Congratulations to New RIOC Board Members!
January 27, 2010
I am proud to congratulate Margie Smith and Michael Shinozaki on their long-awaited confirmation by the State Senate to the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation Board of Directors, as well as Dr. Kathie Grimm on the confirmation of her re-nomination.
Margie, Michael, and Kathie are three of Roosevelt Island’s most talented and dedicated community leaders, and they will be key contributors to a Board that has steadily grown more representative of the island it serves.
I have been a consistent advocate for democratizing the RIOC Board, and these confirmations mark another important step forward in that process. I sponsor a bill (A.3953/S.1394) with Senator Jose Serrano, which would reconstitute the RIOC Board so that it is elected rather than appointed. And in 2008, I secured funds for ballot machines so that the Roosevelt Island Residents Association could run their balloting. In that historic election islanders chose Dr. Grimm, along with five other nominees, to represent them on the Board. Margie and Michael were elected last May, in another successful ballot with excellent turnout.
The island’s voters have chosen supremely qualified individuals with a proven commitment to serving their community. It goes to show that democracy really does work: when people are given the opportunity to participate in the governing of their own communities, they take their civic responsibility seriously. RIOC is better off for it, and so are the residents of Roosevelt Island.
Unfortunately, the Governor has not always respected the will of Roosevelt Island’s voters, as when he failed to officially nominate two of the winners of the 2008 election. I wrote to the Governor at that time urging the confirmation of all six nominees and I continue to press him to do the right thing. (You can find my May, 2008 letter in the Publications section of this blog.) Islanders deserve nothing less than full democratization of the RIOC Board.
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