Talk:Roosevelt Island

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Need information
Need information on following:

Roosevelt Island (NY):

Landscape/Environment: forest, water resources, bodies of water and rivers,contours of land, air temp/humidity,climate/micro climate,precipitation throughout the year,wind patterns, soil, geology.

Physoical Environmental assesment:air quality,water quality/quantity,soil classification and risk,fish and animal life,aquatic and terrestrial vegetation,physical and mental health of inhabbitants, phylosophy of environmental planning in regrds to conservation,preservation and green design.


 * Why? It is in the main Manhattan article. Epicgenius (talk) 14:02, 23 September 2014 (UTC)

Missing info
Heyho. There seems to be an aerial lift (Gondola lift?) going from Manhattan to Roosevelt Island; I heard about it due to an electrical failure in it yesterday (the 18th of march, 2006). It was built in 1976 as a passenger ferry to Roosevelt Island, and is supposedly the only lift of it's type in the US. It travels at up to 45 meters high... and I know nothing more about it. --Smári McCarthy 20:18, 19 April 2006 (UTC)

Should there be some information on the reasons for the sequence of name changes? Agingjb (talk) 07:29, 30 July 2009 (UTC)

Map
A map would be nice to illustrate the location of the island with regards the rest of New York. KTo288 20:46, 1 December 2007 (UTC)

Demographics
Can the statement in the demographics section "The racial makeup of the island was 45% white (non-Hispanic), 27% black, 14% Hispanics or Latinos, 11% Asian or Pacific Islander, and .3% other races." be backed up by any reference, or is it made up ? UrbanNerd (talk) 02:18, 18 August 2011 (UTC)
 * The source was in the previous paragraph, the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation, which is the source for all the demographic information in the section. I've made that explicit for each of the paragraphs. Beyond My Ken (talk) 03:07, 18 August 2011 (UTC)
 * Opps, my mistake. I must have missed that when I went to the link. Thanks. UrbanNerd (talk) 03:12, 18 August 2011 (UTC)

Demographics
Can the 2010 demographics breakdown be corrected? It adds up to 118.7%, so there's clearly something wrong. — Preceding unsigned comment added by James Balti (talk • contribs) 12:39, 9 October 2019 (UTC)

Prose?
Should the history timeline be in prose? I'm gonna put a prose tag on it and see if anyone changes it. Agent 78787 (talk) 23:17, 13 January 2012 (UTC)
 * I changed it. Sometimes prose is better, and sometimes a list is.  In this case -- a timeline -- prose would just ended up being the list reformatted into paragraphs, making it harder to read. Beyond My Ken (talk) 02:42, 14 January 2012 (UTC)

two islands
Contradictory info between related articles: This article about Wouter Van Twiller claims he purchased "Governors Island" Wouter Van Twiller

However, this article about "Roosevelt Island" claims it was purchased by Wouter Van Twiller (from the same group of Indians). Roosevelt Island

1. These are two different islands. 2. The Indian Tribe's name is spelled slightly differently on both pages. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.28.142.49 (talk) 22:44, 12 July 2012 (UTC)


 * I don't know much about history, but I do know that spellings of Indian names have often been uncertain. —Tamfang (talk) 23:36, 12 July 2012 (UTC)


 * Governor's Island is located in the New York Harbor south of Manhattan. Maybe the two transactions were the same. In any case, the original poster is confused. Epicgenius (talk to me • see my contributions)  19:18, 30 August 2013 (UTC)
 * According to "At one time or another Van Twiller owned what are now Governors, Wards, and Roosevelt Island..." (p.29), so there's no contradiction. Beyond My Ken (talk) 04:40, 31 August 2013 (UTC)

Why was it called Welfare Island
When I first heard this name years ago, I had assumed New York had built public housing on the island. Or was it because of the location of the hospital? Shouldn't the reason for the name be given in the article?__209.179.80.169 (talk) 17:30, 14 November 2014 (UTC)
 * ✅ by . It was renamed for the hospitals, this source may be handy: 50.14.142.33 (talk) 11:16, 16 November 2014 (UTC)

