STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 Staten Island plans to secede from New York City. For real this time. Maybe.<\/p>\n
Assemblymember Sam Pirozzolo, who declared Staten Island\u2019s figurative independence in November<\/a>, visited the College of Staten Island archives Friday to review some papers of the late State Sen. John Marchi related to secession. <\/p>\n The nearly-50-year Republican senator chaired the secession commission that formed after 1990\u2019s November elections and was widely considered the father of the secession movement. <\/p>\n \u201cThe goal here for me is to see what they did back then,\u201d Pirozzolo said. \u201cThe purpose of going through these is to see what the numbers were.\u201d<\/p>\n Pirozzolo wanted to effectively learn what he needs to know for a forthcoming secession effort based on the failed attempt of the 1990s.<\/p>\n A 1993 referendum saw about 65% of Staten Islanders vote to leave New York City. Albany power brokers ultimately blocked that effort, and the 8-year administration of former Republican Mayor Rudolph Giuliani helped quell even some of the loudest calls for secession.<\/p>\n Times have changed, but many of the motivations for becoming an independent city remain the same. <\/p>\n \u201cSecession has always been an undercurrent of a conversation on Staten Island,\u201d Pirozzolo said. \u201cWhat\u2019s made it come up again? Battery sites, City of Yes, marijuana dispensaries, red light cameras, speed light cameras, all of that is make it come up again.\u201d<\/p>\n City of Yes refers to a trio of rezoning initiatives passed during former Mayor Eric Adams\u2019 administration that made it easier to build battery storage sites and are expected to bring an influx of housing to the five boroughs, particularly on Staten Island. <\/p>\n Official rumblings of secession have sprung up since the failed 1993 effort, including a new study in September 2023<\/a> Borough President Vito Fossella announced that year, but has yet to produce.<\/p>\n The borough\u2019s joining of the city wasn\u2019t even a sure thing ahead of consolidation in the late 19th century.<\/p>\n An 1896 New York Times article headlined \u201cShould Staten Island be Dropped?\u201d <\/a>reported then City Corporation Counsel Francis Scott hesitations about bringing the Island into a five-borough city. It points out Staten Island\u2019s distinct cultural differences from its four borough counterparts.<\/p>\n Pirozzolo has largely avoided making this secession effort about Mayor Zohran Mamdani\u2019s administration despite their obvious political differences. Not one to shy away from controversy<\/a>, the assemblyman was uncharacteristically reserved last week when asked about his former colleague in the State Assembly. <\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t really have much a relationship with him,\u201d he said of former Assemblyman Mamdani, who represented part of Queens in Albany.<\/p>\n