, and then, there was something else that contradicted any RIOC good intentions, just five minutes later.

About RIOC’s Stingy, Broken Public Purpose Funds

12/08/2017 - 10:12 Updated 1 year ago

As I begin writing, I don’t know what the Common Council’s Public Purpose Fund Committee will recommend in grants before passing them on to RIOC. What I do know is that not a dime will go to our seniors. That alone should awaken RIOC to the fact that this system is not just stingy, but badly broken.

Main Street WIRE copies, unread, untouched after two weeks

What We Know About the WIRE Warsing Complaint

11/30/2017 - 18:18 Updated 1 year ago

I haven't seen the complaint Main Street WIRE attorney Marc Jonas Block filed against me and the Daily in Supreme Court. Others have, including other local media. Word spread around Roosevelt Island. From what I've learned, I'm disgusted by some of it but, also, puzzled over why an attorney would chose to build a community crushing case on a tapestry of misinformation.

Memo from RIOC President/CEO Susan Rosenthal misstates facts and scrambles dates, shielding Manhattan Park - and itself - from responsibility.

How RIOC Played Loose with Truth to Help Manhattan Park Beat Tenants

11/26/2017 - 22:57 Updated 1 year ago

Should we be concerned? Documents expose an outbreak of memory disorders at 591 Main Street that mislead State Senator Jose Serrano Jr when his office sought to help Manhattan Park tenants. Is it amnesia, short term memory loss or something worse — an affliction with symptoms resembling reliance on “alternative facts?”

Can RIOC Be That Clueless?

11/22/2017 - 10:07 Updated 1 year 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.

Blown over on the first windy day. You'd have thought $75K would buy something, uhm... more sturdy...

Update: Things That Make You Say, "$75,000 for That?!!"

11/19/2017 - 23:27 Updated 1 year 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.

Main Street WIRE Legal Attack Changes the Game, Part 2

11/17/2017 - 16:42 Updated 1 year ago

“Please be further advised” reads Marc Jonas Block’s Cease and Desist letter, “that in the event you fail to comply with the demands stated herein, the WIRE has instructed the undersigned to commence litigation against you, as well as to obtain injunctive relief, consequential and punitive damages, and such other remedies as may be permitted by law.”

How could we comply without agreeing with the WIRE’s accusations?

Answer: We couldn’t.

Public Purpose Funds - Long Delay, Instant Controversy

11/14/2017 - 10:30 Updated 1 year 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.

Gauguin’s Cat Whimsical Parody

Gauguin’s Cat is a whimsical parody of Paul Gauguin’s Still Life with Three Puppies. Deborah Julian‘s imagined cat insists on sharing the puppies’ cream. Gauguin…

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Is RIOC Ado Annie?

Is RIOC Ado Annie, the governmental version of Rogers and Hammerstein’s libidinous teenager? For 70 years, Annie’s the “girl who can’t say, ‘No,'” and when…

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CBN fights senior loneliness

CBN fights senior loneliness with a new grant. The grant helps the Carter Burden Network tackle major challenges of old age. The Roosevelt Island Disabled…

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