Staten Island Issue

November 18, 2015 CIT YANDSTATENY.COM

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WALKER PARK

FABER PARK

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CPL. THOMPSON PARK

WESTERLEIGH PARK

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CLOVE LAKES PARK

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PS 30 ST JOHN'S LUTHERAN SCHOOL

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FORT WADSWORTH

PS 48 WILLOWBROOK PARK

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PS 26 THE GREENBELT

HIGH ROCK PARK

OCEAN BREEZE TRACK & FIELD ATHLETIC COMPLEX

FRESHKILLS PARK LATOURETTE PARK

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OWL HOLLOW FIELDS

FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT BOARDWALK

PS 4 GREAT KILLS PARK PS 62 BLOOMINGDALE PARK WOLFE'S POND PARK

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CONTENTS November 18, 2015

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A WORD FROM THE BOROUGH PRESIDENT

James Oddo on how Staten Island is forging its own path forward

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THE NEW YORK WHEEL

Staten Island’s upcoming attraction, by the numbers

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SEVEN HOURS IN STATEN ISLAND

An expedition on the borough’s infamous public transit system

By John Surico

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WISE GUY A Q&A with Guy Molinari

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So we attempted to put a human face on the troubling transportation topic – freelance writer John Surico’s face, to be specific. He set out to navigate the borough’s public transit system, getting a piece of many islanders’ minds in the process. It’s one thing to hear again and again that getting around is difficult, but this piece makes you feel the pain of riders like Bonnie, one of thousands who rely on the island’s buses to get around.

Ever hear of wetland mitigation banking? Me neither. But staff reporter Sarina Trangle makes the topic interesting, writing about how New York City is finally following the lead of many other cities and trying out this unique environmental restoration process with a pilot program in Staten Island. It’s an initiative that may soon take off in the city, and is worth reading about.

When you think of Staten Island politics, the name Guy Molinari probably comes to mind. A polarizing figure, the powerful political boss talks about the borough’s new district attorney and can’t help but take shots at Mayor Bill de Blasio in an interview with our Senior Correspondent Jon Lentz.

Finally, a quick note about the cover of the magazine.

There is a dichotomy to Staten Island. In many ways it is growing, changing and improving. On the other hand, the island still has an element of old-fashioned charm that has been mostly lost elsewhere in the city.

We wanted to both pay homage to the past, with the image of the ferry and the look of a vintage travel poster, and look toward the future, symbolized by the New York Wheel. And if you take away anything from this special issue, let it be our advice on the cover: Set aside an afternoon (or more, if you take the buses) and visit sunny Staten Island.

POLITICAL HANGOUTS

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NEGLECTED AGAIN

Where to party with the islanders

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James Molinaro’s beef with the Port Authority

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SANDY RECOVERY STALLED Amy Bach on unscrupulous insurers

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STATEN ISLAND VIEWS

The borough’s elected officials on ways to make the borough better

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RESTORING WETLANDS

Advocates wary of environmental pilot project in Staten Island marsh

By Sarina Trangle

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BACK & FORTH

A Q&A with radio host Frank Morano

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Cover Guillaume Federighi Contributing photographer Dylan Forsberg

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You can’t talk about Staten Island without addressing the mantra that has dominated its image for the past few decades: that it is the “forgotten borough,” ignored by city government.

Maybe it has been forgotten.

Maybe the idea is overblown. But what Michael Gareth Johnson Executive Editor you cannot dispute is that this has become a powerful conviction, and elected officials from the borough have used it as a rallying cry for fair treatment.

And it’s clear they want that fair treatment to come in the form of roads, bridges, light rail, buses, or anything else that will make it easier for their constituents to get around. This is the fifth and final issue in our special borough series this year. In each, we asked local elected officials to name the one thing that would make their borough better, and in all the previous issues, those ideas always varied. In Staten Island, however, all nine elected officials, Republicans and Democrats alike, spoke with one voice – “we need better transportation.”

Assemblyman Matthew Titone utilized humor to make the point, highlighting all the great things about the growing borough … before saying it would be nice to be able to get to all these places. He writes, “The Department of Transportation has proposed a plan to have a plan and nothing more.”

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November 18, 2015

FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK

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EDITORIAL Executive Editor Michael Johnson mjohnson@cityandstateny.com Associate Editor/Senior Correspondent Jon Lentz jlentz@cityandstateny.com Web Editor/Reporter Wilder Fleming wfleming@cityandstateny.com Albany Reporter Ashley Hupfl ahupfl@cityandstateny.com Buffalo Reporter Justin Sondel jsondel@cityandstateny.com Staff Reporter Sarina Trangle strangle@cityandstateny.com Editor-at-Large Gerson Borrero gborrero@cityandstateny.com Copy Editor Ryan Somers rsomers@cityandstateny.com Editorial Assistant Jeremy Unger junger@cityandstateny.com PRODUCTION

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STATEN ISLAND IS AMERICA

JAMES ODDO

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Staten Island is different from the rest of the city.

That’s not a controversial statement; it is simply a fact. Staten Island is greener than the rest of the city, has higher rates of homeownership, is less urban, is less dense and drives more out of necessity. Politically, we also have a healthy and vibrant two-party system, which does not exist anywhere else in the city.

And yet, while we are remarkably dissimilar to the rest of New York City, we are remarkably similar to America as a whole. Look no further than the numbers provided by the U.S. Census Bureau; the similarities between Staten Island and the rest of America are striking. For example, nationwide homeownership rates are 64.9 percent – in Staten Island, 68.6 percent. Across the country, 28.8 percent of Americans have bachelor’s degrees, on par with 29.7 percent in Staten Island. In almost all categories, Staten Island is in lockstep with the rest of America.

Staten Island experiences life differently than residents of the other four boroughs. The reality is that much of the borough is, and wants to remain, a bedroom community. Those Staten Islanders want to own their own home, complete with a backyard and grass to mow. They love the experience of living the suburban life. At the same time, we are cognizant that we are a part of the greatest metropolis in the world and we expect our fair share of city resources to flow to us. We want smooth roads, good schools and safe communities. Too many times we have been shortchanged, resulting in

a not-at-all unjustified chip on our shoulders.

While we want to maintain the character of those neighborhoods that serve as bedroom communities, we are on the verge of seeing unprecedented changes to our borough. It seems as if the rest of the world has discovered Staten Island, and billions of dollars of investment are flowing in. Parts of our North Shore are on the cusp of becoming the hottest and hippest waterfront communities in the city. The New York Wheel, Empire Outlets, Lighthouse Point, and URL – the Core Four, as I have coined them – were the drivers that have led to a true renaissance, and are the heart of the new interest in Staten Island.

I’m happy to say that renewed economic development is not limited to one particular area. We are excited by the possibility of Brooklyn Brewery relocating much of its operation to our West Shore, and look forward to Broadway Stages opening on our South Shore.

But even with these economic development investments, we intend

to retain our uniqueness.

We will not experience growth in the same way as ascendant areas in other boroughs. We are not Williamsburg and we will never be.

