Joint statement by Borough President Oddo, Congressman Max Rose, District Attorney Michael E. McMahon, Senator Diane Savino, Senator Andrew Lanza, Assemblyman Michael Cusick, Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis, Assemblyman Mike Reilly, Assemblyman Charles Fall, Councilman Steven Matteo, Councilman Joe Borelli, and Councilwoman Debi Rose in response to Mayor de Blasio’s announcement of a temporary reduction of Staten Island Ferry service, from four boats during rush hour to three in response to a 70% decrease in ridership due to the COVID-19 situation:
 
“Staten Island will do its part to be part of the solution, and to that end we will reluctantly understand these service reductions to the Staten Island Ferry during this crisis. But let us be very clear: we will never allow this, or any other administration, to undercut then Councilman Oddo's Local Law, which mandated half-hour service 24/7/365.
 
“Make no mistake, we are team players today and will be during this crisis, but we just do not trust the Department of Transportation. We know the history of this issue. They NEVER wanted to implement the second phase of the bill, which was originally enacted thanks to the work of former Council Speaker Chris Quinn, but was to be implemented by the de Blasio Administration.
 
“The transportation agency did not want to increase transportation options! In the end, it was the Mayor who overruled his own agency!  So forgive us for being vigilant, and for not trusting anyone or anything but our own perseverance.
 
“And let us say this: if any financial crisis carries on past the end of our terms, our successors will be just as rabid on the issue of transit equity as we are.”

Joint statement by Borough President Oddo, Congressman Max Rose, District Attorney Michael E. McMahon, Senator Diane Savino, Senator Andrew Lanza, Assemblyman Michael Cusick, Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis, Assemblyman Mike Reilly, Assemblyman Charles Fall, Councilman Steven Matteo, Councilman Joe Borelli, and Councilwoman Debi Rose:
 
“Following a meeting today at Borough Hall, we are calling on Mayor Bill de Blasio to close New York City Public Schools, grades 3-K through 12, for one week to allow for all school buildings to be completely sanitized and to allow for further assessment of the COVID-19 situation, to be reassessed at the end of that week. Essential to this plan is developing a program to allow for children who need shelter and food to be cared for during this time.
 
“In addition, we are reiterating our position on closing Senior Centers throughout the City to safeguard older adults who are in the high-risk category, pending an appropriate course of action to ensure safety and nutrition for all seniors in the program.”

On Tuesday, January 28, BP Oddo joined with Councilman Steve Matteo, NYC Parks Borough Commissioner Lynda Ricciardone, representatives from the School Construction Authority and the Department of Education, and students and staff from IS 51 to officially cut the ribbon on their new playground!
 
As BP Oddo stated at the ribbon-cutting, "this project really is an example of teamwork and coordination across city government." Thank you to everyone who made this project a reality!
​
This project -- jointly funded by Borough Hall, Matteo's office, Speaker Cory Johnson and Mayor Bill de Blasio -- includes a synthetic turf field with a painted track around it, new basketball courts and an area for outdoor classrooms.

 
The best news is there's money left over for phase two to renovate another portion of the playground! This phase is currently in design and final decisions have not been made about the amenities. Here are some of the recommendations for amenities that could be included in phase two:

Borough President James Oddo is pleased to announce that Child Mind Institute (CMI) – the children’s mental health facility which launched a groundbreaking research program on Staten Island called the Healthy Brain Network (HBN) back in 2015 – has obtained the financing necessary to maintain a presence on Staten Island thanks to funding provided by the de Blasio Administration.

This program collects information on how children think, feel, and learn, and also collects data from many sources (including, but not limited to, neuropsychological testing, IQ testing, EEGs and functional MRI scans) in order to create the largest biorepository of information on children's mental health. The goal is to identify new ways to diagnose and treat mental health disorders in children and adolescents, using a biological approach.

CMI/HBN on Staten Island was only funded for a five year period. Without further funding, its doors would have closed on Staten Island as originally planned, and they would have moved to their Harlem location, in order to focus on recruiting children and families from other boroughs. Staten Island was in danger of losing a unique and valuable resource that provides free, comprehensive mental health screenings and evaluations for our community. At the request of Borough President Oddo to Mayor de Blasio, City Hall agreed to fund the Child Mind Institute in order for them to continue to operate on Staten Island.

Borough President Oddo is also pleased to announce his office has been working closely with top administrators and the Department of Pediatrics at Richmond University Medical Center (RUMC) to enable the co-location of CMI/HBN at their outpatient pediatric ambulatory center.

