Alexander B. "Pete" Grannis is a former Commissioner of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). Before his tenure as Commissioner, he was a member of the New York State Assembly and represented District 65 as a member of the Democratic Party for the neighborhoods of the Upper East Side of Manhattan and Roosevelt Island. His firing by Governor David Paterson in October 2010 was controversial to many especially environmentalists.

Roosevelt Island is an island in New York City's East River, within the borough of Manhattan. It lies between Manhattan Island to the west, and the borough of Queens, on Long Island, to the east. It is about 2 miles (3.2 km) long, with an area of 147 acres (0.59 km2), and had a population of 11,722 as of the 2020 United States Census. It consists of two largely residential communities: Northtown and Southtown. Roosevelt Island is owned by the city but was leased to the New York State Urban Development Corporation (UDC) for 99 years in 1969.