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!
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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 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.

Over 400 people attended a Forest Ecology Forum on Tuesday, November 19 at the College of Staten Island to hear presentations on severe damage to the health of Staten Island’s thousands of acres of woodlands, caused primarily by deer.
 
The Borough President and the New York State DEC held this forum to raise awareness about the impacts deer are having on native vegetation and forest animals, and also the broader issue that our forests are ecosystems with interdependent roles for native plants and wildlife.
 
The DEC has documented the damage on Staten Island by over-browsing of deer to the point where few new trees are surviving past the seedling stage. Oak trees, for example, were heavily browsed. With no new trees growing, the future of our Greenbelt and other forests is at risk.
 
Evidence was also presented about how deer over-browsing on native plants and berries on the forest floor can collapse the woodland ecosystem and invite unwanted invasive species of plants. We can halt this rapidly growing threat, but we are running out of time.
 
Many of the 400 attendees were members of Protectors of Pine Oak Woods and the Greenbelt Conservancy, two of Staten Island’s leading conservation organizations. Also in attendance were students and teachers from Staten Island schools and many concerned citizens.  This was the first major briefing for Staten Islanders on this topic.
 
We were fortunate to have three experts present their work at the forum. Dr. William McShea, Research Ecologist from the Smithsonian Institute’s Conservation Ecology Center, spoke about the pressures on forests in the entire Northeast/Mid-Atlantic from overpopulation by white-tailed deer, which reach unhealthy densities as natural predators like bears, cougars and wolves have been removed from ecosystems. 
 
Dr. Susan Elbin, NYC Audubon Director of Conservation and Science, followed with a presentation focused on the impacts on forest birds when native plants are over-browsed and supplanted with invasive species.
 
Ken Scarlatelli, NYS DEC Regional Natural Resources Supervisor, provided field evidence on the effects of over-browsing by deer in Staten Island’s forests – particularly on State lands. To view the PowerPoint presentations given by the listed presenters, please visit our website here.
 
The Borough President put together this forest ecology forum to educate and inspire Staten Islanders to join our call for action. To make a change, Staten Island residents who care about forests need to be active voices in future management decisions.
 
At the Forum, Borough President Oddo stated that we collectively want to hear ideas on addressing the problem: “I publicly have stated that I support a highly managed and monitored cull which is the only way to immediately and humanely reduce the deer population – an approach that is done effectively throughout New York State and the Northeast…but I also invited Staten Islanders to offer alternatives that will help reduce the deer population to safe levels and protect the forests.”
 
Borough President Oddo emphasized that we did not want to draw battle lines on this issue of deer management, but rather collectively discuss the options, using science-based facts as our guide.
 
A panel discussion followed led by the College of Staten Island’s biology and environmental science departments. Those on the panel included:
 

• James Oddo, Staten Island Borough President
• Dr. William McShea, Research Ecologist, Smithsonian Institute’s Conservation Ecology Center
• Dr. Susan Albin, Director of Conservation and Science, NYC Audubon
• Ken Scarlatelli, Regional Natural Resources Supervisor, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (Region II)
• Cliff Hagen, President, Protectors of Pine Oak Woods
• Dr. Bonnie Johnson Fritz, Board President, Greenbelt Conservancy
• Neophytos A. Antoniades, Ph. D, Professor and Chair, Engineering & Environmental Science Department, College of Staten Island
• Chang-Hui Shen, Ph. D, Professor and Chair, Biology Department, College of Staten Island
• Patti Rafferty Chief, Resource Stewardship, Gateway National Recreation Area
• Dr. Susan Booth-Benczik, Wildlife Biologist, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
• Kristy King, Director of Natural Areas Restoration & Management, Forestry, Horticulture, & Natural Resources, New York City Parks Department

 
Panel members answered audience questions about deer and the state of Staten Island’s forests, issuing a call to action to Staten Islanders to be active voices in future management decisions.

One important take-away from this forum is that -- to care about animals, we have to care about the ecosystems in which the animals live. Otherwise we are fooling ourselves. The animals will starve and disappear if their habitat is compromised. This is a complicated issue but clearly there is a great deal of passion to slow the steady denuding of our Greenbelt, our parks and our woodlands.

Kicking off TCS New York City Marathon week, BP Oddo joined with The Trust for Public Land, New York Road Runners, borough officials, students, teachers and families to open a new playground at P.S. 32 The Gifford School in Great Kills. The student-designed playground will give thousands of residents a safe, green space to exercise, convene, and recreate within a 10-minute walk of home. The P.S. 32 playground is made possible by a partnership with  New York City Councilman Joe Borelli, New York Road Runners, and The Trust for Public Land.
 
Before the official ribbon cutting, audience members were treated to special performances by the student chorus who sang "A Million Dreams" and the dance team who performed to "Can't Stop the Feeling."

“I am grateful for the chance to cut the ribbon on this new playground at PS 32, a project that will allow young people the ability to do what they need to in order to have success in the classroom: be active,” noted Borough President Oddo. “Play, and exercise, and recess, and breaks, are not obstacles to the education of our kids. They are not time taken away from instructing them, and thus time taken away from learning. Rather, they should be seen for what the science shows them to be: integral parts of improving cognitive function, and yes, of learning.”
 
