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Governor Chooses 4 for RIOC; RIRA Sending Letter Asking for All Six Election Winners
The Governor's office has told three of six successful candidates in February's election to nominate residents to the RIOC Board that their names will be sent to the State Senate for confirmation. In addition, longtime resident Board member David Kraut has been asked to continue on the Board.
But Kraut's reappointment means that at least one winner of the community's February election for nomination to the open Board seats will not be appointed. He and other sitting Board members had opted not to be candidates in the February balloting. (Video at http://www.vimeo.com/677275?pg=embed&sec=677275 ).
On Wednesday night, the Common Council of the Residents Association unanimously authorized a letter to the Governor calling for appointment of all six winners in the community election. Members decried the Governor's office "cherry-picking" the results of the community election. On Thursday night, Assemblymember Micah Kellner assured the Maple Tree Group, a
RIRA subcommittee that has worked toward democratization of the RIOC Board, that he will ask the Governor to reconsider his staff's decision to appoint a resident who chose not to run for a Board seat in the February election.
In addition to Kraut, the three announced appointees are Dr. Kathie Grimm, Jonathan Kalkin, and Fay Christian. Election winners passed over by the Governor's office include Frank Farance, Erin Feely-Nahem, and Howard Polivy.
Because there are only six openings on the Board, and the Governor and Mayor appoint four and two, respectively, at least one of the elected nominees will not be appointed. While the Mayor is not obligated to choose election winners as his nominees (and only one of his nominees must be an Islander), City Councilmember Jessica Lappin has urged him to honor the community's election.
Profiles of the community candidates appear on line at http://nyc10044.com. A report on the February election appeared in The Main Street WIRE and is on line at http://nyc10044.com/wire/2811/wire2811.html. Profiles of the election winners are in The WIRE at http://nyc10044.com/wire/2812/wire2812.html and subsequent issues of the newspaper. Website NYC10044 is taking comments from residents at http://blog.nyc10044.com. An interview with David Kraut is scheduled for inclusion in The WIRE's June 14 edition, along with further coverage of the Board appointment process.
RIOC paid for that election process.
The Roosevelt Island community responded with a strong vote for residents to serve on the Board.
There are rumors that the Governor is being urged to appoint as Board members people who did not stand for election.
I hope Governor Patterson will stand solidly behind the ideals of the democratic process by honoring the results of the community election.
Mr. Kraut's four-year term has been extended to about 14 years (and counting) and throughout the term of several governors. You would think he would be embarrassed to even consider staying on the Board so long after his "reign" has expired.
I know the law doesn't require that he step down until replaced. Well, the Island had an election on February 5 of this year and if he believed in democracy, he would know by the stunning turnout of Islanders to vote in that election that Islanders wish that he (and most other resident Board members) be replaced. If residents were happy with the record of the current Board, they would not have protested so loudly, in such numbers, by their votes.
I saw his statement on Kim Lengle's PressHD.com video prior to the election - something to the effect that "These (expletive deleted) candidates don't know (expletive deleted) about running RIOC." Mr. Kraut didn't know anything about it either, until he joined the Board and learned, which the current candidates will also do. They are all intelligent professionals and overseeing RIOC operations is not rocket science.
What it does require is time, careful consideration of the facts, and a willingness to do what is in the best interests of residents. Most on the current Board sorely lack these traits, as is evidenced by their rubber-stamping voting record: the covering of open spaces and parks with concrete and unattractive edifices with embarrassingly little compensation from developers; the empty stores on Main Street; the unsolved transportation problems; and the myriad of other mistakes or neglect that have occurred during the many years of tenure of the unelected Board members.
The Governor, his appointments office, the State Senate, and the Mayor should, of course, honor the historic February 5th election that took place here by appointing all six candidates who were elected. This election was at the suggestion of and with the cooperation and support of the current administration. If the powers that be choose to cherry pick, qualified candidates will be discouraged from running in the future and RIRA in not likely to cooperate in staging another election that turns out to be a sham.
That being said, by not running for the RIOC Board, Mr. Kraut (and other current Board members with expired terms) did not participate in the democratic electoral process and should have the class, dignity, and decency to step down, even if the current administration doesn't believe in democracy enough to require it. American soldiers are dying every day in Iraq to try to bring democracy to that part of the world. How can we possibly believe that effort could be successful when Roosevelt Island, which is a tiny microcosm of the world at large, cannot even practice democracy here?