Instead, we are forging our own path that will lead to greater prosperity, more local jobs, more amenities for residents and tourists, and, if done right, a better quality of life for all.

For far too long Staten Islanders have, in many ways, been our own worst enemies. We have allowed cartoonish characters on reality TV to define our borough for the rest of the world, and we have engaged in a kind of self-flagellation that hurts our ability to grow and prosper.

Those old, simplistic and inaccurate characterizations don’t represent the true Staten Island, the borough I love and have called home for my entire life. We are a diverse community, much more diverse than off-islanders would care to believe. When tragedy strikes we pull together and take care of our own. One need only think back to those dark days in the immediate

aftermath of Superstorm Sandy, days before the rest of the world realized the extent of the disaster we experienced.

During those days, we witnessed neighbors helping neighbors in the most remarkable ways – without any hesitation. That is Staten Island.

I am excited about what the future holds. My team and I recognize that we have a short time in the positions we are blessed to be in. We want to maximize every day we get to serve Staten Islanders in our current capacity and leave our community better than it was when we arrived. We are putting into motion many projects that, due to the nature of our political system, will outlive us and come into fruition long after we are out of office. And we do it without hesitation or concern for who might ultimately get the credit.

Staten Island is on the rise, and it is an exciting time to be a part of it.

James Oddo is the borough president of Staten Island.

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Working ON Staten Island Working FOR Staten Island

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Big wheel keep on turning

The New York Wheel by the numbers

(Early) 2017 Estimated year of the opening for the wheel, currently under construction on Staten Island’s North Shore, close to the St. George Ferry Terminal and Borough Hall.

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630 Feet Take the top of the Manhattan Municipal Building and add 50 feet. This height will make it the world’s tallest Ferris wheel, dwarfing the famous 443-foot London Eye. It will also be taller than any building in Staten Island or across the Narrows in Brooklyn.

36 x 40 = 1,440 That’s 36 passenger pods on the wheel with 40 people per pod for a total of 1,440 riders per rotation – roughly equivalent to a busy C train.

$35

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Estimated price of one ride on the wheel – not much more than a $32 ticket to get to the top of One World Trade Center, and less than the $52 ticket to access the 86th and 102nd floors of the Empire State Building.

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3.5 Million Expected number of yearly riders, not far behind the 4.2 million visitors to the Statue of Liberty last year and more than the 2.5 million who visit Top of the Rock.

$1.2 Billion The total cost of the North Shore development anchored by the wheel, which includes an outlet mall, a hotel and housing.

38 Minutes

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Expected duration of a ride on the wheel. Supporters say the wheel will give visitors a great reason to stay longer on the island than the five minutes until the next ferry leaves.

1 Million Annual new ferry passengers expected as a result of the new North Shore development – a big jump from the estimated 1.8 million tourists riding each year, but a blip in the total 22 million yearly round trips.

5,000 that will top the wheel’s parking lot. The developers hope to build a children’s playground and host concerts with a view of the bay. - JC

PHOTO: PERKINS EASTMAN/S9 ARCHITECTS

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Capacity of the privately owned, publicly accessible lawn

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SEVEN HOURS IN STATEN ISLAND

AN EXPEDITION ON THE BOROUGH’S INFAMOUS PUBLIC TRANSIT SYSTEM

By JOHN SURICO

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It took five subways, a ferry, a train, and four buses to get from the top of Queens to the bottom of Staten Island, and back.

Normally, the trip by car is a little over an hour each way. But for me – the courageous commuter – the few hours I had set aside to traverse Staten Island quickly morphed into an entire workday: I left my apartment in Astoria at 9 a.m., made it to the South Shore just after noon, and was back home around 5 p.m. Clocking in at eight hours flat.

Of course, this isn’t news to Staten Islanders. Transportation is one of the most visible disconnects between their borough and its brethren; the New York City subway system efficiently snakes its way through Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan and the Bronx, but its tentacles come nowhere near the “forgotten” fifth, which barely holds on to the edge of the MTA subway map. Instead, the island’s denizens must rely on a mile-long bridge with hefty tolls – or, of course, the free Staten Island ferry, which if you miss (like I did), the punishment is another half-hour wait.

Earlier this year, Borough President James Oddo remarked, “The commute for many Staten Islanders has gone from bad to torturous.” Traveling via public transportation in the borough certainly has that reputation; the island is said to be the most car-friendly borough for a reason. “You could write a book about that,” one Bay Terrace resident remarked to me.

So I came ashore at the St. George Terminal with a purpose: to crisscross the borough from one end to the other using only buses, a train and my own two feet. It would be a test of true grit, to see how tough it is to get around as a Staten Islander. Was this just a blown-up exaggeration by the island’s residents, who – in their minds, anyway – feel so distant from City

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Hall? Or was the native I met on the ferry ride over right? “It seems small,” he ominously told me, “but it’s a big island.”

Once back on land, my journey to the South Shore began on board the Staten Island Railway, the only train Staten Islanders can call their own.

(Even its ads give vent to the borough’s existential crisis: “Staten Islanders deserve #1!” one exclaimed.) Save for a minor stall, the ride was relatively smooth. And by the time I arrived at the terminus in Tottenville, the bright harbor and marina yachts visible from my window, the car was barely full.

From start to finish, the train time itself lasted about an hour, or the length of time it takes for the A train to bounce its way from Washington Heights down to Bed-Stuy. In the morning and evening rush, SIR express trains – which are linked to ferry departures and arrivals – can cut that time in half. But past 8:30 p.m., trains come every 30 minutes.

As a train, the SIR comes off like a mix between the Long Island Rail Road and a city subway: a scheduled line above ground, a simple MetroCard swipe for a ride. The route curves southwest from the St. George Terminal, and strictly serves one side of the island. It’d be as if Brooklyn only had the G train. (Post-Sandy proposals to revitalize the defunct North Shore line were deemed too costly, and replaced by an express bus route.)

So borough residents who don’t live close to an SIR station – also known as “the majority” – must instead rely on the bulk of the island’s massive, migraine-inducing maze of MTA bus routes. And from the minute I left the quiet confines of colonial Tottenville on the S78, I learned why these buses are, perhaps, the greatest woe of the stranded Staten Islander.

On board the S78, I texted a friend of mine who’s from New Springville about my journey. His response: “Good luck with those buses.” And I didn’t even have to approach a resident to find out why.

In true Staten Island fashion, they came to me with complaints. Numerous conversations started off with “Have you seen the bus?” rather than “Hey!” and ended with a collective sigh, like the one Brooklynites let out when commiserating about the G train.

As I got off the S78, one passenger who boarded angrily told the driver, and then me, that he’d been waiting for over a half-hour. While waiting for the S55 (my second bus) on Hylan Boulevard, a woman named Bonnie

approached to ask how long I’d been there. Fifteen minutes, I said. Then I asked her what happens on the weekends, when a lot of the buses stop running. “I just take the train.” And to get across the island? “Oh, that’s impossible.”

That’s another thing: waiting.

Nearly every Staten Islander I met had the MTA’s Bus Time site pulled up on his or her phone, which leads me to suspect that long wait times are the norm. That went for Bonnie, too; she later said she recently lost her Lincoln Town Car to a faulty transmission.

