The following text is from Governor Cuomo Office's Press Release dated 11/4/2019.

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced that Staten Island will receive $10 million in funding as the New York City Region winner of the fourth round of the Downtown Revitalization Initiative. As in the first three rounds of the DRI, one municipality from each of the state's 10 regional economic development regions is selected as a $10 million winner, marking another overall state goal to target $100 million in funding and investments to help communities boost their economies by transforming downtowns into vibrant neighborhoods where the next generation of New Yorkers will want to live, work and raise a family.
  
"Staten Island's downtown has made significant strides fostering business and tourism opportunities, and this investment will help further uplift this historic community," Governor Cuomo said. "Staten Island holds a special place in the story of New York City, and we look forward to seeing it continue to flourish in this next chapter."
 
"Staten Island is undergoing an economic renaissance, and our Downtown Revitalization Initiative capitalizes on the booming North Shore community," said Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul. "With this targeted investment, Staten Island will be able to continue turning the North Shore into a world-class tourist, retail and dining destination. The DRI is part of our ongoing strategy to create a brighter economic future across all of New York State and transform our communities into even better places to live, work and do business."
 
Staten Island
 
Staten Island's downtown core is the gateway to Staten Island for both visitors and residents. It provides prominent civic, commercial, and cultural assets connected by the central Bay Street Corridor running from the Staten Island Ferry Terminal and historic St. George neighborhood to the rapidly developing Stapleton area. As the fastest-growing area in Staten Island, the neighborhood is on the cusp of a new era: business incubators and breweries are joining historic tourist destinations and an established civic center in bringing foot traffic to downtown streets, waterfront and mixed-used developments are creating a renaissance on the North Shore, and an unprecedented demand for businesses to locate downtown is transforming the suburban enclave into an expanding hub of economic activity. The DRI award will enable Staten Island to capitalize on this recent and rapid growth and focus development efforts on creating a connected world-class tourist, retail, and dining destination.
 
The New York City Regional Economic Development Council went through a competitive review process of proposals from communities throughout the region and considered all seven criteria below before recommending Staten Island as its nominee for winner:

• The downtown should be compact, with well-defined boundaries;
• The downtown is able to capitalize on prior or catalyze future private and public investment in the neighborhood and its surrounding areas;
• There should be recent or impending job growth within, or in close proximity to the downtown that can attract workers to the downtown, support redevelopment and make growth sustainable;
• The downtown must be an attractive and livable community for diverse populations of all ages, including existing residents, millennials and skilled workers;
• The municipality should already embrace or have the ability to create and implement policies that increase livability and quality of life, including the use of local land banks, modern zoning codes and parking standards, complete streets plans, energy efficient projects, green jobs, and transit-oriented development;
• The municipality should have conducted an open and robust community engagement process resulting in a vision for downtown revitalization and a preliminary list of projects and initiatives that may be included in a DRI strategic investment plan; and
• The municipality has identified transformative projects that will be ready for implementation with an infusion of DRI funds within the first one to two years.

 
Staten Island's fourth-round DRI win entitles the city to receive $10 million in state funding and investments to revitalize its downtown neighborhoods and generate new opportunities for long-term growth. Staten Island now joins Jamaica, the Bronx, and Downtown Brooklyn, which were the New York City Region's winners in the first three DRI rounds, respectively. 

Staten Island Borough President James Oddo said, "Thank you to Governor Cuomo for selecting Staten Island as the NYC Region winner of this Downtown Revitalization Initiative. Staten Island's most impactful successes have come about via genuine collaborations, and this victory is no different.  I am proud to have brought the Staten Island Chamber of Commerce and SIEDC together to work on this exciting project, a project that will allow us to continue to transform Downtown Staten Island in a big way. Staten Island has so much to offer both tourists and locals alike - from history, to food, to experiences, to shopping. We have it all and the whole world is starting to get the message."

Staten Island will now begin the process of developing a Strategic Investment Plan to revitalize its downtown with up to $300,000 in planning funds from the $10 million DRI grant. A Local Planning Committee made up of municipal representatives, community leaders, and other stakeholders will lead the effort, supported by a team of private sector experts and state planners. The Strategic Investment Plan for downtown Staten Island will examine local assets and opportunities and identify economic development, transportation, housing, and community projects that align with the community's vision for downtown revitalization and that are poised for implementation. The downtown Staten Island Strategic Investment Plan will guide the investment of DRI grant funds in revitalization projects that will advance the community's vision for its downtown and that can leverage and expand upon the state's $10 million investment. Plans for the DRI's fourth round will be complete in 2020.

For more information on the Downtown Revitalization Initiative, go to: www.ny.gov/programs/downtown-revitalization-initiative.

On Wednesday October 23rd, Borough President Oddo joined at Staten Island University Hospital for the Topping Off Ceremony of the hospital’s new power plant.
 
Ground was broken in September 2018 for the 12,600-square-foot facility, which is seated 18 feet above mean sea level and 2 feet above the 500-year flood level, in conformance with FEMA’s flood elevation requirements. Once the entire flood mitigation project is completed by the end of 2020, the power plant will replace the hospital’s original utility plant, constructed in 1977 at seven feet above mean sea level on the hospital’s north site.
 
