​My dear friend and colleague Senator Diane Savino recently posted a pithy, but typically epic, rant on her Facebook page. In it, she railed against NYC’s deer management program that unfortunately has been characterized exclusively by its most controversial component – administering vasectomies to the male deer population on Staten Island as a means of thinning out the herd.  

By now you all should know how closely Diane and I have worked together over the years and how much I respect her, so I took absolutely no offense at what she said; my initial reaction when I heard about this method wasn’t very much different at all.  This approach appeared to fly in the face of counsel I had received from various experts, who stated simply that culling was the only true effective tactic for reducing the deer population, and that if there was the will to do it, it could be done effectively and safely on Staten Island.

Then a few weeks ago my team and I met with Dr. Anthony DiNicola, President of White Buffalo, Inc., who decided vasectomies were the best methodology given the legal and other hurdles we would face if we chose more aggressive measures.  White Buffalo is a non-profit organization that is pre-eminent in controlling deer populations, and was hired by the City to spearhead this effort.  

It was fascinating meeting.  Dr. DiNicola carefully and thoroughly articulated the case for the vasectomy approach, given the constraints and obstacles we would face with culling, chemical sterilization, catch and release and other more expensive lethal and non-lethal options.  And although White Buffalo is adept, by the way, at all of these methods, they still consider administering vasectomies to the male population the best approach for now, for Staten Island, given our unique situation. 

There are clearly some positives with this approach. For one thing, it will start virtually immediately (they will be in the field the first week of September) and at a comparatively reasonable cost.  We must also face the unavoidable reality that with any of the other methods, given the passionate interest of advocacy groups across the city, we would face environmental and legal hurdles that would set us back years.   Just as in other jurisdictions, we would be bogged down with litigation while absolutely NOTHING was taking place to address the exploding deer population.

Once you listen to Dr. Nicola’s detailed explanation the science behind it does seem logical, despite what the armchair quarterbacks (including me) may think.  Yes, the females will remain in estrus for a longer period of time, but conversely, I learned that testosterone levels are directly tied to hours of sunlight, and so the males that have not yet received vasectomies will lose their mating desire as the days grow shorter.

We expect to learn a lot about the real extent of this problem; they will be putting numbered ear tags on all the deer they bait and treat, which will lead to a much more accurate count of the deer population on the island.  As well, radio collars with GPS capability will be placed on 60 males and 50 females, so tracking the herds with a high degree of accuracy will finally become a reality.

Look, this may work too slowly, or not work at all, I’m very well aware of that.  If it doesn’t we’ll move on to one of the other options - but we need to take this lightning quick (as the city measures time) first step.  Already the ecological damage to our greenspaces is becoming readily apparent, the Lyme Disease increase we feared is now documented (see recent DOH stats here) and with the undeniable increase in the deer population, it’s still just a matter of time before a deer/vehicular collision results in a tragedy. 

Shame on us if we don’t take any and every measure available to avoid this.  Doing nothing is the one option we don’t have.

​News broke earlier this week that NPR is eliminating its comments section on its website. 

Amen!

Let’s hope this is a harbinger of things to come. 

The fact is that few things are more responsible for the negative tone and tenor of our political system in America today than the comments sections in news outlet websites, which often permit anonymous comments. 

And don’t for a second think that this bullying – because that’s what it is – doesn’t trickle down to society at large, including our young people.  Because it does.  Sometimes with tragic consequences.

It is hypocritical when news outlets decry the rise of bullying in our society, criticize government for not doing anything about it, and complain about the tone of politics, yet are complicit by allowing and even encouraging bullying on their own websites.

NPR Ombudsman Elizabeth Jensen provided the following perspective on exactly what the comments sections are:

“A user named Mary, from Raleigh, N.C., wrote to implore: ‘Remove the comments section from your articles. The rude, hateful, racist, judgmental comments far outweigh those who may want to engage in some intelligent sideline conversation about the actual subject of the article. I am appalled at the amount of ‘free hate’ that is found on a website that represents honest and unbiased reporting such as NPR. What are you really gaining from all of these rabid comments other than proof that a sad slice of humanity that preys on the weak while spreading their hate?’”
http://www.npr.org/sections/ombudsman/2016/08/17/489516952/npr-website-to-get-rid-of-comments

Does anyone who has spent any period of time reading the comments section of any news outlet disagree with that wise assessment from Mary?