“As you can imagine, had we lost these valuable services it would have left a huge gap in our community, since it is highly unlikely that many – or any – of our families would have traveled to Harlem for twelve hours of screening. The methods we used to obtain this funding from City Hall were extensive and varied, and in the end the Mayor came through,” said Borough President James Oddo. “Mental health and learning disorders are real, common and treatable, but the majority of children don’t get the care they need. The number of children screened through the CMI/HBN represents not just the children who received needed evaluations, but also their families who were searching for answers. Far too many children and adolescents simply don’t get the treatment they need, which is why we did whatever it took in order to help obtain funding to continue their important work right here on Staten Island.

“Reading Dr. Warren Farrell’s book ‘The Boy Crisis’ reaffirmed our belief in the importance of fighting for these resources and strengthened our resolve to not allow this critical work to come to an end. Councilman Joe Borelli, an early supporter of our Boy Crisis work, stepped up to be the City Council sponsor for this money in the recently adopted city budget. Thanks must also go to Emma Wolfe, Chief of Staff to the Mayor, without whose behind the scenes work and support this would not have happened.”

“In New York City, we recognize that there is no health without mental health. Failing to invest in diagnosis and treatment for kids means missed opportunities to improve people’s lives early on. I applaud Borough President Oddo’s commitment to the mental health of Staten Islanders and am glad to know kids and their families will continue having a much-needed resource to get the screenings and help they need,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio.

“I’m so glad we were able to ensure that the Child Mind Institute remains on Staten Island. The free screenings provided by this program have been positively affecting the lives of thousands of children and their parents over the last 5 years. Too often, we have to travel and endure long commutes with our children because of a lack of available local resources,” said City Councilmember Joe Borelli, “the funding BP Oddo and I were able to secure will keep this resource right here and available to our community.”

In just under five years on Staten Island, the CMI/HBN has provided FREE mental health and learning evaluations as well as language screens to over 2,000 children ages 5-21 on Staten Island. Of those children, 48% children enrolled in the HBN were diagnosed for the first time during their participation. All families who enrolled in this study were given comprehensive feedback reports and a one-on-one session to discuss their child's results with the licensed clinician who conducted the evaluation.
​
The work of the CMI on Staten Island doesn’t end with the HBN. When our office asked the CMI to help identify other ways to integrate mental health care into primary care, the CMI launched a unique pilot providing pediatricians in our borough with an easy to use iPad screening tool for use during well visits. The tool allows pediatricians to easily screen their patients for behavioral, emotional, and other complex mental health issues that require attention and is currently offered in both English and Spanish. Over 2,000 parents and children have completed this screening tool thus far with 11.8% of patients meeting levels of clinical concern for emotional problems, 8.9% for ADHD, and 6.9% for eating disorders. A staggering 4.8% reported suicidal ideation, and 11.9% reported being the victim of bullying.

Borough President James Oddo has issued the following statement regarding the Bay Street Corridor Re-zoning Plan. As part of the Uniform Land Use Review Process regarding the Re-zoning Plan, Borough President Oddo issued a formal ‘Disapproval With Modifications’ response.

“For five years, Borough Hall has attempted to inject some common sense into the de Blasio Administration’s plan for affordable housing on Staten Island.  Their strategy, which will add thousands of new residents to the North Shore in mid- and hi-rise buildings along the Bay Street Corridor, will provide little in the way of corresponding services. 

“We have tried to make them see this issue through the single most important prism to Staten Islanders: infrastructure and the diminishment of our quality of life when our infrastructure is resoundingly insufficient.  It’s a reality we experience in various ways on a daily basis – because of a void in the farsightedness of past leaders.

“In recent months we have aggressively used social media to express facts, concerns, and realities on the ground, and we even used a good dose of ‘reductio ad absurdum’ to ensure the Administration and the local Council Member did right by this borough. They have come up short, which means we at Borough Hall have missed the mark, and the people of Staten Island, both current and future residents, are worse off for it.

“For all this density and the infrastructure challenges that most certainly will come with it, what are we really getting? Well, we seem to have a commitment to pay off an existing debt to Staten Island -- the Cromwell Center and a new school at the Hungerford site – and projects created long ago by the Bloomberg Administration, which heretofore have remained unfulfilled during the current administration, i.e. waterfront plans.

“Peel back the onion a bit and take away the $92 million for the Cromwell Center, which we were promised anyway; the tens of millions for the Hungerford site, which would have been allocated anyway; the $39 million from FEMA for the esplanade, which was expected anyway; and well, that onion will indeed make you cry.  Cry for the opportunities missed, for the shirking of responsibility by the agencies, for their refusal to do the hard work, for how let down Staten Islanders have been, and for the looming specter that what could have been a transformative moment in our history is now likely to go sideways.

