Borough President Oddo today joined with students and staff to cut the ribbon on two projects he funded for PS 78 in Clifton: auditorium upgrades and sensory pathways for a hallway within the school. The upgrades to the auditorium include new flooring, painting, curtains for the stage and the windows, seats, side walls, and a stage floor.

Sensory Hallways are pathways lined with colorful decals that allow students to skip, jump and even play a little hopscotch as they move throughout the school. Children who follow the path might be jumping at certain intervals, taking slow steps in other spots, hopping from lily pad to lily pad, or placing their hands on handprints on the wall and pushing as hard as they can.

The Sensory Path – the company who installed PS 78’s Sensory Pathways – describes their product as a brain break for students to refocus. When a child with a sensory processing disorder such as Autism is in a general education classroom, their brain is trying to process several different things at once. From sitting up in the chair, the climate in the room, the other children next to them, the smells, the teacher talking, another child talking, the movements in the room, everything we usually can tune out, they are tuning into. Kids with sensory processing disorders can't just simply turn off the radio of their brain. They need a brain break. Their neurological pathways have essentially jammed, and must be cleared. By taking the sensory overloaded kid to our Sensory Path, they will complete a series of movements as they move through the path that are designed to release the blocked paths and allow the body and brain to refocus.

The hallways are beneficial not only to those students who require sensory input, but for the entire student body – and even the staff.

“We want our students to get active and be engaged, which is why I am excited to see today’s ribbon cuttings at PS 78 for their new auditorium and especially their sensory pathways. These pathways will allow children to burn energy and return to the classroom refocused and ready to learn. We are big advocates of the importance and benefits of exercise, so I am looking forward to seeing the success of these hallways on the PS 78 community,” said Borough President Oddo.
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The auditorium was funded in two phases: $400,000 for first phase, which included new flooring, painting, and curtains for the stage and the windows, and $650,000 for phase two, which included new seats, side walls and stage floor. Phase two is still underway, with the side walls and stage floor still to be completed. The sensory pathway was funded for $2,500. PS 78 is the first school Borough President Oddo has allocated funding for sensory pathways.

​On Tuesday, January 21, 2020, Borough President Oddo joined with NYC Parks Commissioner Mitchell Silver, NYC Parks Borough Commissioner Lynda Ricciardone, and City Councilman Joe Borelli to officially break ground for the new sensory playground coming to E.M.T. Christopher J. Prescott Playground. 

This sensory playground has been designed to challenge the body's senses – with equipment including features such as textured surfaces, patterns, shapes, talk tubes, musical play panels, swings, roller tables, balance walkers and climbers – to accommodate the needs of children with Sensory Processing Disorder.

“We want all of our kids to enjoy our parks, which is why I am so grateful to see today’s groundbreaking on an exciting and innovative addition to Staten Island’s Prescott Playground,” said BP Oddo at the groundbreaking. “We take very seriously the privilege to allocate the public’s money, and allocating this $3.9 million is a statement to our values as Staten Islanders.”

The renovation project will also provide new, inclusive play structures, swings, a spray play area with stainless steel instruments, and a small quiet area for reflection. New paths, fences, concrete pavements, and safety surfacing will also be added to the play area, as well as a new planter area, featuring new trees and a planting palette to increase shade in play areas.

The $4 million project was funded by a $3.9 million allocation from Staten Island Borough President James Oddo, and $100,000 from Council Member Joseph Borelli.

The project is expected to be completed in 12-18 months. Thank you to everyone who has been a part of making this project a reality! 

Prescott Playground, located near I.S. 7 in Huguenot, boasts swings, playgrounds for all children, spray showers and plant-beds. The playground, which is jointly operated by Parks and the Board of Education, was acquired for recreational purposes by the City in 1960. It was improved in 1966 with modular play equipment and safety surfacing under a $145,000 capital project that was funded by Council Member Vito Fosella. The playground was renamed in 1997 in honor of Christopher J. Prescott (1972-1994), a Staten Island native who was the first New York City EMS worker to be killed in the line of duty.

Continuing the tradition he began in 2014, Borough President James S. Oddo is pleased to announce that he will host his annual “Direct Connect Sunday” open house on Sunday, January 26th from 1 to 4pm at Tottenville High School, 100 Luten Avenue.

At the event, BP Oddo will interact with constituents one-on-one about the projects his office is tackling. Members of his staff will also be on hand to speak about specific concerns, answer questions from the public, and discuss the issues that the office is working on to improve Staten Island.  The office will also have a detailed display about plans and initiatives rolled out during 2019, as well as the Borough President’s agenda for 2020.

Included in the afternoon will be a Q&A with BP Oddo open to the public that will take place at 2:30pm. In addition, representatives from city agencies, cultural organizations, and other local groups will be in attendance to talk about their services and answer questions.

“When I took office in 2014, we threw the doors of Borough Hall open to welcome the public in,” said BP Oddo. “We continue to build on that concept by bringing our annual open house to new locations and inviting groups from the community to talk about their work. If you have a particular quality-of-life issue or just want to find out more information on the work we’re doing, I encourage you to join us at this informative event.”
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There is no need to RSVP for the event. Staten Islanders can come any time during the 1-4pm time frame and will need to enter the school at the rear of the building, access by Eylandt Street. Those who have questions about Direct Connect Sunday can contact Renee Sarno at (718) 816-2133.

​On Monday, Dec. 23, BP Oddo joined with the Jewish leadership of Staten Island and members of the community to celebrate the Festival of Lights at our annual Menorah Lighting.

“Thank you for sharing a part of the holiday with us,” BP Oddo said at the ceremony. “The overriding sentiment we should all have at this time is joy. This is truly a happy occasion when we get to spend time with the people we love, the people we are closest to, the people who are most precious to us and we should enjoy that.”