The $1 million Staten Island playground will provide nearly 8,000 residents with a new park within a 10-minute walk of home and amenities including running track, turf field, basketball hoops, a volleyball court, benches, and play equipment. In addition to serving students, all playgrounds in New York City are open to the public on weekends, after school, and during school breaks, providing opportunities for both children and adults to be physically active.
 
The park was designed by students through The Trust for Public Land’s New York City Playgrounds Program, helping them gain valuable knowledge and life skills like budgeting, negotiation, and environmental science. Since 1996, working with the City, The Trust for Public Land has designed and/or built more than 200 school and community playgrounds across the five boroughs.
 
In addition to exercise and recreational amenities, the parks has green infrastructure elements like trees and pervious pavers that help build New York City’s resistance to major storms, capturing up to an inch of rainwater in storm event. These features reduce stormwater runoff that can flood streets and overwhelm sewer systems, allowing untreated water to end up in rivers and bays. Each playground absorbs hundreds of thousands of gallons of water annually and includes 20-30 new trees that bring shade and better air quality to their neighborhoods.

​Congrats, PS 32!
 

Borough President Oddo joined at Port Richmond High School with NYC SCA and other Staten Island elected officials to celebrate the groundbreaking of the high school’s new Athletic Center.
 
“Principal Greenfield used a phrase: student-athlete. All of us sitting here have a job to build you all as complete people. Part of that is every lesson you will learn on these new athletic fields,” noted Borough President Oddo at the ceremony.

We are excited to see this project officially underway at Port Richmond High. Go Raiders! 

Borough Hall allocated $1.848M for the project, which includes the following:

​Warnings by biologists that Staten Island’s forests are facing a severe threat from over-browsing and invasive species have prompted the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and Borough President James Oddo to partner with the College of Staten Island, the Greenbelt Conservancy and the Protectors of Pine Oak Woods to present a Forest Ecology Forum on Tuesday, November 19th, 2019. The free forum, which is open to the public, will take place at The Center for the Arts at the College of Staten Island beginning at 7pm.
 
The State DEC has documented severe damage on Staten Island’s state-owned parks and natural areas from over-browsing to the point where few new trees are surviving past the seedling stage. With fears that Staten Island’s vaunted woodlands could be experiencing its greatest threat, Borough President Oddo is encouraging Staten Islanders to attend this educational forum.
 
Dr. William McShea, Research Ecologist from the Smithsonian Institute’s Conservation Ecology Center, will be a guest speaker at the forum, along with Ken Scarlatelli, NYS DEC Regional Natural Resources Supervisor, and Dr. Susan Elbin, NYC Audubon Director of Conservation and Science. A panel discussion will follow led by the College of Staten Island’s biology and environmental science departments.
 
In presenting evidence of the damage to our forests, the goals of the forum include: raising public awareness about threats to the health and survival of forests and native wildlife; learning from leading ecologists about the cause of decline in forest health; exploring a range of remedies and how individuals and groups can help develop and implement them; and engaging Staten Island residents who care about forests and will be active voices in future management decisions.

​On Friday, October 11th, Borough President Oddo joined with Bridge Prep Executive Director Tim Castanza, Dr. Christine Cea from the New York State Board of Regents, the Bridge Prep Board of Trustees, Assemblyman Charles Fall, and members of the Bridge Builder Community to officially cut the ribbon on Bridge Prep!
 
Bridge Prep is the first public school in New York State and one of a few in the nation designed specifically to meet the needs of students with dyslexia and other language-based disabilities, a concept conceived by the team here at Borough Hall. Learn more about Bridge Prep by visiting the school's website: https://bridgeprepcharter.org/.
 
"Tim and his team are going to do miracles and open so many doors," said BP Oddo, referring to Tim Castanza, Bridge Prep's Co-Founder and Executive Director, during the ribbon-cutting ceremony at the Michael J. Petrides Educational Complex. "Finally, there is a place for our kids to flourish."
 
Teachers use the multi-sensory approach to learning known as Orton-Gillingham, which allows students to use their individual strengths and senses to connect language to words.
 
Tim Castanza who said he has "the best job in the world,” quoted in reference of Borough President Oddo’s commitment to making this project a reality: "'One of the best gifts a leader can give is hope,’ … Thank you for backing that hope up with action."
 
Every day when these students arrive at school, they  recite their mantra to reinforce how special and amazing they are: "I am Bold. I am Bright. I am Unique." These first-grade and second-grade students are the first of countless others who will follow as this school grows.
 
Congrats to all who made Bridge Prep a reality and good luck to all of our Bridge Builder students in the first year at their new school! 

September is Library Card Sign-Up Month! It couldn’t be easier to get your free NYPL The New York Public Library library card and take advantage of all the resources they have to offer.

You can go in at any time to your local NYPL branch to renew your card, all it takes is a photo ID and 5 minutes of your time! You can even renew online at nypl.org/librarycard.

What can you do with an NYPL library card? Browse, borrow, and read more than 300,000 e-books instantly on your phone, learn 71 different languages with Mango Languages, get ready for the TASC, GRE, and SAT exams with prep materials and practice tests, or learn something new with over 3,000 online classes and over 130,000 streaming videos.

Go get your library card. Read a book.