The Staten Island native nostalgically reminisced about her days with the car, her eyes drifting off, like a daydream; “I miss having that luxury,” she told me.

Nearly 125,000 Staten Islanders like Bonnie use the 31 local and 20 express routes on a daily basis. And most of those buses, like the train, only run north-south, to and from St.

John took the ferry in from Manhattan, hopped onto the Staten Island Railway at St. George Terminal and rode it all the way to the end of the line in Tottenville. He then made his way back via bus, taking the S78 to Hylan Boulevard, where he took the S55 to the Staten Island Mall. From the mall he took the S61 to Victory Boulevard, where he took the S93 over the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge into Brooklyn.

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George. This makes it hard for huge swaths of the island’s residents to get to one another without taking two or three buses. Even Allen Cappelli, the former MTA representative for the borough, admitted the illogic here.

“The current system that we have is outdated,” he said in July. In fact, the agency is currently conducting a study on how to improve it.

On board these buses, I noticed many people paying for their ride with change – reminiscent of the age of the token, before we could use debit and credit cards to buy monthlies and weeklies. As if things couldn’t get worse, I later found out that a MetroCard machine is rare in these parts; actually, there are only three vending machines on the entire island where a resident can buy or refill one.

So instead, residents must buy them at delis or convenience stores. (Tellingly, the Staten Island Advance even has an online map of where those locations are.)

By the time I arrived at the Staten Island Mall, a major intersection for a number of routes, I had already ridden two buses for two hours.

The stops along the way were both numerous and long, and the S61 from the mall followed the same pattern.

That bus brought me to the S93, an express bus that I took over the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge to Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, where an hour-and-

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a-half-long ride on the R train was waiting for me.

This, of course, doesn’t include the half-hour I waited for the S93 to arrive. Or the rush-hour traffic it encountered. Or the fact that I had been on Staten Island for four hours at this point.

Thankfully, for Staten Islanders’ sake, the silver lining of it all is the scenery. Some stretches on the SIR looked more like the Hudson Valley than New York City, exploding with the autumnal colors leaf peepers flock to see this time of year. The S78 brought me past the sun-dried dunes of Lemon Creek Park, and on the S55 I passed through the beautiful forests of Wolfe’s Pond Park. It’s no surprise, then, that the island is considered the “greenest borough” – it definitely

shows.

But for a vast portion of New Yorkers, this beauty is inaccessible, and therefore practically unknown.

The problem is, it’s logistically easier for millions of city-dwellers to hop on the Metro-North and see the nature just beyond the Bronx than to make the trek to see it in their own city.

Most New Yorkers can’t dedicate three hours just to get to Staten Island, like I did.

So, to me, the greatest disappointment of the dismal public transit system on the island is that it makes the invitation plastered on the wall at the Manhattan ferry terminal – “Come Visit Staten Island!” – genuinely hard for me, or anyone who doesn’t live there, to accept. And it makes the borough feel far away, when really, it isn’t.

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WISE GUY A Q&A WITH GUY MOLINARI

in politics. His father was an assemblyman, his daughter and sonin-law were members of Congress, and Molinari himself served 27 years – three terms in the Assembly, five in the House of Representatives and three as Staten Island borough president.

Although he hasn’t held elected office since 2001, Molinari has continued to play a key role in the borough’s politics, recruiting and grooming Republican candidates and steering them into key offices.

In an interview with City & State’s Jon Lentz, Molinari discussed the borough’s new district attorney, Mayor Bill de Blasio’s unpopularity, and his history with the Bushes.

City & State: How involved are you in the borough’s politics these days?

Guy Molinari: I’m still as involved as I can be. The problem is my health is such now that I have a difficult time.

I can’t walk very well. So with that handicap, most of the political work that I’ve been doing is at home. We just finished this campaign, unsuccessfully, but I had any number of meetings at my house here, and I look forward to being involved next year.

C&S: In that Staten Island district attorney race, former Rep. Michael McMahon, a Democrat, beat Republican prosecutor Joan Illuzzi.

GM: Well, they’re going to come after Dan Donovan. Danny used to work for me for years, and he was the

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Staten Island Marine Development (SIMD) is redeveloping a 300 acre site in the Bloomfield neighborhood on Staten Island’s West Shore. The property is the largest privately owned industrial parcel in New York City, and has been vacant for nearly 15 years. The proposed development will bring more than 3 million square feet of industrial, manufacturing and commercial uses. Located in Staten Island’s designated “Green Zone,” the SIMD development will create high quality jobs, and help establish the West Shore as a hub of growth, opportunity, and economic development.

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VIA FACEBOOK

Guy Molinari has spent a lifetime

D.A. for 12 years, and he’s now the congressman. Since the Democrats won, they’re saying he’s next. I look forward to that fight. I’ll probably be running that campaign. Danny’s my buddy, and he does a good job, so I’m confident that we’ll put together a good campaign and we’ll win.

C&S: Does McMahon’s victory give Democrats momentum?

GM: If I were them, I wouldn’t go crazy because they won a race recently.

I know how it was done, and they’re not going to be able to repeat that. That race, everyone’s going to be together on it. Everybody loves Danny. He’s a very popular guy. He’s working hard, and we’ve run a number of his campaigns, so we know what we have to do. He anticipates a race. My advice to him would be to get as much earned media as he can get before the election comes.

C&S: How did McMahon win?

GM: First of all, he got a ton of money, far outspent us, 3 or 4 to 1. The fact that his wife was the administrative

law judge helped them raise a lot of money. The lawyers contributed rather heavily, as the filings would show. So he had a lot of money to play with.

They got a huge vote on the North Shore, which is primarily AfricanAmerican, so they were able to pull out that vote big time. Our efforts were geared to the South Shore, which is a conservative Republican area. Despite our best efforts, voter turnout was low in those areas. So that’s what caused us to lose the race. That’s too bad, because the lady was just a dynamite candidate.

She’s a tremendous professional.

Probably nobody will ever run again for that office who would be more suited for that kind of a position. I know that Cy Vance has contacted her already wanting her to come back. Our loss may be Manhattan’s gain.

C&S: McMahon distanced himself from Mayor Bill de Blasio, a fellow Democrat. What does that say about the mayor’s reputation on Staten Island?

GM: It’s very, very bad. They don’t like him at all here. It was a smart move not

having him be out front, because that would have cost them a lot of votes.

The interesting part about this race is Debi Rose, the City Council member in North Shore, an African-American, appealed to African-Americans talking about the Eric Garner case.

They turned out to prevent what happened to Garner from happening to other African-Americans in the future. So it becomes us versus them again. In the meantime, the PBA and Patrick Lynch played a very heavy role in McMahon’s campaign. I’m wondering, if something does occur, how that would play out in a new administration.

C&S: Any thoughts on the presidential field?

