THE ASSEMBLY STATE OF NEW YORK ALBANY

MICAH Z. KELLNER th 65 Assembly District

COMMITTEES Banks Cities Consumer Affairs and Protection Steering Corporations, Authorities, and Commissions Racing and Wagering

August 29, 2011 Honorable Michael R. Bloomberg Office of the Mayor City Hall New York, NY 10007 Re: Roosevelt Island Dear Mayor Bloomberg, I would like to commend you and your staff on a great job preparing New Yorkers for Hurricane Irene. The decisions you made saved lives and showed the world the effectiveness of the Citys disaster response plan. Hurricane Irene has also provided a unique opportunity to see gaps in emergency planning, allowing us to correct them before future disasters occur. Specifically, I am concerned about protecting and evacuating the residents of Roosevelt Island, which is located in my district. Roosevelt Island requires special consideration when it comes to emergency planning; the Island is home to two acute-care hospitals, Coler and Goldwater, and nearly 14,000 residents, many of whom are elderly or disabled. Further, as the Island looks to expand with the possible location of an applied sciences center, with the accompanying residents and staff, it is more important than ever to focus on emergency procedures. Had the City faced a more severe storm that required the evacuation of Zone B, there is currently no practical plan in place to safely evacuate Island residents. Roosevelt Island only has a single ground access point the Roosevelt Island Bridge which connects the Island with western Queens. On Saturday, August 27, 2011 as the City was bracing for Irenes impending arrival, you warned that the Citys bridges, including the Roosevelt Island Bridge, would be forced to close should sustained wind speeds reach 60 miles per hour. The Metropolitan Transportation Authoritys subway and bus service was suspended as of 12:00 PM. Also, the Roosevelt Island Tram was forced to close at 6:00 PM due to wind speeds that exceeded 45 miles per hour. Should the Bridge have been forced to close, Roosevelt Island would have been isolated from the rest of the City. While many of the evacuations throughout the City were smoothly executed, I fear that if the storm had been stronger we would be facing an extremely different and deadly outcome on Roosevelt Island. 834 Legislative Office Building, Albany, NY 12248 (518) 455-5676, FAX (518) 455-5282 1365 First Avenue, New York, NY 10021 (212) 860-4906, FAX (917) 432-2983
E-mail: KellnerM@assembly.state.ny.us

Despite being a Class B Flood Zone, Roosevelt Island was not immune to flooding. During this storm, there was severe flooding in Lighthouse Park, which is located at the northern tip of the Island and adjacent to the Coler Hospital campus. The eastern seawall which runs along to the Goldwater Hospital campus, the future site of the applied sciences center at the southern end of the Island, also flooded. In light of Irene being downgraded to a tropical storm before reaching New York and still causing flooding in close proximity to these to these two acute care hospitals on separate ends of the Island, it is safe to say the situation would have been much more dire should a Class 1 or Class 2 hurricane have touched ground. I believe we can use Hurricane Irene as a teachable moment to better identify innovative ways to improve disaster preparedness. I respectfully request that the Office of Emergency Management meet with the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation and local elected officials to discuss creating a comprehensive emergency preparedness plan for Roosevelt Island. Thank you for your attention to this matter. If you would like to discuss this matter further, please contact me at (212) 860-4906.

Very truly yours,

Micah Z. Kellner Assembly Member CC: Cas Holloway, Deputy Mayor for Operations Commissioner Joseph Bruno, Office of Emergency Management Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation Roosevelt Island Residents Association