PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Margie Smith, Former Board Director of Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC)
2:24:08
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174 sec
Margie Smith, a long-time resident of Roosevelt Island and former RIOC Board Director, testifies in support of Resolution 132, which calls for granting Roosevelt Island residents the power to vote for members of the RIOC board. She emphasizes the lack of democratic representation in the island's governance and the unique challenges faced by its residents.
- Smith highlights the contradiction of Roosevelt Island residents voting for city officials who don't have authority over their island, while being unable to vote for the RIOC board that makes key decisions.
- She points out the financial burden on Roosevelt Island residents, who pay ground rent and taxes but have no say in how the money is spent on island maintenance and services.
- Smith urges the City Council to support the resolution, while acknowledging their limited authority to enact change directly.
Margie Smith
2:24:08
I just need 1.
2:24:09
Thank you very much for having us.
2:24:11
My name is Margie Smith.
2:24:13
I've lived on Rosefield Island since 1977.
2:24:17
I was a member of the Riyadh Board of Directors.
2:24:20
My 4 year term went for 8 years, and I said, you know, it's not the Supreme Court.
2:24:24
I shouldn't still be here.
2:24:26
I was a mayoral appointee.
2:24:29
So I got called by the mayor's office to sit on the board, I said I've been fighting for democracy for 12 years.
2:24:34
I can't just accept a position that's handed to me.
2:24:38
So we held a mock election, and New York state wouldn't even and let us call it an election.
2:24:45
We had to call it a pLEBSITE.
2:24:48
But anyway, ran 1.
2:24:50
Everything was fine, but I can't believe I'm here today in the United States of America, making the case that we should be able to vote for our immediate level of governance.
2:25:03
Everybody tells us who you already have that.
2:25:05
You can vote for your city council member.
2:25:07
You can vote for your mayor, so you do.
2:25:09
But we do.
2:25:10
We do vote for them.
2:25:12
The difference is when everybody else in New York goes in and pulls that lever, they're voting for somebody who who is answerable to them.
2:25:18
If you agree with what they're doing, you vote for them again next year.
2:25:21
If you don't, you vote them out.
2:25:24
These are the same people that that decide how your tax dollars are spent.
2:25:27
They make your way and use decision.
2:25:29
They describe they decide on the issues that dramatically affect your quality of life, but not on Rosefelt Island.
2:25:35
We vote for all of you guys, but you don't make decisions on what happens to Roseveld Island.
2:25:41
The re upward of directors is our city council, yet we cannot vote for them.
2:25:46
They decide on these issues, and they're all appointed.
2:25:49
Just the issue today about public restrooms.
2:25:52
You guys will go away.
2:25:53
You'll vote on it.
2:25:54
You'll agree.
2:25:54
We should have them.
2:25:55
You've got no authority on Roosevelt Island to do anything.
2:25:59
And we we feel like we've had that level of government taken away.
2:26:02
And when they do put these people in, not only can I vote them out, some of them have been on 10 years, 15 there is one guy on for 30 years who calls in?
2:26:12
We don't even know where he's living anymore.
2:26:14
And these are the people who are spending our our money.
2:26:18
And to in add insult to injury, we pay gift ground rent because we don't own the land.
2:26:23
And on top of that, we pay taxes for land that we don't own, and then we don't get to decide how it's spent.
2:26:30
Our money, we have to repair our own roads.
2:26:32
We repair the tram.
2:26:34
We repair the seawall of the land.
2:26:35
We get no city funding.
2:26:37
We get no state funding, yet we have no authority on how any of this money is spent or what we want the people on the island to do.
2:26:45
So I'm asking you to support this bill, and I wanna thank Julie Menon for bringing it up.
2:26:49
But I know you don't have the authority to do anything.
2:26:52
You can recommend suggest, urge, great.
2:26:54
That's what we're trying to get rid of.
2:26:56
We want the authority to tell our government what we want them to do.
2:27:00
I'll turn it over to Joyce with that.
Joyce Short
2:27:02
Thank you.
