Mobsters and trash? New NYC mayor’s rise stirs Staten Island ire

Staten Island, New York –

Residents of Staten Island, New York’s often-forgotten borough, have long celebrated their distinct distance from the rest of the megacity, and the election of a leftist mayor has fired up old conversations about breaking away from the Big Apple.

This island near the Statue of Liberty, dotted with large, detached houses and patchy bus service, is politically more conservative than New York’s other four boroughs.

Locals here are overwhelmingly against newly elected left-wing mayor Zohran Mamdani.