On Thursday, Dec. 5, DBP Ed Burke hosted Borough Hall’s annual Christmas Tree Lighting.

“I love this time of year,” he said. “All of the holidays this time of the year, let’s face it, are about giving, charity, and love – and that’s really evident with all of you showing up here for the tree lighting.”

At the event, carols were performed by local talents, including Al Lambert, D. Sharp Studios, Miss Staten Island Madison L'Insalata, and Rob and Lizz Kipp.

The kids of D. Sharp Studios -- decked in Santa hats -- dazzled the crowd with Christmas favorites before leading a sing-along to “Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer.” Scooter the Holy Cow, the mascot of the Staten Island Yankees, was spotted dancing in the crowd.

After the music, the big moment came: Santa arrived at Borough Hall by way of a police escort. With a hearty “Ho, Ho, Ho,” he made his way up the steps. After a countdown from 10, the giant switch was pulled: “The tree is lit,” said DBP Burke.

Santa then handed out books, donated by Barnes & Noble, to the children in attendance.

The tree lighting was sponsored by Allstate, Barnes & Noble, the Gavel Grill, Rispoli Bakery, Killmeyer’s Old Baveria Inn, Downtown Staten Island, the Staten Island Chamber of Commerce, the Staten Island Yankees, the National Lighthouse Museum, the NYPD, the city Parks Department, the South Shore Rotary, Project One Staten Island and Casandra Properties.

​​Thank you to all our sponsors and performers. We wish all Staten Islanders a happy and safe holiday season.

This year for Halloween, Borough President Oddo hosted “Trick or Treat Around SI,” a free Halloween event for children and their families.  In partnership with 5 Staten Island business districts, Trick-or-Treat Around Staten Island allowed costumed children and their families across Staten Island the opportunity to trick-or-treat throughout each district at participating businesses.

In years prior, Borough President Oddo has hosted the annual “Halloween Hoopla” at Bloomingdale Park. The event has been changed this year due to the park’s closure for renovations and reconstruction. “I am happy to once again host a special celebration that kids of all ages can enjoy,” said BP Oddo. 

Thank you to the following business development districts for participating: Castleton Avenue Merchants Organization, Downtown Staten Island, Forest Avenue Business Improvement District, South Shore Business Improvement District, and Victory Boulevard Merchants Association. To see all the participating businesses within each district, please refer to this page. Each district received 100 trick-or-treat bags from our office for children to get allergy free candy (no nuts, no chocolate) from  participating businesses.

Thank you to everyone for making this event such a success! Happy Halloween! 

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.

​Borough President Oddo recently joined with CTV to host a panel discussion with two Vietnam War Veterans, Gene DiGiacomo and Eugene Overton. They shared their stories of their time in country and their experiences coming home.

"After hearing what they went through, my respect for Vietnam Vets like Eugene and Gene grows," noted BP Oddo. "Two thirds of the Americans who served in Vietnam are no longer alive. We lose an estimated 390 Vietnam vets a day. Let's honor those still with us. Please watch this video and share it so these men's stories are not forgotten."

The forum will air on CTV this month in honor of Veterans Day. You can watch it below: