Roosevelt Island (New York City)
| Roosevelt Island | ||
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| Waters | East River | |
| Geographical location | 40 ° 45 '43 " N , 73 ° 57' 0" W | |
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| length | 3.17 km | |
| width | 240 m | |
| surface | 60 ha | |
| Highest elevation | 1.5 m | |
| Residents | 9520 (2000) 15,867 inhabitants / km² |
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Roosevelt Island is a narrow, approximately 60 hectare island in the East River in New York City between the districts of Manhattan and Queens . The 3,170 meter long island originally had the Algonquin name Minnahannock , later traded as Blackwell's Island and between 1921 and 1973 as Welfare Island . The island is part of the Manhattan borough.
history
The island originally housed penal institutions and hospitals such as the New York City Lunatic Asylum, infamous for its conditions. The New York City Lunatic Asylum existed from 1829 to 1894. Nellie Bly's coverage of the asylum was an early example of investigative journalism . All facilities have moved over the years, such as the penitentiary that is now on Rikers Island . The Smallpox Hospital was built in the south of the island because of its isolated location .
In 1968, the then Mayor of New York, John Lindsay, initiated the idea of tearing down the unused and decaying buildings and transforming the island into a residential area. The corresponding (lease) contracts were concluded in 1969, and the planning resulted in a residential area with practically no car traffic. A subway to be built should open up the island. As the completion of the apartment blocks approached and the subway was still only on paper, a temporary solution was built in 1976, a cable car ( Roosevelt Island Tramway ), which remained the most important connection until the completion of the subway in 1989. In addition to the new apartment blocks, there is still a former hospital on the island .
Between Roosevelt Island and Queens, RITE , a demonstration power station for generating electricity from the tidal current , has been located on the bottom of the East River since 2006 .
In December 2011, plans for a large were graduate school of the Technion and Cornell University published: With investments of 2 billion US dollars to date on the grounds of the Goldwater Memorial Hospital , a new campus of New York City Tec arise. A private donor is involved.
The island was given its current name Roosevelt Island in 1973 , after the 32nd President of the United States , Franklin D. Roosevelt . In October 2012 the "Four Freedoms Park" was opened on the southern tip of the island, which is supposed to commemorate a speech by Roosevelt from January 1941 on the " Four Freedoms ".
traffic
The island was previously accessed via a tram that had a stop on the Queensboro Bridge with an elevator (dismantled in 1970) to the island. Since 1955 there has been a semi-permanent connection with the mainland via the Roosevelt Island Bridge to Queens .
Roosevelt Island was planned as a low-traffic residential area (first residential complex completed in 1975) and connected to Manhattan in 1976 with the Roosevelt Island Tramway , a cable car. It was not until October 29, 1989 that the long previously promised subway was completed. Since then, the New York Subway has been the main mode of transport between the island and the other parts of the city, while “The Tram” is now primarily a tourist attraction. In November 2010, the now completely modernized lift was reopened. The three-minute journey costs the same as the subway card. During peak hours (Monday to Friday) from 7 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. and from 3:30 p.m. to 8 p.m., the gondolas take off every seven and a half minutes, otherwise every quarter of an hour.
Others
The film Dark Water (2005) takes place mainly in a high-rise apartment building on Roosevelt Island and contains some exterior shots from there.
See also
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ The America Journal of Psychiatry
- ^ Article on Spiegel-online
- ^ Richard Pérez-Peña: Cornell and Technion Israel chosen to build science school in New York City. nytimes.com on December 20, 2011 , accessed December 21, 2011
- ↑ website of "fdrfourfreedomspark" ( Memento of 27 October 2012 at the Internet Archive ), accessed on 26 October 2012