GM: I’m a Jeb Bush supporter. I was a close associate of 41. I ran his campaign here and they asked me to take over in New Hampshire when they were losing. I went up there and turned that race around. He had lost in Iowa, and if he had lost in New Hampshire, he was over. We were down by 12 points at the time, and I worked my tail off. It’s

a small area, only two congressional districts, so you’re able to make an impact. I turned it around, and we won by 12 points. That was probably one of my best races. I loved the man. I think he was the greatest American I ever met. There was a friendship there, and I was like a member of the family.

C&S: Can Jeb Bush turn it around?

GM: Obviously, his numbers don’t look very good these days. But he’s got a good team behind him, and in a race like this you never, never, never can mark off anybody that has that combination of support. I expected that he’d play a more aggressive role, and I felt pretty strongly that the Trump and Carson phenomenon would die out as we get closer to crunch time. I still think that may happen. The question is who would be the beneficial recipient. I’m not sure it would be Bush at this point in time. Marco Rubio’s come a long way, and he’s looking pretty good. Cruz, of course, the numbers look good, but can he win? Off to the right extreme, I doubt it.

Serving the Staten Island community for more than 100 years.

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Locations:

I.S. 61 William A. Morris After-school Programs Staten Island Family Services Center Adoption and Foster Care, Child Welfare and Family Services, Early Childhood

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Goodhue Center Community Center, Child Welfare and Family Services Richmond Early Learning Center Early Childhood

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Curtis High School Adolescence Programs, Community School, Health Clinic

Political Hangouts

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When you look at the politics of the rest of New York City’s boroughs, all you ever seem to see is a sea of blue. It’s ironic, then, that the geographically leftmost borough is the one that swings furthest right. This diversity of opinion even shows in Staten Island lawmakers’ choice of hangouts.

We asked each of the borough’s electeds about their favorite place to kick back with their peers and constituents, and their answers ranged from swanky fine-dining establishments to sports bars, from catering halls to diners, all over the sprawling island.

So next time you find yourself exploring a new part of the borough (or stranded, waiting, praying for a bus) go ahead and poke your head into one of these spots and find out what the local pols have to say.

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19 7 1. ANNADALE TERRACE 801 Annadale Road 2. BLUE RESTAURANT 1115 Richmond Terrace 3. JODY’S CLUB FOREST 372 Forest Ave. 4. DA NOI 138 Fingerboard Road

6. PLAY SPORTS BAR 2 Sneden Ave. 7. REPUBLICAN PARTY HEADQUARTERS 2300 Richmond Road 8. THE ROADHOUSE 1400 Clove Road

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5. KING’S ARMS DINER 500 Forest Ave.

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OPINION

NEGLECTED AGAIN

JAMES MOLINARO Staten Island is surrounded by the waterways leading to the ports in New Jersey, sits below the flight patterns of Newark Liberty International Airport, is home to the Teleport and is New York City’s critical link to the Outerbridge, Goethals and Bayonne bridges.

Yet despite the borough’s clear geopolitical importance, Staten Island

does not have a voice in the boardroom of the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey.

So while the Port Authority focuses on its real estate interests – investing nearly $7 billion in the World Trade Center site alone – Staten Islanders and all New Yorkers are being crushed by the damages inflicted by the revenueproducing bridges, damages which go well beyond the toll booth and impact everything from job creation to families putting food on the table.

Under the current Port Authority toll schedule, four- and five-axle trucks coming into Staten Island with E-ZPass pay a toll of anywhere from $45 to $67.50; trucks with six axles can pay as much as $81, plus $13.50 for each additional axle. Those same trucks without E-ZPass will pay $114.

Meanwhile, passenger cars now pay anywhere from $9.75 to $14 in tolls.

As soon as the Port Authority moved forward with those toll increases, two major shipping companies announced they were moving out of the New York Container Terminal to Port Newark.

One of those companies, APL, was responsible for 37 percent of the terminal’s production.

Those companies were not alone.

At least three major trucking and warehouse companies from across Staten Island fled to New Jersey.

Victory Van left Stapleton, Colavita Olive Oil closed its enormous warehouse in Tottenville and RPM Warehousing & Transportation abandoned Port Ivory for Bayonne.

Beyond the impact on those three Staten Island neighborhoods, every time someone in the borough or anywhere in New York City goes to the supermarket they find themselves paying a little extra to offset the toll

for that product coming back across the bridge.

While the toll increases undoubtedly hurt Staten Islanders, there have been many other less obvious slights and oversights to borough residents.

Somehow, the Port Authority has always found an excuse for its inability to deliver for Staten Island. I remember several years ago they put out a beautiful brochure on all Port Authority facilities, except they failed to include the one in Howland Hook.

When I called to find out how something like that could happen, they apologized and said they “overlooked it.” Unfortunately, when it comes to Staten Island, the Port Authority talks a good game and makes promises, but only ends up delivering excuses.

What better example of such marginalization than the current work to raise the Bayonne Bridge and

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MANDRITOIU

With the opening of new Panama Canal-style locks, the Bayonne Bridge had to be raised 64 feet to allow larger ships to pass underneath. the construction of the new Goethals Bridge?

Both are worthy and necessary projects. With a new, larger class of ships scheduled to arrive with the opening of new Panama Canal-style locks, the Bayonne Bridge had to be

raised 64 feet to allow them to pass into New Jersey’s ports.

That project was the perfect opportunity to include the infrastructure for a West Shore Light Rail link to the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail in Bayonne. It might have been

a bit more expensive, but the rail link would have been a godsend for Staten Island, shaving the commute for thousands of Staten Islanders from Tottenville to Elm Park, and easing the morning traffic from the West Shore Expressway to the Brooklyn-

OPINION

Battery Tunnel.

Of course, when pushing the project, Port Authority officials made sure to announce the plans “did not preclude the use of mass transit.”

Now that construction on the bridge is well underway, and of course running behind schedule and over budget, the new, 72-foot-wide deck is simply too narrow to accommodate a rail line or even dedicated bus lanes.

Yet another opportunity lost.

But I am also an optimist. I believe that when one door closes another one opens. So as long as we were raising the Bayonne Bridge, the Port Authority should have raised the new Goethals Bridge as well. It would have allowed for the future development of a port on the hundreds of acres of land below and south of the bridge. It didn’t happen.

Staten Island needs a voice on the board.

James Molinaro is the former borough president of Staten Island.

He currently oversees the Staten Island office of Pitta Bishop Del Giorno & Giblin LLC.

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CORPORATE COMMONS I

OPINION

UNSCRUPULOUS INSURERS STALLING RECOVERY

city & state — November 18, 2015

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Three years ago, New York City was devastated by Superstorm Sandy.

While we are making progress in the post-Sandy rebuild and recovery, too many New Yorkers are still fighting with their insurance companies about what type of damage is covered.

And many have simply given up and accepted the pitiful settlement their insurance company paid.

Take one Midland Beach resident, who had just retired after a distinguished career as a court officer.

When Sandy hit, his home flooded instantly. Within seconds it was filled with 13 and a half feet of water. He and his wife were confined to their upstairs room for three days while waiting for search and rescue.

