The Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation (RIOC), a state public benefit corporation that runs the island, and Governor Kathy Hochul’s office are embroiled in a legal dispute with two suspended Black RIOC executives: CEO/President Shelton Haynes and General Counsel/VP Gretchen Robinson. They allege there has been racial discrimination, a hostile work environment, and numerous “baseless” investigations into their conduct since assuming their positions in 2020.
Roosevelt Island (RI) is a small island made up of about 12,000 to 14,000 residents; all diverse in backgrounds, ethnicities, and economic status. The RIOC board and CEO/president run the local government similar to the way a mayor and city council would. The system was created in 1984 and the first CEO/president was appointed by the governor in 1986. A New York native, 46, Haynes is the second Black person to hold the position.
The island has three unions, its own public safety officers, landscaping, maintenance, legal and finance teams. For transportation, RI has a bus service, a subway stop on the F line that was closed for the last seven months for structural repairs, and a tourist boom with the island receiving hundreds of visitors on its famous red cable tram.
Robinson, 50, began working at RIOC in January of 2015 and Haynes started in April of 2016, under former CEO/President Susan Rosenthal. Rosenthal was investigated in 2020 and subsequently fired by former Governor Andrew Cuomo over using “salacious” and “racially charged language” towards subordinates. In an amended complaint, Haynes detailed at least one of these encounters with Rosenthal and the “double standard” in treatment she received in 2019. Haynes and Robinson said they didn’t initiate Rosenthal’s investigation though, and also were never investigated at RIOC themselves before their promotions.
“Since I’ve been at this organization it has been a very stressful situation and racially charged as well,” said Haynes, who has worked in public housing in Georgia and New York City. “So the stress only actually increased, once I was elevated to the acting president and then the presidency.”
Haynes and Robinson are on paid administrative leave amid a current investigation into allegations against them that’s being conducted by Carter Ledyard & Milburn LLP at the behest of the state. Amsterdam News reached out to Carter Ledyard for comment but they declined.
In the interim, RIOC operations are being overseen by Chief Financial Officer (CFO) & Vice President Dhruvika Patel Amin and Assistant Vice President & Deputy General Counsel Gerrald Ellis. RIOC Communications & Community Affairs Director Bryant Daniels said, in a statement, that the RIOC board of directors received notice of several employee concerns about the RIOC workplace. The board determined that it was necessary to conduct a review of these concerns with an outside professional, said Daniels.
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The first state investigations ran from March 2021 through March 2022, but didn’t corroborate any allegations against Haynes and Robinson. Then in 2022, a vicious open letter accused Haynes, Robinson, and others in RIOC leadership at the time, of a misappropriation of state funds in the city and in Georgia, covering up a negligent death in regards to a swimming pool accident, mismanagement, cronyism, fraud, an abuse of power, predatory behavior, and ethics violations. Around this time, Roosevelt Islanders were completely dissatisfied with transportation conditions, especially concerning long tram wait times and the closed subway. There were also a slew of complaints from former employees, at least one of which was dismissed, who had been let go because of a restructuring plan.
This prompted the state to contract with an outside law firm, Greenberg Traurig LLP, for the first time to investigate. The subsequent Greenberg report released in 2023 found “no evidence” to support the claims in the open letter.
“The Hochul administration is a shining example of what happens when African Americans ascend to positions of power. They gave no support, no help, and in fact are completely hamstrung and blocked in any effort to create a positive energy themselves. When we became CEO and general counsel, they immediately tried taking control,” said Haynes. “It was a backlash against us from islanders and the press. We complained about discrimination but there were no investigations. Yet when everyone else was complaining they opened 11 investigations up against us. It did not stop there. In addition to the state investigations, they went to a law firm and the federal prosecutor to investigate us. We were exonerated in a draft report of the investigation and also a discussion about discrimination but that discussion was removed. And sanitized in the following report rather than help us address the discrimination, they tried to remove us from our positions.”
AmNews reached out to Greenberg Traurig to confirm the existence of an aforementioned drafted report that mentioned discrimination. The law firm said that an investigation into harassment and treatment of Haynes and Robinson was outside of the scope of what they were hired to do. In the Greenberg report, the author noted that “non-specific complaints merely consisting of pejoratives directed at RIOC management were excluded.”
