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...
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.
One more thing about 2013 CBF: RIOC supported this event (remember two RIRA officers who had spouses on the RIOC Board Ops Committee) and supported it in a way it would not have done for any other Island organization, had spent very close to $50K on the effort (as reported by RIOC's CFO at the time). IMPORTANT: RIOC had a $50K limit on monies spend *without* board approval. RIOC was very aware of this $50K limit ... this will come up again in the 2019 CBF.
In 2019, Lynne was back - now as RIRA President, and Lynne wanted a big 2019 CBF event. Our Treasurer had discovered that Lynne was trying to set up a separate bank account (unbeknownst to use board of directors) and she had this scheme where major donors would run the money through one of the Islands 501(c)(3) not-for-profits (donations that would be tax deductible - as RIRA is a 501(c)(4) and donations are not tax deductible). This is illegal, and the Treasurer exposed this (and resigned). Lynne would not reveal the financial information to the board of directors (RIRA Common Council), which many of us disagreed with. Then came the 2019 CBF event. RIRA needed to get a permit for RIOC and provide $2 million liability insurance. About a week before the event, there were approx 12K people who had tickets from Eventbrite and another 65K people were interested - a total of potentially 77,000 people attending the CBF on Roosevelt Island. The day before the event it was up to 14K people who had tickets and 74K interested - about 88,000 people possible attending. However, RIRA only got insurance for 10,000 people because, above 10K, there is a $0.25 per person cost, and the total for 35,000 people (the number actually attended) would be a cost of $6250 (25,000 * 0.25) plus approx $1200 (for the first 10,000) for a total of $7450 - no way RIRA had any kind of money like that. But Lynne refused the share info with the rest of the board of directors, she signed a permit with RIOC within 48 hours prior to the event that promised no more than 10,000 people (a lie as she already new a minimum of 14K had been ticketed) and she made the same false claim to the insurer (insurance fraud). The end result was a complete disaster for Roosevelt Island with 35,000 people swamping the Island - Tram, Ferry, Subway, etc. were all blocked. 1000 people were trapped in the subway and NYPD had to call the MTA to stop subway service to the Island (as NY Times reported). The streets - Main Street - were undrivable as there were so many people that were overflowing from sidewalks into the street. Traffic was backed up over the RI Bridge into Queens, which backed up to Queens Plaza, which caused the Queensboro Bridge traffic to back up into 2nd and 3rd Avenues in the Upper East Side - it was really really bad.
Now back to that $50K RIOC limit on spending without board approval. Again, RIOC was very aware of that limit. So RIOC and PSD did not spend the right amount of money on security (baggage check, crowd control), on RIOC staff (a single untrained RIOC staffer jammed up the subway staying trapping people inside), there were only a handful of portapotties rather than 100 rented for a crowd this size, and so on. Not to mention PSD put baggage check points on West and East Loop roads, but left a gaping hole as people passed through the center of the Cornell Campus and avoided checkpoints - it was a complete disaster.
And ask yourself: would RIOC have done this for any other organization ... or did they do it because the RIRA President was the wife of the RIOC Board Ops Committee chair. I was not the only person complaining about this, many people were, and complained in real time on Twitter, and Gothamist and NY Times has scathing reporting on Roosevelt Island - all because Lynne (with the clout of her husband) wanted a big party and didn't care about what happened to the Island or the cost/penalties for RIRA. Yeah, about half the Common Council was complaining.
