RIRA President’s Report – March 2, 2011 1. Last month I handed out Certificates of Election from the Election Machine Services Company, the outfit that provides us with the election
machines and monitors the count. I’ll ask the Secretary to complete the distribution. 2. We have received another certificate, this one from the Roosevelt Island Chamber of Commerce, thanking RIRA for our contribution to their holiday lights program. I’ll pass it around for your perusal. 3. As noted in the February minutes, I was charged with sending letters on the hydrofracking issue to the Delaware River Basin Commission and to the New York State Attorney General. The letters were transferred to RIRA stationery and sent the following day. 4. Assembly Member Kellner’s office has requested a letter from me soliciting a constituent grant for RIRA, and specifically, to cover some of the expenses involved with the RIRA and RIOC Board elections scheduled for November 2012. Understanding that there is no guarantee that State constituent grants will be available in the current economic climate, I submitted a letter on February 15. Keep in mind that our last grant application was approved but resulted in no funding whatsoever when all grants were rescinded. 5. The Public Purpose Fund Committee has completed its work, having met five times and having interviewed all eight applicants. I thought the effort made by the committee members was serious, rigorous, and comprehensive. The Common Council will be asked to endorse their recommendations this evening prior to presenting them to the RIOC Board of Directors. I want to thank Chair, Bill Long, for mounting an impeccable process. And I want to thank the committee members for their hard work and careful deliberations. 6. It seems that our colleague, Ethel Romm, is celebrating a birthday today. As a gentleman, I may not divulge her age (eighty-six) but she is with family in Cambridge and sends regrets. Be sure to offer your congrats when you next see her. 7. And finally, as I noted on the agenda package, this is our fifth meeting since Election Day, which means that one-quarter of our terms are over. By now, I hope that everyone has chosen, and is working with, at least one RIRA committee as required by our Constitution. I would like to go around the table and have you indicate your committee choice so that the committee chairs can ensure that they are including the full roster of members when they convene their meetings. |
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