 Borough President Vito Fossella addressed the negative impacts the congestion pricing plan will have on Staten Island’s air quality, particularly on the North Shore where the rate of chronic respiratory illnesses are among the highest in the city.
“Make no mistake, this congestion pricing plan will not only cost you $23 to drive to Manhattan, but it will increase our traffic and further foul our already polluted air for the rest of our lives and the lives of our children and our grandchildren,’’ said Borough President Fossella during a press conference in Port Richmond, nearly a week after he announced plans to file a lawsuit against congestion pricing. He was joined at the press conference by Sen. Jessica Scarcella-Spanton; Council Member Kamillah Hanks; Queens Assemblyman David Weprin; Dr. Philip Otterbeck, Chairman of the Department of Medicine at Richmond University Medical Center; Dr. Nicole Berwald, Medical Director at Staten Island Univeristy Hospital; the Rev. Dr. Tony Baker, pastor of St. Philips Baptist Church, and neighborhood residents. Borough President Fossella likened the health effects to those caused by the Fresh Kills landfill, which opened in 1948. He cited a federal government study which projects that "Staten Island's poor air quality will be worse, not just now, but until 2045 and beyond" due to the congestion pricing plan. “We’re here today because there’s a new group that has a new plan, which is the same as the old plan – congestion pricing," he said. "From 1948 to 2045, this new group wants to add insult to injury, intentionally polluting Staten Island’s air for a century. We won’t get fooled again.” The numbers in Port Richmond, he said, speak for themselves: From 2015 to 2017, the asthma hospitalizations among adults were worse compared to the NYC average and the rest of Staten Island; asthma hospitalizations among children under the age of 18 were worse compared to the NYC average and the rest of Staten Island; asthma ER emergency department visits among adults ages and 18 and older were worse compared to the NYC average and the rest of Staten Island, and respiratory hospitalization in adults aged 20 years and older were worse compared to the NYC average and the rest of Staten Island. “In a borough where we’ve grown up with the environmental injustice of having what was the largest garbage dump in the world, it’s disheartening that my patients should have to suffer with the increase of environmental toxins associated with congestion pricing,” said Dr. Otterbeck, an endocrinologist. On July 23, Borough President Fossella announced he was laying the foundations to file a lawsuit against congestion pricing. “In public policy, political decisions are often made that weigh the costs and benefits -- and the bottom line for people who live on Staten Island is there are no benefits to this congestion pricing plan,” during the air quality press conference. Borough President Vito Fossella Announces Inaugural Borough President's Pickleball Tournament Cup7/26/2023
 As the sport grows in popularity, Borough President Vito Fossella announced that the inaugural Borough President’s Pickleball Cup Tournament will be played on Oct. 7 and Oct. 8 at the College of Staten Island. “We all know how pickleball is exploding across the country, but especially here on Staten Island,” said Borough President Fossella during a press conference at CSI this morning. “We want this tournament to be as fun, as exciting and as enjoyable as possible.” The tournament will feature two days of mixed doubles, as well as women’s doubles and men’s doubles. Participants of any age or level can play. You can sign up as an individual or as a team. And, it offers the chance to compete on the national level. The Borough President’s Cup is part of the DUPR Waterfall Tournament, which features a “a new and innovative format that offers players 4 scheduled matches within a 4-hour period.” “It will be nonstop, one game after the other -- it’s going to be super exciting,” said Marni Chua, who is a USA Pickleball Ambassador for Staten Island, along with her husband, Ben. The two founded the Fairview Pickleballers at Fairview Park in Charleston. The winning team of each bracket in the Borough President’s Cup will receive a Platinum Ticket to play in the Road to Oasis, Waterfall Nationals, from Oct. 12 to Oct. 15 in Rockwall, Texas. Pickleball is a combination of tennis, badminton and ping-pong. In June, Borough President Fossella played pickleball when he helped cut the ribbon on the borough’s newest courts at Sklyline Playground in New Brighton. This week, students from St. Clare’s School visited Borough Hall as part of a Summer Scavenger Hunt. When Vito asked how they have been spending their summer, they said they are playing pickleball. “We are going to continue to look for and identify areas to build new pickleball courts across Staten Island to meet the demand,” said Borough President Fossella. “It’s nice to know that younger people are getting into the game -- and we need to prepare for that. This sport brings people together at all different levels and I think that’s one of the reasons why pickleball has grown so much.” Register for the Borough President’s Pickleball Cup Tournament by scanning the QR code on the flyer below above or by visiting mydupr.com. To register, you must have a DUPR account.  Borough President Vito Fossella announced that he is laying the foundation for a lawsuit against the entities responsible for the implementation of congestion pricing. “We're here to stand up and be the voice of many across Staten Island, and I believe across the state, and not to mention the region, to put the brakes on the so-called congestion pricing plan,” said Borough President Fossella during a press conference on the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Boardwalk in South Beach –- the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge in the background. “We say so-called because we believe congestion pricing is really a fancy way of calling this plan what it really is and that’s a ‘driving tax’ on individuals who already paid to build and maintain the roads.” His announcement was made following a lawsuit filed by New Jersey against the U.S. Department of Justice on Friday. He spoke with Randy Mastro, the attorney who filed the lawsuit on behalf of New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy. “We hope that New Jersey is successful in its efforts, regardless we plan to bring our own lawsuit to address this congestion pricing plan,” he said. The congestion pricing plan will cost drivers between $9 to $23 to enter Manhattan below 60th Street and is expected to generate $15 billion over four years for MTA improvements. “As many of you know, we don’t even have a subway system,” said Borough President Fossella. “So, here we are a car-dependent community that has been left out of every major decision the MTA has laid out over the last 50-plus years and now we’re forced to pay another toll." He said residents of Staten Island, as well Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx, “will be treated as tourists in this city and not as equal citizens.” The “driving tax” also comes with negative environmental impacts, he said, citing a federal government report that states “the air quality will get worse as a result of this plan.” “You’d have to be a first-class idiot to support any plan that intentionally hurts your neighbors, and your constituents, both from a financial and environmental perspective,” said Borough President Fossella.   After fires at two lithium-ion battery energy storage units in Warwick, N.Y., smoldered for days last month, Borough President Vito Fossella gathered with his fellow elected officials to point out the dangers of those already built or those that are under construction on Staten Island.