Then came a second wave of devastation. Despite having paid for flood and homeowners insurance for years and years, his insurance company paid only $800 of the $200,000 worth of damage. The company’s excuse? By

ANDREI ORLOV

AMY BACH

the time their adjusters arrived, the water had receded and they insisted there wasn’t any water on the first floor, even though there was clearly flood-related damage. They called it a “minor claim.”

One may say, “Well, he can always hire a lawyer and sue.” But in New York, that just isn’t true. New

By the time insurance adjusters arrived, the water had receded and they insisted there wasn’t any water on the first floor, even though there was clearly floodrelated damage. They called it a “minor claim.”

York’s laws are outdated and make it way too hard and expensive to hold an insurance company accountable in court. Homeowners have little recourse when they’re lowballed on a claim – if they take an insurer to court and win, the insurer only has to pay what they would have originally owed, nothing more. That means even if the homeowner wins, they lose. They can’t recover legal expenses and they can’t recover any of the related losses they incurred because of an insurer’s misconduct.

In other states, this isn’t the case.

Insurers know that if they drag out payment on justified claims they will be responsible for all the harm they’ve caused. As a result, insurance customers in those states get the money they’re owed in a much more timely fashion and don’t have to go to battle with insurers just to rebuild their lives with the benefits they’re owed.

New York needs to join these states and pass the insurance fairness bill, sponsored by state Sen. Andrew Lanza. It will create the level playing field that exists in other states and prevent unscrupulous insurers from denying or delaying payment on valid claims.

When you look around Staten Island, there is far too much evidence that insurance benefits did not contribute to Sandy recovery as they should have. It should not take this long to recover from a storm and for insurers to pay families what they’re owed. Homeowners throughout our state deserve better.

Amy Bach is executive director of United Policyholders, a nonprofit organization that serves as a voice for consumers of all types of insurance in all 50 states.

cit yandstateny.com

MICHAEL SCHNALL Vice President of Community Engagement Initiatives, New York Road Runners Michael Schnall is a native Staten Islander. He recently sat down for a video interview to talk about what made the 2015 TCS Marathon different, the ways New York Road Runners is trying to better engage the community and his hopes for a more festive atmosphere at this year’s Staten Island half-marathon.

Below is an edited transcript from the interview.

City & State: The TCS New York City Marathon was a few weeks ago. How was this year’s marathon different than past years’?

Michael Schnall: This year, the takeaway was we had a special guest.

We had Spike Lee as the grand marshal, who really energized the crowds as he rolled through in the beginning of the marathon. He had a tremendous week with us, he did a special short – a Spike Lee joint that capsulized his view of New York City and it was electric and really sort of added a level of energy to the marathon that wasn’t there last year.

C&S: Is there anything lawmakers could be doing to better help New York Road Runners?

MS: I think it is awareness. They have so many different constituency groups that come to them every year, so we want to be the group that goes to them and makes them aware of all the great things we are doing in the schools and in the communities.

We aren’t necessarily looking for them to do anything, just to let their constituencies know what we are doing and how they can participate. Part of my job is to make our awareness with them more year-round and get them to come out to the events. We had a number of elected officials come out to

the marathon this year, participated in some of our events, and the feedback was tremendous.

C&S: What do you have planned specifically for Staten Island in 2016?

MS: What we rolled out this year, a new program, is Open Run. It is a free walking and running activity in local parks. Those are the beginning phases of a larger program we will be rolling out to make sure people have free and local access to running and walking in their parks, and we are partnering with New York City parks, we have a great relationship with the borough president and he has a great health and wellness push out of his office, so we are looking to him and the other elected officials to help create awareness of Open Run. We have a lot of programs in Staten Island centered around youth. We have Mighty Milers, which are the school-based programs designed for youth. What we do is engage with a schoolteacher who is a runner or a walker and bring the kids into the program and the goal is for them to do over the course of a year 26.2 miles, which is the length of

a marathon. And the students receive awards, the teachers receive awards and the schools get accolades. So what we are doing right now is trying to push all of those programs into schools that are receptive to the program. It is completely free and we just need folks to know that the program actually exists and we will take it from there.

C&S: What are your plans for the Staten Island half-marathon this year?

MS: We would like to make it more of a festival atmosphere this year.

Traditionally it is just a one-day event. We are looking to add another day either before or after the race depending on if it is a Saturday or Sunday and have sort of a local feel to it, whether it is local restaurants and food trucks and performers and artists and entertainers giving people a reason to come in for the half and celebrate it as an event for the borough.

Staten Island Open Runs

-Silver Lake Park, Tuesdays at 7 p.m.

-Conference House Park, Saturdays at 9 a.m.

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city & state — November 18, 2015

St a te n I sl an d i s n’ t re al l y k now n f o r i t s vi ews. S l eepy side wa l k- l i n e d s tre e ts , s tre e t-co rne r di ne rs – t hese ar e t he th i n g s t h a t ma ke S tate n Is l and, S tate n I s l and .

B u t you c a n ’t g et to the i s l and w i tho ut b e i n g t r eat ed t o so m e of t h e b e st vi e ws i n the b o ro ug hs . C ro s s th e Ver r az ano and th e vi e w of t h e N arrows i s b re athtak i ng . Ta ke t he fer r y, and you g e t t o f e a st yo ur e ye s o n L ady L i b e rty and t he gl eam i ng ligh t s of l owe r Manhattan. A nd co m i ng s o on, t he New Yo r k Wh e e l pr omi se s to b e o ne o f the m o s t s c eni c r i d es i n t he wor l d .

S o we r e a c h e d o ut to S tate n Is l and’ s e l e c t ed o ffi c i al s and aske d t h e m a b o ut T H EI R v i e ws – s p e ci f ic al l y, what t hey th ou g h t wa s t h e o ne thi ng that wo ul d m a ke S t at en I sl and be t t e r . We d on ’t want to s p o i l any thi ng , b ut l et ’ s j ust say t hat a p a r t i c u l a r t h e m e ran thro ug h al l the re s p onses we r ec ei ved .

Ca n you g u e ss what i t i s ?

To f i n d ou t i f yo u’ re ri g ht, re ad o n . . .

city & state — November 18, 2015

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Transportation and infrastructure. A combination of lack of comprehensive traffic planning, the elimination of bus routes, an aging infrastructure and a spike in population over the last 10 years have left Staten Island wanting in terms of transportation infrastructure. The only way on or off our great island is over an expensive bridge (the Verrazano is currently up to $16 one way, with a discount for E-ZPass users and Staten Island residents), or the Staten Island Ferry. Increased traffic, potholes and aging infrastructure all continue to plague our streets. That is why I am committed to working toward ensuring Staten Island gets the traffic mitigation plan it deserves, along with long-awaited bus rapid transit and enforcement of the new HOV lane on the Staten Island Expressway.

DIANE SAVINO

State Senator 23rd District Democrat

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Assemblywoman 64th District Republican

There are many issues facing Staten Island, from traffic to Superstorm Sandy recovery to the fight to lower tolls and against a growing drug epidemic.

