Former Roosevelt Island officers used taxpayer cash to fund an elaborate scheme to control the press — responsible vacationers, not mismanagement, for lackluster service on the Roosevelt Island Tramway, in line with an explosive state investigation.
Officers overseeing the Roosevelt Island tram — whose cable automobiles cross the East River between Midtown Manhattan and Roosevelt Island at East 59th Road — paid $168,680 to PR agency Standing Labs to orchestrate the yearlong marketing campaign in late 2022, in line with New York state’s Workplace of the Inspector Normal.
Officers on the Roosevelt Island Working Company (RIOC) aimed to deflect complaints over months of tram breakdowns, overcrowding, and insufficient lodging for passengers with disabilities, in line with the report launched final week.
Whereas the report discovered that a number of the tram’s service issues may very well be blamed on a glut of vacationers who use it to soak up scenic views, it famous that residents and blogs additionally raised hackles over media protection that solely blamed vacationers and ignored indicators of poor administration.
Months later, in line with the report, state officers discovered that the “tourist trap” blame sport was a part of a rigorously calculated misinformation marketing campaign that was paid for by the tram’s govt board.
Between October 2022 and October 2023, the PR group produced 17 optimistic articles concerning the RIOC executives and planted them on numerous blogs. Based on the report, RIOC officers edited and reviewed articles that Standing Labs had written about them, and even organized headshots for the puff items — all throughout RIOC work hours.
Standing Labs — the mission of which is “to help our clients take and maintain control of their digital identity and look their best online,” in line with its web site — didn’t reply to The Publish’s request for remark.
Standing Labs additionally helped RIOC executives manipulate Google’s SEO (website positioning) algorithm and transfer reliable detrimental articles from native blogs decrease down on search pages, in line with the report.
“If a person’s content material doesn’t seem ‘on the first few pages of results,’ that content material ‘may as well not exist,’ the report says, quoting Google’s website positioning starter information.
The Roosevelt Island Every day Information carefully reported on the tram points and administration except for vacationer crowding, tagging 419 articles on its web site underneath “RIOC negligence.” The Roosevelt Islander, one other native newspaper that has lined the RIOC, was additionally talked about within the report as a goal of the website positioning marketing campaign.
“This wasn’t hard to spot. SEO manipulation has fingerprints. We follow all public meetings, and it didn’t take much to connect the dots. It’s good to now have confirmation and added detail, but it’s not surprising,” stated Theo Gobblevelt, editor on the Roosevelt Island Lighthouse.
Rick O’Conor, writer on the Roosevelt Islander, referred to as the report’s findings “extremely troubling,” however added, “In my opinion, the current RIOC administration has greatly improved communications with the local media and public. It’s like night and day.”
Bryant Daniels, RIOC’s director of communications and group affairs, declined to remark concerning the report, citing pending litigation.
The following RIOC assembly, scheduled for five:30 p.m. April 10, was canceled, in line with the agency’s web site.
A proof for the cancellation was not included within the discover.
4 RIOC executives have been named and accused of utilizing public funds to guard their reputations.
One govt obtained a month-to-month progress report from Standing Labs because the contract supervisor, the report reveals. One such report detailed how the manager board suppressed detrimental content material from Google pages that particularly contained govt board members’ first and final names.
For the reason that 4 RIOC executives named within the report are now not employed and contemplating that Standing Labs’ contract was not renewed, there is no such thing as a “immediate danger of continued misuse of state resources,” the report discovered.
Govt workers could have violated New York state’s Public Officers Regulation Code of Ethics, in line with the report. A state ethics fee is reviewing the inspector common’s report for additional motion.
Watchdog and state Inspector Normal Lucy Lang, who leads New York state within the mission to analyze “allegations of corruption, fraud, criminal activity, conflicts of interest,” led the report. She referred to as these actions “improper, self-serving” and “contrary to public policy.”
Native newspapers and residents have lengthy cited criticism of the RIOC. In March 2022, an nameless letter from RIOC staff claimed its executives have “a long history of corruption, ethics scandals and a culture of harassment, bullying, and favoritism due to pandering.”