Scott Montgomery, NPR’s managing editor of digital news put it this way: “We've reached the point where we've realized that there are other, better ways to achieve the same kind of community discussion around the issues we raise in our journalism.” 
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/08/17/npr-is-killing-off-comments-thats-great-news/

NPR Ombudsman Jensen quoted the following statistics, which confirm everything I have ever believed about the comments sections:

“In July, NPR.org recorded nearly 33 million unique users, and 491,000 comments. But those comments came from just 19,400 commenters, Montgomery said. That's 0.06 percent of users who are commenting, a number that has stayed steady through 2016.”
http://www.npr.org/sections/ombudsman/2016/08/17/489516952/npr-website-to-get-rid-of-comments

This demonstrates that comments sections are the domain of an extremely small slice of users. Despite what proponents might argue, it is not a virtual town square where reasoned debate takes place. Instead, it’s a veritable dungeon where a small number of users provide the required “clicks” that aid the bottom line of many media outlets.   

Now, before First Amendment warriors take umbrage with this piece, just a reminder that the First Amendment states:

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”

The key word is “Congress.” And, in 1925, the US Supreme Court in Gitlow v. New York ruled that the First Amendment also applied to actions of state governments. Thus, individuals enjoy no First Amendment right to write whatever they want on the website of a private news organization. The First Amendment only applies to actions of governments. To put it in other words, no one in America has the First Amendment right to enter the private property of another and spew hate. The owner of that property can legally ask that person to leave. There is no difference when it comes to the websites of private news organizations. 

We’ve come to the point in time when Americans are overloaded with the opportunity to comment on issues of the day. They can use Facebook to spew their hate and venom, usually under their own names. There’s also Twitter and a whole host of other social networks where these conversations can and do take place.

It is simply irresponsible for news outlets to continue to provide a platform for the lowest common denominator in our society to bully their fellow citizens. Does anyone believe that when addressing the most important political issues of the day, a person’s mind will be changed because of the words of an anonymous, often sarcastic, commenter?

There simply is no real debate taking place in the comments section.  Perhaps if comment sections had been created in a different way, requiring confirmation of a person’s identity, things would be different today. But I believe it is too late for that, since so many people are now unashamed to spew hate and venom even under their own names.

I do not blame the comments sections for all incidents of bullying and inappropriate behavior in our society. But I am saying that the acceptance of bullying behavior that comments sections have fostered does play a role in how we interact in society. 

I am hopeful that NPR’s actions will inspire other news outlets to follow their lead. Let’s stop catering to the worst in our society. Let the haters fight with each other on their private Facebook pages where decent people don’t have to come across it.

Finally, I want to make clear that I don’t mind when people debate me on my positions.  It comes with the job, and I have no hesitation in talking to anyone who earnestly wants to discuss an issue. I welcome the opportunity to try to demonstrate why my position is correct. I have engaged with countless constituents through email, on the phone, in person, and on social media on various topics when they respectfully and intelligently wanted to debate or criticize.  I do, however, have a problem with internet trolls. I don’t engage for long with those who can only say different variations of “Oddo is a bum.” They are not worth the time or the effort, and my time at Borough Hall is too limited to engage in a fruitless back and forth with those who only want to attack and criticize without any desire to find common ground.  

The following blog post was written by our staff member Emil Micha about his teenage memories of Vito Picone and the Elegants. 

Staten Island in 1957-58 was a pretty isolated borough with limited connections geographically and culturally to the world at large.  I was a sophomore at New Dorp High School that fall and winter and rock ‘n roll, the music we loved, was in its infancy – barely 10 years removed from the swing music of our parents. We found in it our identity, as we explored who we were and who we were becoming.