As far back as I can remember, one of the most important issues to Staten Islanders has been transportation, and having a network that provides as reliable and expansive service as the other four boroughs have. It is one of the reasons why our streets are congested and residents rely so heavily on their vehicles. Every day the borough’s community leaders and elected officials advocate for projects like more express bus service, North Shore bus rapid transit and the West Shore Light Rail. I successfully fought to restore bus service that was eliminated under my predecessor when I first entered the Assembly and we were also successful in restoring the S76 weekend service and making the X1 a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week bus, among other lines. I’ve also worked with my colleagues to provide toll relief on the four bridges connecting Staten Island to New Jersey and Brooklyn. Most recently, I’ve been working to improve Access-ARide service for our senior citizens.

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MATTHEW TITONE

Assemblyman 61st District Democrat

It seems the rest of the world is finally catching on to what Staten Islanders have known all along – we’re pretty darn cool. With over 170 parks, there is no shortage of open space and wildlife here in our corner of New York City. Hiking, kayaking, sailing, horseback riding, skating (all sorts), bird watching, golf, soccer, bocce, outdoor concerts and movies, beach party bingo … we’ve got it. Looking for one of the largest collections of live reptiles and endangered species? Check out our zoo. Looking for a mastodon? Yup, we’ve got that at the Staten Island Museum. Looking for an authentic Chinese scholar’s garden? Tuscan garden? Secret garden complete with a castle and a maze? Check out Snug Harbor’s botanical garden. You hungry? You want food? We’ve got authentic Polish, Russian, Chinese, Mexican, Sri Lankan, Caribbean, African, kosher and not-so-kosher and of course Italian. Fuggetaboutit, you name it, we’ve got it. Oh yeah, we’ve also got an awesome orange ferry that’s 100 percent free.

Imagine that, free! Pretty soon we’ll also be boasting the city’s only outlet shopping and world’s largest observation wheel. Staten Island is THE fastest growing borough in both population and tourism yet we still don’t have a transportation plan. Thus far, the Department of Transportation has proposed a plan to have a plan and nothing more. So, if you ask me what’s the one thing we need – it’s transportation, transportation, transportation. Capisci?

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city & state — November 18, 2015

NICOLE MALLIOTAKIS

city & state — November 18, 2015

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STEVEN MATTEO

City Councilman 50th District Republican

Our borough’s transportation woes can be summed up with a simple, disastrous formula: the fewest public transit options in the city coupled with the longest daily commutes in the country. Without viable transit options, most Staten Islanders are left with little choice but to drive to wherever they are going, choking roads that are in poor condition and, for the most part, designed to accommodate the vehicular traffic of a sleepy suburb, not a bustling borough that has exploded in population over the past five decades.

We are the only borough without a subway. Service on our only train line (the Staten Island Railway) is neither rapid nor frequent enough to be considered rapid transit. Additionally, buses can be a solution to some of our problems, but they are all too often stuck on the same clogged streets and highways.

A light rail or bus rapid transit system would be a game changer for us. These would take more cars off the roads by providing additional public transportation options for commuters within the borough and beyond, with connections to Bayonne and transportation hubs like the St. George Ferry Terminal.

We also need to find smarter ways to utilize the best public transportation we do have – buses. We are starting to experience how better routing and street design can reduce congestion and commute times with the recently opened HOV lane on the Staten Island Expressway.

Finally, I have focused on working with the city to take an intersection-by-intersection approach to improving our borough’s roads. I have been fighting for road widenings and leftturn signals to relieve congested corridors, breathing new life into our commercial centers.

It is critical that we work for the small fixes as much as the larger ones because that is the only way to ensure that we improve the quality of life in our borough.

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ANDREW LANZA

U.S. Congressman 11th District Republican

State Senator 24th District Republican

Without a doubt, improved transportation infrastructure would make Staten Island a better place. It takes over an hour just to cross the island, and travelers must budget at least two hours for any trips outside our borough. The status quo stunts Staten Island’s growth potential and is a drag on our economy.

Staten Island’s transportation challenges are clear: According to the 2000 and 2010 census surveys, Staten Islanders have the longest commute times in the country, spending nearly 90 minutes per day getting to and from work. That Staten Island topped the list two decades in a row indicates this issue is not getting better. The Staten Island Expressway serves as a main thoroughfare for truck and passenger traffic into New Jersey, clogging a key artery for Staten Island travelers. The borough’s residents don’t have any other options, though, with scarce train service and few alternatives. We must look to creative solutions that provide efficient and affordable transportation options.

The MTA’s allocation to advance North Shore bus rapid transit is a good start, and I will continue to advocate in Congress for a long-term transportation bill to provide regional planners with funding certainty. With appropriate funding levels, planners can and should prioritize projects like light rail and bus rapid transit so we can improve upon the unacceptable status quo.

There are myriad issues that affect the day-to-day life of my neighbors, and I have to be prepared and willing to address all of them. Of course, some issues are more urgent than others at any one time, and I’ve got to prioritize my approach to serving the district. On Staten Island a big issue for a long time has been the high cost of living. A big part of that is the tax burden, whether it’s property taxes or a whole host of other taxes imposed by New York City. There’s a general uneasy feeling about people’s ability to make ends meet. Part of that is the economy, but the government tax burden is very high where we live. I’ve got a property tax bill in the Senate that the Assembly hasn’t moved on, and I hope we can move that this session to provide relief for people. The tax burden in New York City is much too high, and it’s wrong, and it’s driving people off Staten Island.

Traffic on Staten Island is also an important issue.

I’ve been able to deliver resources, including a traffic study before the mayor’s office and funding for the bus depot and putting $5 million for bus rapid transit in the MTA capital plan.

Staten Island is also one of the areas where opioid addiction became severe earlier, and now it is a scourge that rages across the country. I’ve passed legislation on this with Assemblyman Michael Cusick, the I-STOP bill, which is one piece in what needs to be a very comprehensive approach to an issue that is destroying lives from one end of Staten Island to the other, from one end of New York to the other, and from one end of the country to the other, and I don’t think people are talking about it enough.

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city & state — November 18, 2015

DAN DONOVAN

city & state — November 18, 2015

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DEBORAH ROSE

City Councilwoman 49th District Democrat

As council member and 27-year veteran of Community Board 1, the prime complaint I hear is the lack of infrastructure – especially transportation. The opening of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in 1964 ushered in an era of rapid, haphazard growth, more than doubling our population in the last 50 years. Unlike the rest of the city, much of Staten Island was developed in the era of Robert Moses, with little thought to transit-oriented development or community input.

Today, as we prepare to welcome several transformational projects to the North Shore, the MTA still refuses to include in its capital plan a dedicated right of way connecting Mariners Harbor with St. George via monorail, light rail or bus rapid transit.

This history of poor planning has left Staten Islanders with painfully long commutes and a disillusioned outlook toward new developments. I am working to change this. I have successfully pushed to relocate a hazardous sanitation garage from a residential neighborhood; in its place, I am calling for market-rate and affordable housing, as well as commercial amenities that the neighborhood lacks. In my negotiations for the New York Wheel and Empire Outlets, I secured a park, playground, new ferry boats, increased parking spaces and a $1 million traffic mitigation fund. And as we embark on a rezoning process to keep Staten Island affordable, I am working to ensure adequate mass transit, roads, schools, parks, recreational facilities and hospitals before we approve any increased density.

