{"id":14744,"date":"2025-10-24T10:07:26","date_gmt":"2025-10-24T10:07:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/14744\/"},"modified":"2025-10-24T10:07:26","modified_gmt":"2025-10-24T10:07:26","slug":"borough-president-vito-fossella-has-been-a-steadfast-champion-for-staten-island-and-deserves-re-election-our-opinion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/14744\/","title":{"rendered":"Borough President Vito Fossella has been a steadfast champion for Staten Island and deserves re-election (Our Opinion)"},"content":{"rendered":"

The race for Staten Island borough president features one of the most familiar names in borough politics, Republican Borough President Vito Fossella, against a political newcomer, Democrat Michael Colombo. <\/a><\/p>\n

Fossella has been a staunch advocate for Staten Islanders during his tenure and the Advance\/SILive.com endorses him for a second term in Borough Hall. <\/p>\n

\"FossellaBorough President hopefulls Incumbent Republican Vito Fossella and Democrat Michael Colombo and meet with the Advance Editorial Board in the Bloomfield newsroom on Monday, Sept 22, 2025.(Advance\/SILive.com | Jason Paderon) Jason PaderonJason Paderon<\/p>\n

Fossella correctly opposed the siting of battery energy storage system (BESS) sites in residential communities here. The industrial facilities, with their serious fire risks, simply do not belong next to homes or businesses. <\/p>\n

He was also in the right when he came out against the City of Yes building plan, which could bring an explosion of development without guarantees that new housing will be of the affordable variety so desperately needed here. <\/p>\n

Fossella, a former U.S. congressman, was also spot-on when he opposed congestion pricing. The toll has not only slammed car-dependent Staten Islanders with an onerous and unfair new expense but has led to an increase in truck traffic on already congested borough roads. <\/p>\n

Fossella also rightly opposes the Northeastern Supplemental Enhancement Pipeline, which threatens to spoil Staten Island\u2019s coastal environment, and has correctly raised concerns about the coming proliferation of trucking facilities along the Arthur Kill Road corridor. <\/p>\n

When needed to, Fossella has gone to court in order to protect the interests of Staten Islanders. <\/p>\n

Part of the borough president\u2019s role is serving as Staten Island\u2019s cheerleader. We welcome Fossella\u2019s participation in cultural and non-profit events across the borough, something that was missing in the last administration. <\/p>\n

The presence of the boroughwide leader signals support these organizations need during financially difficult times. <\/p>\n

\"FossellaDemocratic candidate for Borough President Michael Colombo meets with the Advance Editorial Board in the Bloomfield newsroom on Monday, Sept 22, 2025.(Advance\/SILive.com | Jason Paderon) Jason PaderonJason Paderon<\/p>\n

Colombo, an insurance advocate, is to be praised for his own opposition to BESS sites, the pipeline and the trucking facilities.<\/p>\n

And while game to engage the borough president during a meeting with the Advance Editorial Board, Colombo simply can\u2019t compete with Fossella\u2019s experience and command of the issues. <\/p>\n

The Democrat\u2019s repeated calls for Staten Island officials to negotiate with the city powers-that-be on crucial issues rang as unrealistic to us. As Fossella correctly pointed out, sometimes the so-called forgotten borough must fight. <\/p>\n

\"FossellaBorough President Vito Fossella and Democrat Michael Colombo meet with the Advance Editorial Board in the Bloomfield newsroom on Monday, Sept 22, 2025.(Advance\/SILive.com | Jason Paderon) Jason PaderonJason Paderon<\/p>\n

But our endorsement of the incumbent comes with key caveats. <\/p>\n

We are deeply troubled by Fossella\u2019s response to recent revelations about a racist and hate speech-filled text thread among leaders of national Young Republican groups, including three Staten Islanders.<\/p>\n

The text thread featured references to Hitler and gas chambers and included vile remarks aimed at Black people. <\/p>\n

Borough Republicans were quick to denounce the text thread, and Islander Peter Giunta, who took part in the thread, was fired from his job as chief of staff to GOP South Shore Assemblyman Michael Reilly. <\/p>\n

Fossella for some unfathomable reason took another tack in responding to the controversy.<\/p>\n

While condemning hate \u201cin all its forms,\u201d Fossella challenged national Democrats to also denounce hate speech. <\/a><\/p>\n

Fossella in his statement pointed to those who celebrated the murder last month of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, among other incidents. <\/p>\n

\u201cAs we look within and take responsibility for our own, we hope Democrats find the courage to act with the same moral clarity,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Anyone else in Fossella\u2019s position would offer a much more specific condemnation of the immediate Staten Island issue and not pivot to \u201cyeah, they did it too!\u201d <\/p>\n

Also concerning was Fossella\u2019s purge earlier this year of Community Board 3 members, <\/a>including the removal of longtime environmentalist Cliff Hagen. <\/p>\n

Hagen, it just so happened, ran against Fossella\u2019s son, Griffin Fossella, for the South Shore City Council seat earlier this year. Hagen remains the Democratic candidate in the general election. <\/p>\n

Ousting Hagen, who has for years been widely admired for his activism and community service, appears to have been little more than petty political payback.<\/p>\n

Fossella has denied the allegation, but the mere appearance of the removal being politically motivated should have been enough to stay the borough president\u2019s hand when it came to Hagen. <\/p>\n

We were puzzled as well by Fossella\u2019s ringing applause when President Donald Trump pulled $48 million federal funding from the Arthur Kill Terminal wind project,<\/a> a project that had deep bi-partisan support from borough officials. <\/p>\n

In lauding the president\u2019s decision, Fossella said, \u201cWe were skeptical of the suitability of this site, viewing the massive, long-term funding required as both risky and overly ambitious.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also said that \u201cwe were concerned about the potential environmental damage\u201d from the project.<\/p>\n

But Fossella\u2019s full-throated support for Trump\u2019s decision doesn\u2019t square with the fact that the project did pass through Fossella\u2019s office during the terminal\u2019s Uniform Land Use Review Procedure. <\/p>\n

The borough president was given a chance to make recommendations in 2024 before Arthur Kill Terminal went to the City Planning Commission and City Council for approval.<\/p>\n

While expressing our concerns about Fossella, Democrats don\u2019t get away scot-free here.<\/p>\n

The late Ralph Lamberti was the last Democrat to hold Borough Hall, back at the end of the 1980s. If the Democrats, who have been in disarray lately, want to regain that seat, they simply must put up better, more seasoned candidates. <\/p>\n

(Editorials and endorsements are developed by the Advance\/SILive.com Editorial Board, and do not represent the opinions of individual newsroom staff.)<\/p>\n

If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The race for Staten Island borough president features one of the most familiar names in borough politics, Republican…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14745,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[9,24,63,134,136,135],"class_list":["post-14744","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-staten-island","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-staten-island","tag-staten-island-headlines","tag-staten-island-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14744","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14744"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14744\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14745"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}