Vito Picone was a senior at New Dorp, and his fledgling singing group, the Elegants, used to practice their harmonies in the "echo chamber" courtyard of the school. They were often heard between classes - and sometimes during classes. Doo Wop singing groups were ubiquitous in those days: SIRT train stations, school stairwells, the boy’s bathroom  – anywhere a group of teenagers gathered, sooner or later you'd hear a few bars of whatever top -10 song was charting at the time.
But our music came mainly from the radio. It was the era of the rock ‘n roll disc jockey.  Cousin Brucie, Murry the K, Alan Freed, Jocko Henderson, all served up what we couldn't get enough of.  The local groups, like the Elegants and dozens of others, performed at the church dances and school hops.  So when we heard that the Elegants had signed with an actual recording label, we could hardly believe it. Vito and his group were still at NDHS, but things thereafter happened very quickly.

I believe their very first release was "Little Star," and as we all witnessed, the record got immediate and omnipresent airplay. You could not turn on an AM radio without hearing the mellow harmonies of our Vito and his South Beach buddies crooning "oh meee o meee o my-y-y-y"
We (all my friends) were thrilled that "one of our own" was an actual rock ‘n roll celebrity.
We were glued to our black & white TV's to watch as Vito and the boys made an appearance on the most popular teenage dance show of them all...American Bandstand, hosted by Dick Clark. The Elegants dutifully lip-synced their number one nation-wide hit "Little Star," then repaired to the interview corner for Dick to quiz them on their meteoric rise to the top of the charts.  We all hung on every word they uttered; here on national television were our Ambassadors of Arrochar and points south.

"So" said the smooth Mr. Clark, "Just how did you choose your name 'The Elegants'?" There was a silence. They all looked dumbfounded.  Clark was getting uneasy.  He thrust the mike in front of Artie Venosa.  Venosa suddenly found his tongue.
"Jeezus, I don't know!" he said.  

We all cheered!

Please join us for "Home Sweet Home," a doo-wop concert featuring Vito Picone and the Elegants, with opening acts Lina Fiscardi and The Expressions. The free show will take place on Saturday, August 20th at 7pm at Midland Beach Splaza (Fr. Capodanno Blvd. and Seaview Avenue). ​

​I often think about ways to push back against the negativity we all run into virtually every day of our lives.  It frightens me to think about how many individuals are affected by it; it seems to be everywhere, an inescapable deluge that threatens to drown us – if we let it.

So I started posting some things on our Staten Island USA website, things about which I felt deeply, and I did it for two reasons:

With “Some of the People in My Life,” I wanted to create a platform of sorts to counter the trolls and their daily vitriol, found all-too-often in the comments section of our local daily, and sometimes even on our own Facebook pages.  The gratuitous negativity, much of it steeped in ignorance, is toxic.  

I wanted to push back against it by talking about the many good people in our community, the dedicated, the selfless, those with an unmatched generosity of spirit who do their good work in the background, without fanfare or recompense or any expectation of either.  I want to use this medium to share with, and maybe even help, those who, like me, are tired of the hatred emanating from the pathetically uninformed.  

Secondly, I recognize that tomorrow is not guaranteed for me - or for any of us.  I was inspired by the legendary basketball coach Jim Valvano, whose life was tragically cut short by cancer at the age of 47.  In a speech he gave shortly before he died, Jimmy V, who was born in Corona, Queens, told the world that each day we should endeavor to do three things:  

Laugh. 

Think. 

Cry.  

If you do those three things, he said “that's a full day. That's a heck of a day. You do that seven days a week, you're going to have something special.”  Well, I want something special.  We all should.  And that was the birth of Laugh, Think, Cry Fridays.

Hemingway once said: "Write hard and clear about what hurts,” and I just might do that along the way.  But I will certainly write about good people, good things and other truths good for the soul.  While I have this bully pulpit, I'm going to use it. 

I refuse to be confined to negativity.  I refuse to be confined to playing “gotcha” politics, and I refuse to give much thought to those that do. Instead of growing more cautious as I get closer to the finish line, I want to be more outspoken – certainly about what’s wrong in our borough, but even more forcefully about what is right.

In a wonderful episode of the West Wing, Chief of Staff Leo McGarry tells President Bartlet that they’ve been too conservative, too tentative, and that it was time they took off the gloves.  “You have a strategy for that?” asked the President.  

“I have the beginnings of one,” says McGarry, holding up a yellow pad upon which he has written the words “Let Bartlet Be Bartlet.”