Yes, if memory serves, the island was a splendid place for contagious diseases which were rife in the 19th century, being isolated yet inside City limits. North Brother Island was even better for the most difficult cases such as Typhoid Mary. Madhouses were also put in both islands. Out of sight, out of mind, so to speak. Hardly anyone lived there except inmates and staff. Later, better sewers and better understanding reduced the problem of infection. And eventually antibiotics. Old hospitals were lightly maintained and closed when they became obsolete and run-down, new hospitals in more convenient locations having taken up the load. Jim.henderson (talk) 02:15, 18 November 2014 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified 8 external links on Roosevelt Island. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20090801130014/http://www.nyc24.org/2003/islands/zone4/roosevelthistory.html to http://www.nyc24.org/2003/islands/zone4/roosevelthistory.html
 * Corrected formatting/usage for http://nyc10044.com/timeln/timeline.html
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20110808121332/http://www.wnyc.org/blogs/wnyc-news-blog/2011/aug/02/park-reopens-roosevelt-island/ to http://www.wnyc.org/blogs/wnyc-news-blog/2011/aug/02/park-reopens-roosevelt-island/
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20150704024141/http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20120503/roosevelt-island/tech-campus-leaves-hospital-patients-worried-about-future to http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20120503/roosevelt-island/tech-campus-leaves-hospital-patients-worried-about-future
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20101203022809/http://www.ny1.com/content/top_stories/129776/roosevelt-island-tram-opens-after-lengthy-renovations to http://www.ny1.com/content/top_stories/129776/roosevelt-island-tram-opens-after-lengthy-renovations
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20170830005457/https://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20170829/astoria/nyc-ferry-astoria-route-launch-aug-29 to https://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20170829/astoria/nyc-ferry-astoria-route-launch-aug-29
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20131010045911/http://www.totallyfuncompany.com/kongmedia/articles/kingkongarticle.htm to http://www.totallyfuncompany.com/kongmedia/articles/kingkongarticle.htm
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20150507010705/http://old.nyc10044.com/timeln/timeline.html to http://old.nyc10044.com/timeln/timeline.html

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot  (Report bug) 03:37, 3 November 2017 (UTC)

Suggested Article Improvements
I asked (via Twitter) if anyone could identify areas for improvement on the article and received a few answers that I am going to document here so that we can track recommended edits. Suggestions were made by twitter users minnehanonck and RI_Daily


 * Recreation: Add: Octagon tennis courts, Sportspark, tennis bubble and image of garden club
 * Parking: There are no limits, especially in the canyon. There are no "car free zones," just parks without roads.
 * Media: The WIRE has not published in over two years. "The Daily is not "an opinion blog," but an online newspaper and far more than simply my perspective."- quote from David Stone, regarding the characterization of the Roosevelt Islander. (Via same twitter thread)
 *  Buildings: Both Rivercross and Island House have left Mitchell-Lama. Under architecture, Northtown also includes Manhattan Park.
 *  Organizations: Roosevelt Island Parent Network. Also, Roosevelt Island Visual Art Association, the Residents Association, Roosevelt Island Day Nursery, and also the Main Street Theater and Dance Alliance.
 * Residents current residents should include international philanthropist Jim Luce (Roosevelt Landings) and legendary pianist Roy Eaton (Rivercross), a member of the Advertising Hall of Fame. Add former resident, legendary writer Alice Childress

Iamjessklein (talk) 00:04, 12 August 2020 (UTC)
 * Re:Residents. There are Wikipedia pages for Roy Eaton and Alice Childress (but not Jim Luce). Now I'm looking for any citations or reference material that says they were/are island residents. Iamjessklein (talk) 00:24, 12 August 2020 (UTC)
 * Twitter user @iDig2Learnadded the comment that " Roosevelt Islanders created an expanding Monarch butterfly corridor throughout the island to combat the species 85% population loss by planting the host plant milkweed, & nectar rich plants like Aster and Goldenrod at Lighthouse Park, P.S. 217 & gardens" Iamjessklein (talk) 12:45, 13 August 2020 (UTC)
 * We cannot use tweets as a source unless the tweeter is a regonized authority on the subject and the account is verified. Beyond My Ken (talk)

Delete out of date "famous poeple" section?
Are there good criteria on who is famous? This section on people seems outdated and possibly inappropriate for an area as large as this. --Mmcdougall (talk) 20:35, 21 September 2020 (UTC)


 * The section name is Notable residents and visitors. It is a Wikipedia principle that notability is not temporary, unlike fame. Since they all have Wikipedia articles, their notability has been established. IMO the only thing that would be outdated is Current residents, who in that case should be moved to Former residents. -- Pemilligan (talk) 23:48, 21 September 2020 (UTC)

Literature (missing)
E.L. Doctorow's novel "The Waterworks" Chapter 27 is set in the asylum for the criminally insane on Blackwell's Island where a main character has been committed (avoiding spoilers here) and a newspaperman conducts a detailed debriefing re: motivations, etc. (2013 audiobook, set in 1871-72, also describes parts of the end of Boss Tweed's reign over the Tammany Hall crime syndicate) 159.39.58.137 (talk) 18:55, 7 July 2021 (UTC)

Map image says “Oosevelt Island”
It still needs to be fixed, thank you UsersLikeYou (talk) 00:09, 14 March 2022 (UTC)