Later in 2019 RIRA had another event: we suffered our Treasurer embezzling $9000 (our whole bank account) by taking an ATM card and multiple withdrawals of the $500 cash maximum. The Treasurer was a friend of Lynne. We found out about this in September 2019. Lynne reported that the money was returned - $9000 in a bag of cash left with the doorman of Lynne's building. No record, no nothing. Now the Treasurer was able to return the accounting records back to Lynne's apartment door (they both lived in MP). So why not the cash delivered similarly? Our hunch was: Lynne and her husband covered the loss because the explanation about the Treasurer's taking the money made it clear the Treasurer had no personal resources. Furthermore, the Common Council wanted this reported to the police, but Lynne was hesitant and hesitant to press charges. In fact, as detective from the 114th Precinct (who was a former PSD officer that Lynne and her husband knew) refused to take evidence on the crime because he needed Lynne's approval to take more evidence. (really!) This really fractured the RIRA Common Council in that half the board of directors (supporters of Lynne) had information about the crime, while the other half of the board of directors (people question the crime and wanting it investigated) were given no information. And you might ask: Why was Lynne so protective? One answer was: this Treasurer was well aware of Lynne's involvement on the insurance fraud and law enforcement could flip the Treasurer for testimony against Lynne - a Get Out Of Jail Card for the Treasurer. Otherwise, there would be no reason not to prosecute the Treasurer.
Over the next couple months, Lynne stopped calling meetings (or canceling them) because she didn't want to face questions about the money. A couple months after that COVID has started and no one was meeting in person. By Fall of 2020, we didn't not have elections (because of COVID) and then Lynne "gave" control to Rossana (President) and Erin (Vice President) and RIRA continued, but mostly via Zoom monthly meetings (rather than monthly in-person meetings).
As you can see, the disagreements with Lynne were not just myself but half the RIRA Common Council. Hopefully this explains things better.
Ahh "Public Purpose Funds". The phrase has a comforting ring. It implies that some parental figure is scraping money from here and there to save for the unheralded needs of the beleaguered lower middle class. Little niceties for the folks who work two jobs just to get along. The Food Pantry does this very successfully. The workings of the pantry are open and quantifiable. You can squeeze the tomatoes and tap the watermelons. The people line up and receive quality, balanced groceries to provide a little breathing room to their budgets. When public purpose funds work, it is a joy to behold.
On the other hand, when public purpose funds are used in less public forums, it is prudent to keep good distribution records so the public can applaud less visible outcomes. Keep definite financial records so we can applaud your good works.
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]
[continued]
One more thing about 2013 CBF: RIOC supported this event (remember two RIRA officers who had spouses on the RIOC Board Ops Committee) and supported it in a way it would not have done for any other Island organization, had spent very close to $50K on the effort (as reported by RIOC's CFO at the time). IMPORTANT: RIOC had a $50K limit on monies spend *without* board approval. RIOC was very aware of this $50K limit ... this will come up again in the 2019 CBF.
In 2019, Lynne was back - now as RIRA President, and Lynne wanted a big 2019 CBF event. Our Treasurer had discovered that Lynne was trying to set up a separate bank account (unbeknownst to use board of directors) and she had this scheme where major donors would run the money through one of the Islands 501(c)(3) not-for-profits (donations that would be tax deductible - as RIRA is a 501(c)(4) and donations are not tax deductible). This is illegal, and the Treasurer exposed this (and resigned). Lynne would not reveal the financial information to the board of directors (RIRA Common Council), which many of us disagreed with. Then came the 2019 CBF event. RIRA needed to get a permit for RIOC and provide $2 million liability insurance. About a week before the event, there were approx 12K people who had tickets from Eventbrite and another 65K people were interested - a total of potentially 77,000 people attending the CBF on Roosevelt Island. The day before the event it was up to 14K people who had tickets and 74K interested - about 88,000 people possible attending. However, RIRA only got insurance for 10,000 people because, above 10K, there is a $0.25 per person cost, and the total for 35,000 people (the number actually attended) would be a cost of $6250 (25,000 * 0.25) plus approx $1200 (for the first 10,000) for a total of $7450 - no way RIRA had any kind of money like that. But Lynne refused the share info with the rest of the board of directors, she signed a permit with RIOC within 48 hours prior to the event that promised no more than 10,000 people (a lie as she already new a minimum of 14K had been ticketed) and she made the same false claim to the insurer (insurance fraud). The end result was a complete disaster for Roosevelt Island with 35,000 people swamping the Island - Tram, Ferry, Subway, etc. were all blocked. 1000 people were trapped in the subway and NYPD had to call the MTA to stop subway service to the Island (as NY Times reported). The streets - Main Street - were undrivable as there were so many people that were overflowing from sidewalks into the street. Traffic was backed up over the RI Bridge into Queens, which backed up to Queens Plaza, which caused the Queensboro Bridge traffic to back up into 2nd and 3rd Avenues in the Upper East Side - it was really really bad.