Proper planning with additional mass transit options would go a long way toward improving the quality of life for Staten Islanders. My vision is for transit along the North Shore right of way connecting to a West Shore rail line, with additional connections to New Jersey. I look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues to achieve that vision.

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MICHAEL CUSICK

Assemblyman 63rd District Democrat

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Staten Island is one of the most diverse places in New York City, boasting urban downtowns, suburban neighborhoods, beaches, wildlife and cultural institutions galore. While this undoubtedly makes Staten Island special, it also presents a set of challenges, notably how to move the nearly 500,000 people who call Staten Island home.

In an ideal world, my one wish for Staten Island would be toll-free crossings. While countless other American cities enjoy toll-free travel from their homes, Staten Islanders have no such luxury. I am proud to have helped secure a resident discount on the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, and islanders can enroll in toll-discount programs on the New Jersey bridges as well. While not free, any islander will tell you that every little bit helps.

After the opening of the Verrazano Bridge, the population of our borough exploded and the unabated development that followed was not accompanied by an expansion of our roads and public transportation. Staten Islanders still rely on “back roads,” largely unchanged for centuries, as main thoroughfares across the Island. Our single rail line runs only along the East Shore, and our bus network, while improved, is often slow and indirect. It is well documented that islanders face some of the longest commute times in the nation; unfortunately intraisland traffic is just as stressful and traffic-ridden as their trip into Manhattan.

I have sought to address our transit woes by pushing for funding to study the construction of a North Shore bus rapid transit line as well as a light rail system along the West Shore Expressway, both aimed at lowering the stress on our borough’s roads. Additionally, ferry routes to Manhattan from our southern shores would provide an alternative to our congested roads, while taking advantage of our easy access to New York’s waterways.

city & state — November 18, 2015

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JOSEPH BORELLI

city & state — November 18, 2015

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City Councilman-elect 51st District Republican

Like any other community in New York City, Staten Island has its challenges. Chief among them is the lack of transportation infrastructure and connections to the rest of the city. For years we have been clamoring to get the island included in the city’s fast ferry plan and were extremely disheartened to learn that City Hall’s proposal left out the part of the borough that has the most need. A new focus on Staten Island’s unique geographic situation by transportation planners is what is truly needed for the borough’s long-term progress.

Truth be told, Staten Island is unquestionably one of the best places in the city to raise a family. It is full of parks, close enough to Manhattan to still commute, has great schools, and extremely low crime rates. I’m a little concerned that if we let the cat out of the bag, even more people will see the borough for what it really is and try to move here.

I really don’t think our transit network can handle that.

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ENVIRONMENTAL ADVOCATES WARY OF WETLAND PILOT PROJECT IN WESTERN STATEN ISLAND

By SARINA TRANGLE

city & state — November 18, 2015

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Wall Street may be at the forefront of the finance industry, but there is one type of exchange New York City has been relatively late to embrace: wetland mitigation banking.

Under the mitigation banking structure, large-scale environmental projects generate credits. These credits function as a currency which can be used to meet environmental restoration obligations incurred by building on or near similar habitats.

The city plans to join the 28 states with mitigation banks and break ground on a pilot project in Staten Island as early as April. The $14.4 million initiative would revitalize nearly 69 acres of marshland surrounding the Saw Mill Creek in western Staten Island. The undertaking would create about 18 credits, which could be used to offset restoration work required of construction projects that intrude on nearby wetlands. City projects would not need to pay to use the credits, but private firms would need to purchase them. The city says the credit system would ensure the Saw Mill Creek project complies with federal and state laws stipulating that construction cannot result in a net loss of wetland.

New York City officials and the Real Estate Board of New York, the industry’s chief lobbying group, have praised mitigation banking as a way to streamline and strengthen oversight of restoration work. Some environmentalists, however, are philosophically opposed to such exchanges. And the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service contends the Saw Mill Creek project would sink money into a virtually irredeemable site and may still result in a net loss of wetland.

Environmental advocates’ ability to prevent the pilot project may be limited, however; the city Economic Development Corporation says all funding is in place, and it expects to receive the final permit needed to proceed from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers by 2016.

The mitigation bank pilot project would revitalize 69 acres of marshland around Saw Mill Creek, which can be seen from Chelsea Road.

The Economic Development Corporation named five state and federal agencies that vetted its calculations and agreed the work would amount to about 18 credits of environmental benefit. Because the size and type of restoration required would be different at each site, the Economic Development Corporation said it would be difficult to numerically describe how much environmental work a credit may encompass. Rather, regulators would assess each project and then decide on a ratio.

Economic Development Corporation President Maria Torres-

Springer said mitigation banking would help bolster the industrial sector which has historically lined city shores.

Such banks expedite waterfront development by streamlining the often cumbersome and expensive process of getting regulators to sign off on restoration work, the corporation said.

It also said mitigation banking would improve oversight of environmental work by consolidating the number of projects regulators must monitor.

The Saw Mill Creek proposal’s financial impact is harder to gauge. It is unclear what portion of the 18 credits would fuel city-led development or

how much each credit would be worth.

But the Economic Development Corporation anticipates at least breaking even on credits that are sold, based on how much the city invested per credit. Credits go for $700,000 in New Jersey’s Meadowlands. And mitigation banking has grown into a $3 billion industry nationwide, the corporation said. The city is so confident in the five-year pilot project that it has already named its potential expansion: the MARSHES Initiative.

“Our MARSHES program is a real win-win, supporting the job-creating industrial development our city needs cit yandstateny.com

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is not some kind of quick fix that does not take into account environmental considerations.”

But that is precisely how some environmental advocates and Steve Mars, senior biologist at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s New Jersey field office, described the city’s plan.

Mars maintains the Saw Mill Creek initiative could result in the overall loss of wetlands.

The project would involve unearthing seven acres of wetlands that have been filled in, as well as rehabilitating about 17 acres of wetlands and enhancing several more acres of tidal and forest habitat, according to the city’s environmental assessment. Meanwhile, the Economic Development Corporation said development on an acre of wetland could require anywhere from one to three credits to fulfill its mitigation obligations. Therefore, Mars argued, the project could result in 18 acres of development on marshland, while only adding seven, a net loss of about 11 acres.

Ratio aside, Mars said the “deal breaker” for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is that the Saw Mill Creek is at a high risk of being recontaminated by the nearby Arthur Kill strait. He argued a revitalized Saw Mill Creek could attract fish and other wildlife, take in contaminated tides of water and then spread toxins up the food chain.

“This bank site is heavily contaminated,” Mars said. “It’s

The spokesman noted the funding was “contingent on satisfactory completion of the environmental review process.”

Locally, City Councilman Steven Matteo has submitted a letter of support for the pilot project, citing the benefit to local wetlands. One Staten Island organization dedicated to preserving open spaces, the Protectors of Pine Oak Woods, has joined other environmental advocacy groups such as the Clean Air Campaign and the Sierra Club’s Atlantic Chapter in opposing the mitigation bank.