In popular culture
This section is largely unsourced and violates MOS:POPCULT. I have removed it and am planning to rewrite it, but here are the contents of that section, although this can also be split into a new article. Epicgenius (talk) 17:36, 18 March 2024 (UTC)

"Literature
 * 1867 – In chapter 13 of Horatio Alger's novel Ragged Dick: Or, Street Life in New York with the Boot Blacks, the character Mickey Maguire, a young tough from Five Points "had acquired an ascendency [sic] among his fellow professionals, and had a gang of subservient followers, whom he led on to acts of ruffianism, not infrequently terminating in a month or two at Blackwell's Island".
 * 1893 – In the opening chapter of Stephen Crane's novelette "Maggie: A Girl of the Streets", "a worm of yellow convicts" is seen emerging from a prison building on Roosevelt Island.
 * 1904 – In O. Henry's short story "The Cop and the Anthem", the main character, a homeless man named Soapy, schemes to have himself arrested so as to spend the harsh winter serving a three-month sentence in Blackwell's Island prison.
 * 1922 – Yank, the main character in Eugene O'Neill's comedy The Hairy Ape, is imprisoned in Blackwell's Island prison, in chapter VI.
 * 1925 – Roosevelt Island appears in F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic novel The Great Gatsby as Blackwell's Island, in Chapter Four, when Nick and Jay drive into Manhattan via the Queensboro Bridge.
 * 2001 – Roosevelt Island's ruins, particularly the Smallpox Hospital and the Strecker Memorial Laboratory, play a central role in Linda Fairstein's police procedural novel The Dead House (Scribner 2001).
 * 2004 – A significant scene in Caitlín R. Kiernan's story "Riding The White Bull" takes place on Roosevelt Island.
 * 2005 – In the novel by Caroline B. Cooney Code Orange, the main character, Mitty, is studying smallpox for his own survival. He visits the Smallpox Hospital ruins on Roosevelt Island.
 * 2007 – In the novel by Cassandra Clare City of Bones, the protagonist is drawn to the island for a showdown with the elusive villain, Valentine.

Film
 * 1932 – A Paramount Pictures film entitled No Man of Her Own is released, a light comedy film starring Clark Gable and Carole Lombard. Upon learning that Gable's character is not in South America, but instead learns he has negotiated a deal to serve 90 days and "he's across the river", Lombard's character then looks out of her hotel window to a view across the East River and the Queensboro Bridge, later referring to this as "Blackwell's Island".
 * 1939 – A Warner Bros. film entitled Blackwell's Island is released. It stars John Garfield as a crusading reporter investigating corruption in the island's prison.
 * 1966 – In the film Mister Buddwing, a sign posted on a bridge in the film reads "Stairway to Welfare Island". Suzanne Pleshette, playing the character Grace, tries to throw herself off the bridge wearing nothing but a fitted trench coat and white ankle boots, before James Garner's character saves her.
 * 1972 – The Exorcist begins principal photography in mid-August with a scene shot at Goldwater Memorial Hospital.
 * 1981 – A Roosevelt Island Tramway car is held hostage in the Sylvester Stallone film Nighthawks.
 * 1983 – The 1983 Italian B movie Escape from the Bronx has a scene filmed at the north end of the island.
 * 1985 – In the final scenes of the film Turk 182 the Timothy Hutton character swings above Roosevelt Island on the Queensboro Bridge.
 * 1990 – In the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film, exterior shots of the Renwick Ruins are used as the fictitious location for the Foot Clan's secret hideout.
 * 1991 – In the opening scene of City Slickers Billy Crystal's character "Mitch Robbins" is shown commuting to work via the Roosevelt Island tram.
 * 1993 – In the film For Love or Money, Doug Ireland (played by Michael J. Fox) wants to buy the "abandoned hotel" at the south end of Roosevelt Island, referring to the ruins of the Smallpox Hospital.
 * 1994 – In The Professional, Mathilda Lando (played by Natalie Portman) takes the Tramway to Roosevelt Island to seek asylum at what is implied to be the Spencer School; however, in the beginning of the film the school's head mistress states on the phone that the school is located in Wildwood, New Jersey.
 * 1997 – The film Conspiracy Theory was shot on location in and around New York City, including Roosevelt Island.
 * 2001 – The fictional "Saint Adonis Cemetery" in the film Zoolander was built on Roosevelt Island.
 * 2002 – Near the end of the film Spider-Man, the Green Goblin blows up the Roosevelt Island side tram station and leaves a group of children hanging inside one car. He also brings Spider-Man down to fight with him in the abandoned Smallpox Hospital on the island. The tram and the island make other appearances in Spider-Man media. The island is featured in the video game Spider-Man 2. In The Amazing Spider-Man #161 and #162, appearing on the cover of the latter, and Spider-Man and Hulk fight on Roosevelt Island in The Amazing Spider-Man #328.
 * 2002 – In the film Gangs of New York, Leonardo DiCaprio's character Amsterdam Vallon is seen leaving "Hellgate House of Reform, Blackwell's Island, New York City".
 * 2003 – In the film Anything Else, Woody Allen's character, David Dobel, is a schoolteacher who lives on the island.
 * 2005 – Roosevelt Island is the setting for the film Dark Water by Brazilian director Walter Salles, where Dahlia (Jennifer Connelly) moves into a low-rent apartment with her daughter and then is terrorized by the ghost of a girl that used to live upstairs.
 * 2007 – In the film The Brave One, starring Jodie Foster, a scene takes place at the Roosevelt Island parking lot. The film mentions the island several times.
 * 2009 – In the final scene of Daddy Longlegs, the characters board a tram for Roosevelt Island.
 * 2023 - In the film John Wick: Chapter 4, there is a scene where Wick (Keanu Reeves) meets with Winston (Ian McShane) at a cemetery. This scene was filmed on Roosevelt Island, with the cemetery on the site of the real world Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park.

