Status & Jurisdiction

Roosevelt Island, according to courts, election boards, and the post office, is within the jurisdiction of Manhattan. The island does provide its own public safety department as well as a waste disposal system in the form of AVAC (Automated Vacuum Collection), a garbage suctioning series of underground pneumatic tubes. This system was constructed in 1975 and is one of only two functioning city-scale systems in the US; the other serves Disneyworld.

Establishment

The Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation (RIOC) was established by the New York State Legislature in 1984 as a public benefit corporation appointed with control over the operation, maintenance, and development of the island. The State of New York's lease on the island expires in 2068, at which point control will revert to New York City.