“We made so many mistakes but it is wonderful to be a part of something that we did right” said BP Oddo, thanking two great partners in government for their partnership on pushing to get this project to become reality in the wake of Sandy, Assemblyman Michael Cusick and Senator Andrew Lanza. When Sandy struck Staten Island in 2012, water surrounded the hospital’s electrical power plant. Had it been completely flooded, the facility would have gone black.
 
Funding for the project came from a $28 million appropriation acquired by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio through the Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development Community Development Block Grant Program’s Disaster Relief Fund and a $12 million award by New York State Gov. Andrew Cuomo under the Federal Emergency Management Agency Hazard Mitigation Grant Program.
 
The Gruppuso Family Women and Newborn Center will expand newborn care on Staten Island in a state-of-the-art facility. The center is scheduled to open in early 2022.

Over the weekend of September 28-30, Borough President James Oddo joined with 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 to host the Empire State Opioid Epidemic Innovation Challenge at Columbia University.
 
The goal of the weekend was to serve as an open-innovation platform for a diverse community to co-create solutions that have the potential to change the trajectory of the local and national opioid crisis. 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.

Kicking off the event, BP Oddo spoke about the local impact of the opioid crisis on the Staten Island community. Other speakers included Lt. Governor Kathy Hochul, OASAS Commissioner Arlene González-Sánchez, Dr. Ram Raju of Northwell Health, First Deputy New York City Police Commissioner Benjamin Tucker, and District Attorney Michael McMahon. In addition, those in recovery and family members who lost loved ones to addiction spoke about their personal experiences. Representatives from Google and CVS Health joined a panel discussion on what large companies can do to help fight this epidemic.

As part of the challenge, 12 multi-disciplinary teams were formed—composed of engineers, data experts, social workers, clinicians, and other professionals. The teams worked over the weekend to develop, finalize, and pitch their innovations with the help of subject-matter experts—representing government, hospitals, public health, business, first responders, and the treatment community—who made themselves available to offer mentorship. Each team gave a three-minute pitch on Sunday afternoon to the panel of judges.
 
Here are the winning entries:
 
Grand Prize: Team RAN won the $2,000 Empire State Opioid Epidemic Innovation Award. RAN links individuals with certified peer advocates to meet patients at hospitals and treatment recovery centers.
 
Northwell Health Innovation Award: Team Recover We won $1,500 for innovating a Google chat to link individuals with prevention, treatment, and opioid recovery programs.

CAMTech Innovation Award: Team Quick Reversal won $1,500 for innovating a nasal patch that dispenses Narcan to prevent opioid overdose.

Honorable Mention: Team ARK won $500 for innovating a kit that aggregates existing prevention, treatment, and recovery tools for hospitals, needle exchanges, detox centers, and rehab facilities.

“I’m so pleased to see this event come to life and be such a success. We recruited talented individuals with hard-to-find skill sets to help us add options to the toolkit we use to tackle the opioid epidemic. We are eager to see how these promising innovations progress and hope to apply the best of them on Staten Island,” said BP Oddo. “Thanks again to the Governor’s Office, NYS OASAS, Northwell Health, Columbia University’s Public Health and Engineering Schools—and most importantly our organizing entity that made this all possible—CAMTech at Massachussets General Hospital, for working with us to turn this idea into reality.”

The challenge continues at Demo Day on January 31st, where all 12 teams will have the opportunity to compete for a $10,000 prize. Each team will have four months to develop their ideas, bring their innovations to life, and perfect their pitches.

On Thursday, October 19th, BP Oddo joined with City Council Member Joe Borelli, NYSDOT Regional Director Sonia Pichardo and other NYSDOT officials to announce the completion of the new sidewalks on Drumgoole Road West between Lenevar Avenue and Bloomingdale Road.

Since the completion of Bloomingdale Park, a glaring omission has been the lack of sidewalks along the service road. The completion of this decade-long project has been much anticipated. After a meeting at Borough Hall in the summer of 2016, New York State DOT agreed to build the sidewalks to make this area safer. 

The project began in June and is now complete. This sidewalk will aid access to Bloomingdale Park and improve safety for Staten Islanders.

"The Governor and State DOT are 'walking the walk' on this much needed safety improvement, and now Staten Islanders can walk more safely,” said Borough President Jim Oddo. “They heard our plea for assistance and they acted, and their action will directly help seniors, runners and cyclists, those pushing baby strollers, and everyday Staten Islanders out for a stroll to the park. Thank you for 'doing' and helping!"

"Increasing New Yorkers' mobility and ease of travel is a top priority of this administration," Governor Andrew Cuomo said. "Projects like the sidewalk upgrades on Staten Island are key to improving the safety for both pedestrians and motorists, and by making it easier for residents to walk, run and bike, we are improving the quality of life for all Staten Islanders."
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This sidewalk construction was part of the State’s $5.4 million project to make safety improvements and ease traffic flow at the parkway’s interchange.