Now back to that $50K RIOC limit on spending without board approval. Again, RIOC was very aware of that limit. So RIOC and PSD did not spend the right amount of money on security (baggage check, crowd control), on RIOC staff (a single untrained RIOC staffer jammed up the subway staying trapping people inside), there were only a handful of portapotties rather than 100 rented for a crowd this size, and so on. Not to mention PSD put baggage check points on West and East Loop roads, but left a gaping hole as people passed through the center of the Cornell Campus and avoided checkpoints - it was a complete disaster.
And ask yourself: would RIOC have done this for any other organization ... or did they do it because the RIRA President was the wife of the RIOC Board Ops Committee chair. I was not the only person complaining about this, many people were, and complained in real time on Twitter, and Gothamist and NY Times has scathing reporting on Roosevelt Island - all because Lynne (with the clout of her husband) wanted a big party and didn't care about what happened to the Island or the cost/penalties for RIRA. Yeah, about half the Common Council was complaining.
Later in 2019 RIRA had another event: we suffered our Treasurer embezzling $9000 (our whole bank account) by taking an ATM card and multiple withdrawals of the $500 cash maximum. The Treasurer was a friend of Lynne. We found out about this in September 2019. Lynne reported that the money was returned - $9000 in a bag of cash left with the doorman of Lynne's building. No record, no nothing. Now the Treasurer was able to return the accounting records back to Lynne's apartment door (they both lived in MP). So why not the cash delivered similarly? Our hunch was: Lynne and her husband covered the loss because the explanation about the Treasurer's taking the money made it clear the Treasurer had no personal resources. Furthermore, the Common Council wanted this reported to the police, but Lynne was hesitant and hesitant to press charges. In fact, as detective from the 114th Precinct (who was a former PSD officer that Lynne and her husband knew) refused to take evidence on the crime because he needed Lynne's approval to take more evidence. (really!) This really fractured the RIRA Common Council in that half the board of directors (supporters of Lynne) had information about the crime, while the other half of the board of directors (people question the crime and wanting it investigated) were given no information. And you might ask: Why was Lynne so protective? One answer was: this Treasurer was well aware of Lynne's involvement on the insurance fraud and law enforcement could flip the Treasurer for testimony against Lynne - a Get Out Of Jail Card for the Treasurer. Otherwise, there would be no reason not to prosecute the Treasurer.
Over the next couple months, Lynne stopped calling meetings (or canceling them) because she didn't want to face questions about the money. A couple months after that COVID has started and no one was meeting in person. By Fall of 2020, we didn't not have elections (because of COVID) and then Lynne "gave" control to Rossana (President) and Erin (Vice President) and RIRA continued, but mostly via Zoom monthly meetings (rather than monthly in-person meetings).
As you can see, the disagreements with Lynne were not just myself but half the RIRA Common Council. Hopefully this explains things better.
Meanwhile, RIRA continues to rebuild itself.
Ahh "Public Purpose Funds". The phrase has a comforting ring. It implies that some parental figure is scraping money from here and there to save for the unheralded needs of the beleaguered lower middle class. Little niceties for the folks who work two jobs just to get along. The Food Pantry does this very successfully. The workings of the pantry are open and quantifiable. You can squeeze the tomatoes and tap the watermelons. The people line up and receive quality, balanced groceries to provide a little breathing room to their budgets. When public purpose funds work, it is a joy to behold.
On the other hand, when public purpose funds are used in less public forums, it is prudent to keep good distribution records so the public can applaud less visible outcomes. Keep definite financial records so we can applaud your good works.