Robinson was quietly offered a new position upstate or elsewhere, which she viewed as a demotion, just before the Greenberg report came out.
“I’ve worked very hard to get to this point in my career, I have had no handouts. It’s all been on merit and my own driven self to get to this point. It was very disconcerting to read all these things being said about me, the allegations of misconduct, unethical behavior, etc,” said Robinson about the stress of the situation. She considered leaving during the course of the investigations and interviewed at two other potential positions, she said, but was passed over.
Yet another investigation was undertaken by the New York State Comptroller in April 2023, which again found no wrongdoing. Meanwhile, Haynes and Robinson said that the state didn’t allow them to defend themselves, counter sue, or hire a media company to handle negative press. And “hostile” board members were appointed without following typical procedure or approval from Haynes.
“Then we sued and it all ratcheted up,” said Haynes. “Once we named the Chamber [State] and RIOC in the amended complaint less than a month after we sued, we were placed on administrative leave.”
Their lawyer, Milton Williams, a partner at Walden Macht & Haran LLP, filed the lawsuit with the United States District Court Southern District of New York seeking a temporary restraining order and an order restoring Haynes and Robinson to their offices from temporary leave. They were denied. “Shelton Haynes and Gretchen Robinson have been subjected to the kind of vile racist discrimination that the government should be fighting, not actively participating in,” said Williams in a statement.
Several people were named in the lawsuit either directly or indirectly.
Senator Liz Krueger and Assemblymember Rebecca Seawright were called out in the amended complaint for allegedly supporting “racist” blog posts about Haynes and Robinson specifically from David Stone, who is the editor and publisher for the Roosevelt Island Daily.
“While I decline to comment on the pending litigation, the residents of Roosevelt Island are entitled to a full and timely independent review of RIOC workplace and personnel practices,” said Seawright in response to an AmNews inquiry. “This should be aimed at impacting on service delivery and program effectiveness as well as accountability for the work environment. The response from past and present RIOC administrations has been disappointing on several issues of vital importance.”
AmNews also reached out to Stone for comment: “Shelton is a young man with considerable gifts, and it’s unfortunate that things devolved as they did at RIOC. Without getting too far into the weeds, I can tell you that Shelton gave me and others a completely different reason for stonewalling me when I confronted him. Racism seems like a sort of ludicrous last resort for a man who found himself in far over his head and unable to handle criticism. He even went so far as to say that, with my very limited, small town online newspaper, I actually drew two respected legislators into a racist scheme in support, he and Gretchen say, of his predecessor and once dear friend Susan Rosenthal.”
The lawsuit alleged that fellow publisher Rick O’Conor, who runs the hyperlocal digital outlet Roosevelt Islander Online, exchanged emails and communications with new RIOC board member Ben Fhala that led to a series of fairly negative and critical articles about Haynes and Robinson that “raised numerous legal and ethical concerns.”
Deputy Communications Director Justin Henry out of Hochul’s office declined to comment “due to the pending litigation.”
The RIOC said there will be “no further comments” until the review is completed.
[updated Fri, April 5]
Ariama C. Long is a Report for America corps member and writes about politics for the Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep her writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting https://bit.ly/amnews1.
David Stone is a known racist on Roosevelt Island. It is good to see him finally get outed in this way! He would always target and write lies about black people on his blogs.
The way he stalked and obsessed over President Haynes was scary. He even created a website dedicated to President Haynes full of fake news, sensationalism and gaslit articles. Those of us that are in the know understand the positive impact that Haynes and Robinson left on Roosevelt Island. We still love and support them!
There are going to be a-lot angry racist when they win the lawsuit.
David Stone was told to his face before moving to Portugal by a group of African American residents that we feel he is a racist SOB. He would literally harass the former CEO Shelton Haynes and other blacks almost daily. Stone was sued before for defamation by the WIRE publication and evicted too!!! He is rude and had always been obnoxious to several black residents, employees and whoever!! We are so glad that he has left the Island!!! Good riddance to this sick and soulless man.
We loved and miss CEO Haynes! He cared about Roosevelt Island and us residents! Those people targeted him and were relentless with attacking him! Whoever the new CEO is buckle up!!! RIOC has a bad history with how they deal with CEOs and executives!