Television
 * 1958 – In the "Violent Circle" episode of Naked City (season 1, episode 5), Detective Halloran (James Franciscus) poses as a mental patient in a hospital mental ward on the Island to uncover a murderer.
 * 1963 – In the "Carrier" episode of Naked City (season 4, episode 29), a woman (Sandy Dennis) escapes from a chronic care hospital on Welfare Island – as it was then called – to carry a rare disease through New York City.
 * 1993 – in the "American Dream" episode of Law & Order (season 4, episode 8), a body is found during archaeological excavation on Roosevelt Island, forcing a new trial of a Wall Street broker (Željko Ivanek) who had been convicted based on a witness claiming they had buried the body in New Jersey in the early '80s.
 * 2005 – In the second season episode of CSI: NY called "Dancing with the Fishes", a crime is committed inside the Roosevelt Island tram.
 * 2010 – On the TV show 24, NY CTU is based on Roosevelt Island.
 * 2010 – The reality TV show America's Next Top Model filmed a photo shoot on the Roosevelt Island tram on April 7.
 * 2011 – The television series Unforgettable takes place in part on Roosevelt Island.
 * 2012 – The season three finale of White Collar is set largely on Roosevelt Island, including a stunt in which the show's protagonist jumps midair between Tram cars to avoid being captured by the FBI.
 * 2013 - The second season episode "On The Line" of Elementary opens with a woman shooting herself on the Roosevelt Island Bridge and staging it to look like a murder in order to frame the man who got away with killing her sister.
 * 2015 - In season four, episode sixteen of the TruTV show Impractical Jokers, "Captain Fatbelly", a punishment is filmed on the Roosevelt Island Tram. During the scene Joe Gatto performed several strange tasks while riding on top of the tram dressed as the superhero "Captain Fatbelly".
 * 2015 – The second season of FX's series The Strain has several scenes which take place on Roosevelt Island.
 * 2016 – In the third season episode '"P is For Pancake", of TV Land's series Younger, a potential love interest for Hilary Duff's character is rebuffed when he is revealed to be a resident of Roosevelt Island.
 * 2018 – In the Netflix original miniseries Maniac, Jonah Hill's character lives on Roosevelt Island.
 * 2019 – The fourth season episode "Maximum Recreational Depth" of Billions, first broadcast on April 21, features a meeting between Wendy Rhoades and Taylor Mason at the FDR Four Freedoms State Park, where they discuss Roosevelt's State of the Union speech and the relationship between architect-designer Louis Kahn and his son.
 * 2019 - The seventh season episode "Into The Woods" of Elementary, first broadcast on June 20, has Joan meet with billionaire Odin Reichenbach at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park; at the end of the episode, she and Sherlock meet him there again to confront him over sending them on a wild goose chase. The following episode, "Command: Delete", immediately follows up on this, continuing this meeting.

Video games
 * 1992 – In the final level of the video game Atomic Runner for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis the level takes place on Roosevelt Island Southpoint Park.
 * 2008 – In the video game Grand Theft Auto IV there is an island resembling Roosevelt Island, named Colony Island. It also includes the ruins of a hospital, similar to the Smallpox Hospital. There is also a replica of the tram available for players to ride.
 * 2011 – Parts of the video game Crysis 2 take place on Roosevelt Island.

Other
 * 1973 – In the original video for Pink Floyd's song "Us and Them", Roosevelt Island appears during a lengthy sequence shot from the Queensboro Bridge.
 * 1986 – The King Kong Tramway ride at Universal Studios Hollywood opens, featuring the Roosevelt Island Tram. Another version of the ride would open at Universal Studios Florida in 1990.
 * 2006 – The fictional high school which the main characters attend in the GONZO anime series Red Garden is on Roosevelt Island."