“As many folks who have driven around Staten Island have come to realize in a negative way is that there are battery storage units that are popping up,” said Borough President Fossella during a press conference this morning in Great Kills where a site is under construction. "The reality is that we’re seeing that these battery storage units are being plopped right next to people’s homes, right next to their stores -- and momentarily right next to a future house of worship. We think it’s wrong. Recently in Warwick, we saw an identical situation that could be happening right behind us. There were a lot of folks who said don’t be concerned, but what happened in Warwick is Exhibit A that we should be concerned and safety should be our number one priority. Anybody who owns a home shouldn’t have to go into their backyard and see these things just a few feet from their deck or their pool -- and these things are not going away anytime soon.” To that end, Borough President Fossella announced that Council Members Joseph Borelli, David Carr and Kamillah Hanks will be introducing legislation that would require the facilities to be built at least 200-feet from any home or store. The fire in Warick was a storm-related issue that caused two new units to ignite and burn in two separate incidents on June 26, Council Member Borelli said. Council Member Borelli said a compromise needs to be worked out with city authorities to address the makeup of the battery storage systems, where they can be sited and how far they can be from residential neighborhoods. “These are actual dangers that aren’t being addressed,” said Council Member Borelli, who has been open-minded about new energy sources for Staten Island. “If water can get into the system and cause a fire that can smolder for a week in Warwick, N.Y., it can happen here.”  Borough President Vito Fossella welcomed Taxi & Limousine Chief of Operations Anthony Moran into Borough Hall yesterday to commend him on his quick-thinking and heroic actions which saved the life of a motorist in distress on the Staten Island Expressway on June 22.
Using his training and intuition as a former probation officer, along with the help of bystander, Mr. Moran immediately jumped into high gear by grabbing a hammer from his car, smashing the rear window, pulling the driver from his SUV and immediately administering CPR. Without a moment’s hesitation for his own safety, he averted what could have been a tragedy. In the days of a 24/7 news cycle and viral social media posts, Borough President Vito Fossella said bystanders will often choose to use their cellphones to record incidents, whether good or bad, rather than stepping in to help. Then, there are people like Mr. Moran. “You always hope there is a knight in shining armor, somebody who will jump into action to save a life and do something heroic,” said Borough President Fossella. “There are a lot of options you can take when you see something like that, but this man did what we hope everybody would do if our loved one was in that type of accident. So, we wanted to call attention to it and highlight it in a world of bad news that we have heroes among us, there are people who do the right thing. On behalf of half-million people on Staten Island, we want to say that we appreciate what you did and we respect you for it.” Mr. Moran described his actions with humility. He was flagged down by a woman on the Staten Island Expressway, near Bradley Avenue, who told him there was a man unresponsive in a car up ahead. With the car still in drive, Anthony broke the window, put it in park, pulled him out and began chest compressions. “Within two to three minutes of starting CPR, he started to cough and to sit up,” said Mr. Moran. “We told him to hang in there.” Later that night, Mr. Moran received a call from the driver’s father saying his son was recovering and thanked him for saving his son’s life. The driver recounted that he was allergic to dairy and grabbed a power drink at the gym that he didn’t realize contained dairy as an ingredient. He remembers blacking out and waking up in the hospital. It was in the hospital that he learned about how his life was saved. “I can’t believe someone actually did this for me and they don’t even know me,” he said. “Humanity is amazing. I can’t even express how grateful I am to you just for being there in the right time and the right place and stopping what you had to do that day. We all live a busy life, but what you did for me that day really means a lot and I hope whoever sees this can still have faith in humanity and understand that there are people out there like you.”  Borough President Vito Fossella congratulated the eight players from the Park Hill Youth Soccer Team for bringing home the trophy in the citywide 2023 New York City Soccer Initiative Community Cup Tournament.
“We read something very positive that you guys did in the city championship -- and we thought it would be nice to say congratulations,” said Borough President Fossella as he welcomed the players, their coaches and their parents into his Borough Hall office. These are our Staten Island champs:
The Park Hill team shutout Chinatown, 5-0, in the tournament which was played at the Triborough Bridge Playground in Queens on Sunday, July 2. “It was intimidating, challenging and rewarding, but it was fun, not only because we won, but because we tried our hardest,” said Juan Gonzalez. Coach Michael Fakih said the team returned to the tournament this year after taking a loss last year. “It was pretty hard for us, but we told them we are going back to get some revenge and put Staten Island on the map and we did just that,” said Coach Michael Fakih. “It was very nice.” Vito commended the team for not giving up. “This is an important life lesson,” Vito said. “Last year, you got beaten badly and one option is to give up, but like your coaches said, ‘try harder, try better’ and even though you were intimidated and afraid, you brought the trophy home. The point is you didn’t give up. We're very proud of you. You put Staten Island on the map like you set out to do. We hope you have a great summer.” |
