Why is RISA still around?
For years, the Roosevelt Island Seniors Association (RISA) ran the island's senior center. In 2016, its longtime director, Rema Townsend, was charged with felony grand larceny, accused of siphoning...
For years, the Roosevelt Island Seniors Association (RISA) ran the island's senior center. In 2016, its longtime director, Rema Townsend, was charged with felony grand larceny, accused of siphoning public funds meant for senior services into her own pockets. On January 18, 2017, Barbara Parker signed the 2016 tax filing, listing herself as Secretary, with Delores Green as President and Wendy Hersh as Vice President. Today, Parker and Hersh lead RIDA, another group receiving public funds.
According to reliable sources familiar with the internal fallout, Wendy Hersh served as the internal whistleblower who helped expose the financial misconduct. She, along with Ron Davidson and Lynne Shinozaki, conducted the deep-dive research that was first turned over to Ben Kallos and then to the Department of Investigation. However, rather than being embraced for exposing the wrongdoing, Hersh became the target of a campaign led by her fellow board members. Public statements and editorials at the time sought to downplay the severity of the misconduct, characterizing it as “minor bookkeeping errors” — a narrative later refuted by the indictments themselves.
Among the RISA membership at the time were Howard Polivy as well as Fay Christian. According to these same sources, none publicly acknowledged the wrongdoing or spoke against the effort to maintain RISA’s funding after the scandal broke.
Following Townsend’s departure, RISA largely went dark, reporting minimal income and little public activity. Then, around 2020, Andrea Jackson took over as President and reported that funding rose to roughly $15–20K annually.
We have reached out to Parker and Hersh to clarify when they assumed leadership, under what circumstances, and whether it overlapped with Townsend's final days. We also asked Parker why she stepped down. Both Parker and Hersh now serve on the board of RIDA, with Hersh currently listed as its president. If substantive responses arrive, we will update this article.
Meanwhile, the Carter Burden Network – a city-contracted nonprofit with credentialed staff and deep resources – took over the senior center. From our reporting, they have consistently provided transparent, professional, and accredited services since the 2016 fallout.
Let’s be clear: we are not alleging wrongdoing by RISA's current leadership. But we question the logic of continuing to funnel public purpose funds to an organization with no website, opaque public communication, a past history of mismanagement, and a board whose activities remain largely hidden.
The Polivy connection
Ellen Polivy formerly served as RIRA president. During her tenure in 2012 she touted RIRA’s role in organizing CERT classes. According to RIOC records, Howard Polivy "presently is Chief of the Roosevelt Island Community Emergency Response Team (CERT)." Frank Farance, current RIRA president, corrected the record, stating Howard's CERT group operates independently of RIRA. Howard Polivy has declined to respond to our questions.
Our sources informed us that RISA runs a handful of evening classes at the senior center – classes that include as participants Howard and Ellen Polivy, RIOC’s most senior board member and his wife.
We mention this because public trust depends on accountability, especially when those benefiting from publicly funded programs also sit in powerful oversight positions. While we do not allege the Polivys steered funding to RISA or RIRA, the appearance of closeness merits scrutiny. Oversight demands daylight, not secrecy.
So what does RISA do these days?
We still don’t know. Our best information is that RISA runs occasional classes in the CBN-managed senior center and collects revenue from weekend flea markets – flea markets that, according to neighbors, include participation by Ellen Polivy. Again, Polivy has not responded to our inquiries.
While the Carter Burden Network operates the senior center during weekday hours under its city contract, sources familiar with the arrangement note that the Department for the Aging (DFTA) funding does not cover evenings or weekends. RISA has recently framed its role as filling in those off-hour gaps, though it's unclear how consistently that programming takes place. In practice, both CBN and RIDA also receive public funds that support senior services and community programming — including activities during evenings and weekends — which raises further questions about the necessity of maintaining a third, less structured, and publicly invisible organization in this space.
More importantly, RISA is not structured or positioned to provide oversight for another nonprofit like RIRA — especially given that its current board remains largely unknown to the community and operates with minimal transparency or accountability.
Why RIRA is needed but can it come back?
As reported in our last installment (RIRA Disqualified on Paper, Rewarded), RIRA received its funds indirectly through RISA. After publication, multiple sources reached out to help fill in the blanks regarding RIRA’s troubled history and internal dynamics. According to those sources, while RIRA has long played an important role as a community watchdog, its ability to represent residents has eroded over years of conflict and dysfunction.
Ellen Polivy and Lynne Shinozaki, faced relentless attacks from Frank Farance, according to our sources, creating an environment so hostile that elections effectively stalled. While Farance is often well-prepared and knowledgeable in public forums, he lacks broader support from the community at large. Still, he continues to respond publicly to questions when others remain silent.
Frank Farance, RIRA President, offered a brief response:
“Too many things are wrong/misleading, it shouldn't be published until it is researched, corrected, balanced, and fair.”
Farance strongly objects to this characterization. In a detailed written response, he disputes the claim that his actions stalled elections and asserts that his disagreements with prior RIRA presidents were based on procedural and financial concerns, not personal hostility. He believes the article overlooks serious governance issues that were raised at the time by multiple members of the Common Council, not just himself. He has committed to elaborating further in the public comments.