Linda Heimer
Member, Maple Tree Group
Appointing SOME winners, and not even in the order of who got the most votes, is an insult to everyone who participated in this sham.
It leaves us with a elected MINORITY on the board. So what was the purpose of this whole exercise?
Georganna Galateau
The idea that our election results are being overlooked by the governor giving us only a minority of representation on the RIOC board makes my blood run cold. It is very clear that our governor and those in Albany are deeply in favor of George III. Their patriotism should be deeply questioned as democracy is clearly meaningless to them.
The governor is treating us as children and only wants to placate us with hand-picking who HE wants to represent us with a minority on the board. This is a complete mockery of democracy.
Fascism is the only word that comes to mind...
Hal Worsham
Vicki Feinmel
I am United Nations staff member who lives on Roosevelt Island. Democratic principles are democratic principles! Why did we all bother to go vote?!? Please respect democracy as an inalienable citizen right, respect the dignity and integrity of the candidates who where elected and respect the election result that represents the choice of us, the Roosevelt Island residents!
But questions must be asked:
--While we are sending our own good people to fight in a "war for democracy", what is the meaning of that word to us, here, in own our New York State government when this small community can't have what other Americans are dying to bring to foreigners?
--Why is our own vote denigrated and "parsed"? Nowhere else in this country does an incumbent get to keep his/her seat without running for it.
--The Governor wants continuity? He's got it with CEO Steve Shane and Rosina Abramson, as well as with the current RIOC board member, Charlee Miller.
The Governor's appointment of an unelected incumbent could never occur elsewhere in this country. It's a travesty.
I want Governor Paterson to please heed the electorate on Roosevelt Island (as he will have to when/if he chooses to run for Governor in his own right later on) and give us what every other village, town, city, and state in this country already has and for which we are terribly long overdue: our choice of who governs us.
Bonnie Goodman
27 year concerned resident of Roosevelt Island
However, there are still a bunch of plum patronage positions that any Guv wants to control. The RIOC prez gets +150k, and his 3 or 4 top cronies get +130K.
A responsible RIOC board might actually question the way RIOC is wasting our money, and make them do more with less.
Getting a majority of elected reps on the board is crucial, and that means getting the mayor to replace his 2 appointees with our remaining reps, in the order they were elected.
It also means putting heat on the Guv by any means possible, protests, negative press, so that they see a cost to ignoring the elected will of the people they serve.
It seems our new governor wants to continue the tradition even though we were promised change. We went and voted and now the message is that we wasted our time.
If even one of our elected representatives is not seated it will be an insult especially galling if another who choose not to run and who would not have been voted for is kept on board.
When at long last we conducted a RIOC supported election for directors, it adds insult to our long injury for the governor to select only three of the six top vote getters as directors using some mysterious, Kafkaesque, process. In particular, I am shocked that the most active of the six have not been selected.
I hope that we are not seeing a repeat of the rule of Pataki of our island..we can't let it happen again....Don Eremin
David Kraut attended the candidate events and attended information meetings. He was keenly aware that the election was coming about. He had the opportunity to throw his hat into the ring. He didn't.
For David to accept a seat that he refused to stand for in a fair election is dispicable and insulting to his neighbors. For the Governor to allow him to do so would show Roosevelt Islanders how little respect the he has for us and for democracy.
When Mr. Lincoln proclaimed "government of the people, for the people and by the people shall not perish from the earth" he didn't add the caveat "everywhere but Roosevelt Island."
It's time for those who want our respect to stop trampling our constitutional right to elected government.
Sincerely,
Lauri Welles, MD
Eleanor Schwartz
We have great trust in your judgment and urge to reconsider your decision allowing all the elected members to represent the Roosevelt Island community on the Board.
By failing to appoint the six elected officials, not only is the democratic process vetoed by high powered officials, the power of the ballot seem redundant in the face of aristocratic politics.
In Roosevelt Island's case, the officials that are entrusted with our welfare, are making decisions based on a type of politics that does not belong in a democratic society.
Those that are faced with the decision of appointing the elected officials, you are urged to do the thing that promotes the rewards and superiority of justice over injustice.