Borough President is ready to coordinate years of case-making on inconsistent enforcement and decades of non-complying private street development that pummeled unsuspecting residents’ quality of life

Borough President James S. Oddo has partnered with City Council Minority Leader Steven Matteo and the NYC Council to eliminate the creation of new private streets on Staten Island.
 
Today, Council Member Matteo will introduce a bill, drafted by Borough Hall in consultation with Council staff and Councilman Matteo, that will sound the long-awaited death knell for poorly-designed private streets that have hampered quality of life and threatened public safety throughout the borough for more than half a century. The Borough President believes this local law will universally address all related concerns and eliminate private roads from the palette of loopholes utilized to pack the borough with gloomy, inappropriate overdevelopment.
 
After decades of effort and countless years of meetings, letters, lawsuits and finger-pointing, Borough President Oddo summed up his tireless efforts: “Let’s say we’re going back to the future. We have come to a point in time where we should only focus on what we need to do to make it right for Staten Island. 
 
“This local law will reinforce compliance with State and City statutes, consistency with the administration of the law, and bolster the quality of life for the residents of the Borough.
 
“Staten Island has stumbled through the last 50 years trying to address growth spurts, continuing quality of life issues, ownership and traffic disputes, and a distinction between roads that are privately owned and those that we actually can perform public street improvements on. It is never too late to preserve the quality of life for those continuing to call Staten Island their home.
 
“Let’s move on from the traffic congestion, utility and infrastructure complications, unchecked storm runoff flooding adjoining properties, and the surcharging of undersized city sewer and water mains.”
 
"The bills introduced today aim to address long-standing issues regarding  private streets," noted Council Member Matteo. "I look forward to working with all stakeholders with the goal of creating a clearer and ultimately better process for street construction which will help ensure all roads in our borough are built to proper standards and regularly maintained."
 
The following highlights the provisions of the proposed local law:

• Private Streets will no longer be permitted for new borough developments. Streets will have to go through a street mapping process which is subject to the city’s Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) with input from the public, community boards and elected officials. The design will also be scrutinized and approved by city agencies having jurisdiction before permits can be issued and construction begins:

​All new streets will:
 
+  Be placed on the city map which identifies streets adopted by the city
+  Be open to the public
+  Be fully accessible for immediate emergency response to your main front entrance
+  Conform to all standards for city streets, making them safer than private streets
+  Require regular curbs, sidewalks and crosswalks
+  Have city fire hydrants, lighting and signage
+  Have independent mail delivery to mailboxes
+  Be routinely maintained by city agencies when the developer elects to deed the street area to the city including: independent refuse pick-up, snow plowing, street lighting and electricity, street tree  maintenance, fire hydrants, and where applicable, even sewers.
+ Not require the formation of a Homeowner’s Association for the road, which can be deeded as a city street. This means the property owners will not have to shoulder the burden of taxes on the street area
+  For the first time ever, require a construction permit from the Department of Buildings (DOB)
+ Be memorialized on filed paperwork and certificates of occupancy so a potential homebuyer will be    able to distinguish the services provided that is not available on private streets 
+ Include defined easements for utilities
 
Owners of existing private streets will be required to:
 
+ Maintain the surface of all roads to Department of Transportation (DOT) standards 
+ Maintain and enforce all signage, house numbering, and approved parking locations and restrictions, for  the safe delivery of emergency services
+ Remove ice and snow from streets and sidewalks based on specific city guidelines
+ Respond to violations issued by DOT for non-compliance
+ Pay individual monthly civil penalties for non-compliance that are not corrected  

Program will address high blood pressure concern among African American men in barbershops along the North Shore of Staten Island

​Borough President James Oddo announced today ‘Take the Pressure Off Staten Island’ (TPO SI), a pilot program offered within barbershops in an effort to increase the awareness and treatment of high blood pressure among black men in our community, will officially begin at Against da Grain Barber Shop (206 Bay Street) this weekend. TPO SI is a program offered through a partnership with the City Health Department and Dr. Joseph Ravenell, an expert in the field of hypertension, along with community partners.
 
The launch of the program will take place on August 8th from 12pm to 4pm and will also provide the opportunity to receive COVID-19 diagnostic testing through NYC Health + Hospitals. TPO SI will be expanded to Executive Cuts Barber Shop (382 Bay Street) in the coming weeks.  
 
High blood pressure, or hypertension, is often referred to as the “silent killer” because it may not show symptoms before causing a heart attack or stroke. Hypertension is a leading cause of heart disease and stroke among New Yorkers; more than one in four adult New Yorkers is diagnosed with high blood pressure. In New York City, the prevalence of hypertension is 1.5 times higher among African American adults than white adults, and African American men have a significantly higher rate of hypertension than white men. Individuals in communities with high health disparities have historically struggled to access care.
 
On Staten Island, the number of hospitalizations related to hypertension are higher than other boroughs. St. George/Stapleton ranks in the top ten neighborhoods in the City for hypertension hospitalizations and heart disease.
 
“From the first moment I saw Dr. Ravenell’s TED Talk about how barbershops could be used to help address hypertension among black men, Borough Hall has been working to set up a pilot program could replicate it on Staten Island. As we have heard government express such dismay at health disparities of COVID impacts across the city, we are grateful to be at this point in our effort to team up with Dr. Ravenell to expand his brilliantly simple yet effective plan of using barbershops to address tragically high hypertension rates among black men. The "Silent Killer" is wreaking havoc on Staten Island, too,” said Borough President James Oddo. “Going for a haircut has always been thought of - and rightly so - as contributing to a neat and clean appearance.  But now there is something more to it:  for some folks, it may be contributing to a longer life.”
 
Dr. Ravenell started a Men’s Health Initiative at NYU’s Langone Health to address high blood pressure by bringing together a diverse group of research assistants, community health workers, and volunteers—including barbers—to barbershops in various neighborhoods across New York City to take blood pressure readings of African American men and connect those who are at risk of hypertension with medical care. The results of the program show a significant improvement in blood pressure among barbershop customers who participated.
 
BP Oddo first discovered Dr. Joseph Ravenell’s work while reading “Who Can You Trust?” by Rachel Botsman. He subsequently watched Dr. Ravenell’s TED Talk on African American men and high blood pressure which detailed the barbershop pilot program. BP Oddo invited Dr. Ravenell to Borough Hall for a meeting with his staff and local clergy in June 2018 to talk about replicating the program on Staten Island. Over the past two years, Borough President Oddo and Dr. Ravenell have worked cohesively to replicate this program for Staten Island.