Why does this matter? An independent residents association can provide oversight, push for transparency, and advocate for services that improve life on Roosevelt Island. But any comeback will depend on confronting the past, embracing reforms, and putting community interests first, something RIRA has struggled to do in recent years.
Taking a step back
We thank Dhruvika Patel Amin, Vice President/Chief Financial Officer, for adding $100K to the pot this year – an important boost to the Public Purpose Fund (PPF). We also thank Prof. Lydia W. Tang and Dr. Michal L. Melamed for their tireless work over the past year. New board members cannot fix decades of broken systems alone. They need public awareness and pressure. Not because we believe everyone in power is doing wrong – but because when government hides, it forgets it exists to serve the public.
We hope this month-long investigation motivates RIOC to open up. Share PPF grant information. Change the grant process from short-term, event-based handouts to support for services that genuinely improve quality of life on the island. In the mean time we’ll keep asking questions and investigate.
We posed a closing question to RIOC and its board:
"Will you be willing to hold a committee meeting focused on reforming the Public Purpose Funds to help it thrive visibly for years to come?"
If we receive a response, we will update.
Thank you for thinking about these topics.
I'd like to respond to just a couple points. First, let me unwind the statement "Ellen Polivy and Lynne Shinozaki, faced relentless attacks from Frank Farance, according to our sources, creating an environment so hostile that elections effectively stalled."
I was not involved in RIRA elections since 2006, I believe. Only recently in the 2024 elections, I worked on the nominations process: we got candidates, new members, there were no uncontested positions so there was no elections for 2024, but still we have a new Common Council. Still I seek new members, I recruit all the time, I provide information to people and support their concerns (some Island-wide, some building-specific), and I provide knowledge and previous experiences to help advocate their issues and concerns. Some of them become Common Council members during this term. If you're interested, please contact me at rira.president.farance@gmail.com and I am happy to follow up.
As for "attacks", I didn't attack anyone, I disagreed with Ellen and Lynne on things, but do did others. Part of this, I believe, might involve gender bias: when a man disagrees with a woman it is an "attack", whereas when the genders are reversed it is not called an "attack". For Ellen and Lynne, I had different disagreements.
For Ellen, I and other Common Council members had disagreements about the way she ran Common Council meetings. First, I should say: I like Ellen, she is a good Mom, and she has advocated (in varying roles) for many good things for the Island and for individuals and families, too. Our disagreement with Ellen was: when she would chair the monthly meetings, she didn't pick on people fairly - she chose people who supported her thinking and skipped over others who disagreed with her. We suggested: either go around the room clockwise (or counterclockwise) and call people who have their hands raised; OR, call people in order when the raise their hands - either approach is fair. Unfortunately, Ellen had friends who supported her and, I'd say, they (including Lynne) were more anti-Frank than pro-Ellen.
In 2013, when these disagreements with Ellen occurred, there was much going on. We had the problems with PSD almost killing a resident for loitering (I broke the news to the community), we had many protests, and myself and others (Erin, Ike, Adib, Chris, etc.) in RIRA's Public Safety Committee led community protests, there were firings and departures (Chief, Deputy Chief, Lieutenant, Sergeant, and Officer), and Public Safety was reinvented in the Community Policing Model - led by Chief Jack McManus - and all initiated and advocated by RIRA. That was particularly difficult because Ellen was President, Lynne was chair of a committee, and both of their husbands were on the RIOC Board Ops Committee with had oversight of PSD. I won't say Conflict-of-Interest, but I will say there are difficulties for both women in those roles, the independence demanded in those roles, and their husbands overseeing PSD of which RIRA had strong strong strong opposition (including the community).
Also in April 2013, there was a Cherry Blossom Festival (CBF) which was the Island's largest event (at the time) with about 10,000 attendees. It taxed RIOC and PSD. Lynne had suggested to Common Council members that RIRA complain to (then) Councilmember Jessica Lappin that RIOC should refund our downpayment on the CBF permit because RIRA didn't make enough money. There were lots of questions about the finances for the 2013 CBF, Lynne was in charge, and many Common Council members were asking Lynne about the finances - the information seemed questionable. It wasn't until November 2013 that we received Lynne's financials: apparently RIRA had revenues of $35K (10 times more than any prior year), expenses of $35K (20 times more than any prior year), and $4000 of those expenses went to a guest speaker who didn't show up. Clearly, the financial statement was fraudulent as it did not reflect any money-related reality - several Common Council members had the same concern, including our Treasurer who would need to sign off on corporate accounting. Rather than fixing the CBF finances, Lynne retaliated against one of the complainers (me) by saying my complaints about finances (as board members in a NYS not-for-profit corporation, we have very clear fiduciary responsibilities) somehow were considered "misconduct" and Lynne sought Expulsion proceedings against me. Well, the Common Council did not agree and Ellen, Lynne, and a couple other people resigned. At the time, I felt bad that Ellen had resigned - this could have been fixed by simply running the meetings better and Ellen separating herself from Lynne on the concerns about the 2013 CBF finances. By the way, the 2013 CBF only made about $700 cash in donations in a coffee can, Lynne had met someone from Coney Island non-profit who suffered badly in Hurricane Sandy (2012), so Lynne gave the money to that organization (RIRA only found out about this after the fact), and in the end RIRA lost money on an event that Lynne had touted would be a fundraiser. There were more things wrong, but that's a summary.
[continued in next post]