{"id":74429,"date":"2025-12-18T15:00:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T15:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/74429\/"},"modified":"2025-12-18T15:00:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T15:00:08","slug":"staten-island-eyes-seceding-from-nyc-after-mamdani-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/74429\/","title":{"rendered":"Staten Island eyes seceding from NYC after Mamdani win"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — Could a Staten Island Declaration of Independence be part of America\u2019s 250th anniversary celebrations in 2026?<\/p>\n

The so-called \u201cforgotten borough\u201d is taking a fresh look at its long-running pull towards secession following the historic win of Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani last month.<\/p>\n

While Mamdani got over 50% of the vote citywide, he only received 23% of votes on the more conservative Staten Island, where former Gov. Andrew Cuomo carried 55% of the vote.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a number of people on Staten Island who want to pursue the secession question and determine the future of Staten Island in very short order,\u201d Borough President Vito Fossella told 1010 WINS for a report Thursday.<\/p>\n

This of course isn\u2019t the first time Staten Island has floated the idea of seceding. In fact, 65% of residents voted as part of a referendum in 1993 to secede. But state lawmakers in Albany never moved it forward.<\/p>\n

Fossella said the borough has its reasons for wanting to separate from the rest of the city.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe talk about different things that happen across New York City. We don\u2019t want them,\u201d he said. \u201cWe get things we don\u2019t want, and we don\u2019t get things that we do want\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are concerns about public safety and what will happen,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s always a concern about taxes and the services we get in return. So there\u2019s a real palpable sense that secession might be the long-term solution for the people of Staten Island, and I think they deserve to have that conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Mamdani<\/p>\n

Mamdani received only 23% of the vote in Staten Island compared to over 50% citywide.<\/p>\n

Photo credit Spencer Platt\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Fossella said he wants Mamdani to make sure Staten Islanders are treated equally.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a big believer that actions speak louder than words and the choices that are made really are more important than the rhetoric that\u2019s on the table,\u201d he said. \u201cI will take the incoming mayor on his word that he wants to help. I hope he does.\u201d<\/p>\n

In any event, Fossella said he realizes secession is not that easy.<\/p>\n

\u201cI put more faith in the people of Staten Island than I do in leaders of other parts of the city to determine Staten Island\u2019s fate,\u201d he said. \u201cBut it\u2019s not as easy as that. You can\u2019t just wave a wand. There\u2019s a legislative political process that needs to be addressed and followed, and I hope it doesn\u2019t take years. We hope to get to it sooner rather than later.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n Featured Image Photo Credit: Mostafa Bassim\/Anadolu via Getty Images\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — Could a Staten Island Declaration of Independence be part of America\u2019s 250th anniversary…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":74430,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[9,24,63,134,136,135],"class_list":{"0":"post-74429","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-staten-island","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-new-york-city","10":"tag-nyc","11":"tag-staten-island","12":"tag-staten-island-headlines","13":"tag-staten-island-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74429","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=74429"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74429\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74430"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}