“The idea is we will create an artificial wetland, or in some cases take an area that was once a natural wetland that has degraded and we will restore it to being a natural wetland, and that will give us the right to destroy an actual natural wetland somewhere else,” said Jim Lane, secretary of the Sierra Club’s Atlantic Chapter. “And it just doesn’t work because the fake wetlands do not have a good track record of performing the same ecological benefits as real wetlands.”

Jeff Coltin contributed to this report.

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city & state — November 18, 2015

while also dramatically improving our environment,” Torres-Springer said in a statement. “The Saw Mill Creek pilot alone ‎is estimated to revitalize‎ nearly eight miles of ‎waterfront in New York City, spur more than $575 million in waterfront infrastructure investment and help create 3,500 jobs for New Yorkers.”

The Real Estate Board of New York has urged the city to create a mitigation bank for years and has lobbied the Economic Development Corporation and City Council staff on the matter at least three times since 2014.

Richard Leland, a partner at Akerman LLP in the firm’s New York office, said shorefront zoning often requires developers to create public waterfront access. This can make it difficult to avoid tampering with aquatic habitat and having to undertake work to offset the construction, he said. Such work is also expensive. The average cost of restoration in New York City is about $2 million per acre, but can run as high as $10 million per acre, according to the Economic Development Corporation.

“From the developer’s perspective, the availability of mitigation credits – where there has already been an approval as to the location and maintenance of a wetland – saves an enormous amount of time and money, and allows the development process to continue,” Leland said. “There’s a very lengthy approval and regulatory process. So this (mitigation banking)

basically 100 years of man’s sins on this property. We have transformers that were abandoned; there’s been dumping, illegally, that contain PCBs (which) are toxic to many life organisms; there’s lead; there’s mercury, chromium, a suite of toxic compounds. We’d rather have it stay the way it is, wait until the sources are cleaned up, i.e., the Arthur Kill.”

The Economic Development Corporation said contamination levels have not reached hazardous levels near Saw Mill, and that the benefits of the project outweigh the concerns.

Mars said his agency is prepared to “elevate this in Washington, D.C.,” if the Economic Development Corporation receives the go-ahead from the Army Corps of Engineers.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has also written the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to urge it not to authorize the use of some $12 million in disaster relief grants for the project. The city said the $12 million was already “in place.”

But a HUD spokesman said a final decision on the funding will be made after considering objections raised by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

BACK & FORTH

FAVORITE SON They may call him “the people’s

only 13 years old, but it’s terrific.

Before that – and I grew up in that neighborhood – people who lived in that neighborhood had really very little in the way of parks. And this park offers a dog run and a bocce court in addition to the standard baseball fields and children’s playground.

Bloomingdale Park is terrific.

talk show host” on AM 970 The Answer, but after living in Staten Island for more than three decades, he prefers “Staten Island’s favorite son.”

A longtime political operative in the borough, Morano now hosts a weekly talk show on Sunday mornings from 4-8:30 a.m.

City & State’s Jeff Coltin talked to Morano about interviewing, public transit and why he loves his home borough. The following is an edited transcript.

city & state — November 18, 2015

38

City & State: Born, raised, and still live in Staten Island. What got you hooked?

Frank Morano: Any aspect of human living, anything that makes a community worth living in, Staten Island has mastered to a “T.” If you like – as I do – good food, we have the finest culinary institutions in the world. You hear a lot about our Italian restaurants, but we have German restaurants, Indian restaurants, seafood restaurants, even Sri Lankan restaurants, all of which are to die for.

If you like the outdoors, we have the most beautiful parks anywhere. If you’re into sports, the streets that you can play street hockey or stickball on as a kid were wide, beautiful, and unlike any other streets anywhere in the city.

If you’re into cultural institutions, we have the St. George Theatre, we have Snug Harbor. We have museums.

We have a wide variety of cultural institutions that are the envy of the rest of the city. If you’re into history, we have the Conference House where Ben Franklin, John Adams, and Edward Rutledge met with Admiral Howe to try to come to an end of the Revolutionary War. In short, it’s the best of all worlds.

It’s a big city, but it’s also a small town. It’s really, I think, the world’s largest small town. Everybody knows each other, but we still enjoy the protections of the NYPD and are just a 25-minute ferry ride away from the heart of Manhattan.

C&S: We asked local politicians for one thing that can make

A Q&A WITH

FRANK MORANO Staten Island better, and I think every single one of them said “transportation improvements.”

Is it that bad? And what other problems are there beyond transportation?

FM: It’s worse than that bad. If the members of the MTA board or the commissioner of the Department of Transportation had to commute from the South Shore of Staten Island to midtown Manhattan on a daily basis, you could bet we’d have a vastly different transportation infrastructure.

I’ve been a longtime advocate for a South Shore ferry to Manhattan as well as a North Shore ferry, and I certainly think a rail link to New Jersey, which would connect us to NJ Transit, would be terrific. And for intra-borough transportation, we only have the one

train right now, the Staten Island Railway. If we had a West Shore rail or a North Shore rail or both, all would be of great assistance.

The other issue is drugs. We’ve seen an incredible uptick in the number of heroin and prescription drug deaths.

You see families – middle-class, upper middle-class, even upper-class families – that never dreamed that their children would be involved in drugs, dying of drug overdoses. I don’t know anybody in Staten Island that doesn’t know somebody that has been affected by prescription drugs and heroin specifically.

C&S: What’s your favorite place on Staten Island? Maybe even one that some locals wouldn’t know about.

FM: I love Bloomingdale Park. It’s

C&S: You talk to a lot of political figures on your show, Richmond County district attorney candidates Michael McMahon and Joan Illuzzi most recently. What’s your approach to those interviews?

FM: For years I was very active in Staten Island politics. I was a leader in the Independence Party in Staten Island, so I developed relationships with many of the politicians. The trick with some of them is to not assume the audience knows these people as well as I know them. It’s almost the opposite of how I approach a traditional interview. In a traditional interview, I try to create an intimacy with the guest, even if I’ve never met them. But when I’m interviewing a Staten Island political figure, whether it’s McMahon, Joe Borelli, Nicole Malliotakis, Jimmy Oddo – all of whom I have a longtime relationship with – I almost have to remind myself that the audience doesn’t know these guys as well as I know them.

And the other thing, because our station airs in areas outside of Staten Island, is to make the issues that we talk about of interest to a broader community: New Jersey, the rest of New York City, Long Island, Connecticut, Pennsylvania. So the people who are listening in those places are interested in what we’re discussing and it doesn’t just become Staten Island radio. Though if it were up to me, I’d do Staten Island radio three hours a day.

For the full interview, including Morano’s thoughts on rescuing local diners and his impatience for slow walkers, visit cityandstateny.com.

cit yandstateny.com

RTH

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WHEN ONE PERSON SMOKES THE WHOLE BUILDING SMOKES

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There is NO safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke. Almost 500,000 NYC adults & children are exposed to secondhand smoke at home

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11/13/15 2:33 PM