For a few minutes, he turned his attention to “go into the darkness, sort of into the shadows because it needs to be said.”

He spoke of a recent meeting with District Attorney Michael McMahon, the heads of Staten Island’s four police precincts and leaders of the Jewish community.

“We talked about what is happening in the world with greater frequency and we certainly didn’t come up with fixes to what has been a long-standing problem, but there was a value to us coming together. It is a reminder that we do need to undertake more efforts to get to the kids while their still young before the adults instill hatred in them,” he said.

“Maybe, if we shine our lights a little brighter, maybe, just maybe, we can chip away at those shadows and at that darkness. The fact that we are all here tonight at this event is a small part of it. Tonight we will send a message out that across Staten Island, across NYC and across the country, we are in fact one and we celebrate our diversity.”

The evening was sponsored by the Council of Jewish Organizations of Staten Island. In attendance from COJO were Scott Maurer and Mendy Mirocznik.

Before we lit the menorah, there was an uplifting performance by students from the Young Day School, singing traditional Hanukkah songs.

“I wish each of you a very happy holiday,” BP Oddo said. “I hope it is filled with peace and joy and love and happiness and fun.”

On Thursday, Dec. 5, DBP Ed Burke hosted Borough Hall’s annual Christmas Tree Lighting.

“I love this time of year,” he said. “All of the holidays this time of the year, let’s face it, are about giving, charity, and love – and that’s really evident with all of you showing up here for the tree lighting.”

At the event, carols were performed by local talents, including Al Lambert, D. Sharp Studios, Miss Staten Island Madison L'Insalata, and Rob and Lizz Kipp.

The kids of D. Sharp Studios -- decked in Santa hats -- dazzled the crowd with Christmas favorites before leading a sing-along to “Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer.” Scooter the Holy Cow, the mascot of the Staten Island Yankees, was spotted dancing in the crowd.

After the music, the big moment came: Santa arrived at Borough Hall by way of a police escort. With a hearty “Ho, Ho, Ho,” he made his way up the steps. After a countdown from 10, the giant switch was pulled: “The tree is lit,” said DBP Burke.

Santa then handed out books, donated by Barnes & Noble, to the children in attendance.

The tree lighting was sponsored by Allstate, Barnes & Noble, the Gavel Grill, Rispoli Bakery, Killmeyer’s Old Baveria Inn, Downtown Staten Island, the Staten Island Chamber of Commerce, the Staten Island Yankees, the National Lighthouse Museum, the NYPD, the city Parks Department, the South Shore Rotary, Project One Staten Island and Casandra Properties.

​​Thank you to all our sponsors and performers. We wish all Staten Islanders a happy and safe holiday season.

In February, Borough President James Oddo announced the winner of the Empire State Opioid Epidemic Innovation Challenge Demo Day, a challenge that served as an open-innovation platform for a diverse community to co-create solutions that would have the potential to change the trajectory of the local and national opioid crisis.
 
As part of Demo Day, six teams—composed of engineers, data experts, social workers, clinicians, and other professionals—competed in front of a cross-disciplinary panel of expert judges for a grand prize of $10,000 and six months of acceleration support through the CAMTech Accelerator Program (CAP) for their innovation.
 
The winner was Team QuikReversal for their innovation of a nasal patch that dispenses Narcan to prevent opioid overdose. Now, QuikReversal’s life-saving innovation is moving closer to commercial viability.
 
Demo Day, the last leg of the Empire State Opioid Epidemic Innovation Challenge, was hosted through a partnership between Borough President Oddo, the Consortium for Affordable Medical Technologies (CAMTech) at Massachusetts General Hospital, the State of New York, Northwell Health, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, and Columbia University’s Fu Foundation School of Engineering. The event served as a competition for teams to show progress made 90 days after first formulating their solutions at the Challenge Summit and Solutions Sprint in September, 2018. All 12 teams that formed during the Solutions Sprint were eligible to compete at Demo Day.
 
“When my team first pitched the idea for the Challenge, the common retort was that these competitions were nothing more than marketing gimmicks—superficial attempts at innovation without tangible outcomes. Fortunately, our sponsors—the state of New York, Northwell Health and Columbia University's schools of public health and engineering—recognized that our model was different. The goal of this challenge was to have talented individuals work together to create solutions to address the local and national opioid crisis, and now we can demonstrate that the investment in the Challenge was worth it,” said Borough President Oddo.
 
“The CAMTech Accelerator program and its support have allowed QuikReversal to achieve the foundational milestones necessary for gaining scientific viability, funding, and business validation. Since joining the CAMtech Accelerator, with the guidance its mentors, QuikReversal has managed to design user-based studies in collaboration with multiple universities, create valuable relationships with key partners, and most notably become named a Socail Venture Grand Winner in NYU’s $300k Entrepreneurship Challenge,” said Asher Varon, Team QuikReversal.
 
The idea for the challenge came from the BP’s Policy Team, who learned about a successful opioid “Hack-A-Thon” hosted by CAMTech in Boston in 2016. The Borough President’s office reached out to CAMTech and collaborated with them to create a similar event in New York City.
 
At the Solutions Sprint in September 2018, four teams received seed funding and three months of acceleration support leading up to Demo Day: Team Random Access Network (RAN) with the innovation to link individuals with certified peer advocates to meet patients at hospitals and treatment recovery centers; Team Recover-We for innovating a search engine chat to link individuals with prevention, treatment, and opioid recovery programs; Team QuikReversal for innovating a nasal patch that dispenses Narcan to prevent opioid overdose; and Team Addiction Recovery Kit (ARK) for innovating a kit that aggregates existing prevention, treatment, and recovery tools for hospitals, needle exchanges, detox centers, and rehab facilities.