“What you won’t see in this re-zoning announcement is as critically important as what you do see.  You won’t see any genuine effort to stop the already awful traffic and transit reality from getting exponentially worse, let alone being mitigated to some degree.  At this point, why not call in Staten Island’s old ‘friend,’ former NYC DOT Commissioner Janet Sadik Khan, and have her make the entire stretch of Bay Street a pedestrian plaza?  Because with tens of thousands of people added to this corridor as a result of this re-zoning, commuting or traveling by vehicle will certainly be painful, and maybe even pointless.

“What was done today was a repeat of the lack of planning that has plagued Staten Island ever since the opening of the Verrazzano Bridge. Today’s decision makers, just like our counterparts of decades ago, will have the benefit of being long gone when the byproducts of their shortsightedness manifest themselves. 
​
“As bitterly disappointed as I am, the harsher arbiter will be time.”

​On Tuesday, September 11th, hundred joined us for our annual 9/11 Memorial Ceremony at the Postcards Memorial to remember those we lost 17 years ago.

​This year, we also paid special tribute to the First Responders who gave their lives by heroically toiling in and around Ground Zero in those fateful days, months, and even years after that terrible day. Their names are inscribed on a memorial adjacent to the Postcards memorial, which was dedicated last year.
 
In addition to BP Oddo, speakers included Mayor Bill de Blasio, Lt. Governor Kathy Hochul, and City Council Speaker Corey Johnson. Rev. Timothy Mercaldo, Jenna Flynn, Alison Madill, Arlette Roxburgh, and the P.S. 29 Chorus performed special musical tributes. Family members read the names of those we lost on 9/11 as well as the First Responders who have passed since due to their work at Ground Zero.
 
“Seventeen years ago, our lives changed forever. We will never forget those we lost that day, and it is my honor to continue to hold this ceremony dedicated to remembering those who were taken from us far too soon,” said BP Oddo. “This year, we also acknowledge the memory and sacrifice of our First Responders. Together, we remember all those we lost. We hope you take this ceremony as a small measure of comfort.”
 
Special thanks to FDNY, NYPD, US Coast Guard, US Army, Fred Ariemma, the Staten Island Yankees, Michael Black, Staten Island Pipers, Susan Wagner High School JROTC, Tottenville High School, NYC EDC, and all the performers for their work to make the evening so meaningful.
 
You can watch a tribute to those we lost below:

Borough President James Oddo has joined with the de Blasio Administration to announce a partnership that will bring a new program aimed at addressing high blood pressure to barbershops along the North Shore of Staten Island.
 
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 in particular have a significantly higher rate of hypertension than white men. Under the program, New York City’s Health and Mental Hygiene department will work with BP Oddo to address the high blood pressure rates among African American men.
 
Individuals in communities with high health disparities have historically struggled to access care. One way experts have sought to overcome this challenge is by partnering with community spaces to conduct outreach. One program BP Oddo is familiar with is the Men’s Health Initiative, led by Dr. Joseph Ravenell at NYU’s Langone Health. The program has brought 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. The proposed Staten Island program would reflect Dr. Ravenell’s program.
 
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. The TED Talk can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6zkeyM0D2s
  
BP Oddo invited Dr. Ravenell to Borough Hall for a meeting with his staff and local clergy in early June to talk about replicating the program on Staten Island.
 
“High blood pressure can lead to fatal consequences if left unchecked, and unfortunately, so many African American men don’t even know they have it,” said BP Oddo. “After reading about the issue, I became incredibly interested in Dr. Ravenell’s program and worked with my staff to figure out how we could replicate it successfully on Staten Island. I’m pleased that the Administration has joined with us to bring this program to life on the North Shore. I hope this program allows African American men in our community to learn more about the issue and take control of their health. Thank you to Dr. Ravenell for working with us to bring this innovative program to Staten Island.”
 
“High blood pressure is a leading cause of heart disease and stroke – New York City’s top killers,” said Health Commissioner Dr. Mary T. Bassett. “High blood pressure is a common and dangerous condition that impacts an estimated 1.8  million New Yorkers. The Health Department recently launched a coalition of over 100 stakeholders focused on reducing the burden of high blood pressure citywide. I applaud Borough President Oddo and Mayor de Blasio for their attention to raising awareness of this condition among Staten Island residents.”

​On Staten Island, the number of hospitalizations related to hypertension are higher than other boroughs. The neighborhoods of St. George/Stapleton and Port Richmond have higher rates of hospitalization for high blood pressure than the city overall.