Hello, Neighbor
Sincerely, Mayor. At what point does enough become enough?
The City of Yes is the subject of our discussion.
The mayor of New York City and the remaining members of his administration don’t seem to have heard of philosopher George Santayana. or at least his well-known statement.
George stated 120 years ago that we are destined to repeat our mistakes if we do not learn from them.
Or perhaps they simply don’t give a damn about the various needs of the community.
Another old proverb states that those who are unable to recall the past are doomed to repeat it.
Perhaps the mayor has no historical knowledge of what transpired on Staten Island when developers learned that a bridge will soon be constructed to link our forgotten borough with the outside world.
Since the mayor’s unflinching support of the City of Yes plan is a one-size-fits-all approach for every borough, it is inevitable that the aftermath will be repeated.
After all, when the first automobile crossed the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, Mayor Adams was only 4 years old. However, you would assume that as president of the Brooklyn borough, he would have had some idea of what was happening in the borough, where so many people from his town were escaping.
So, Mr. Mayor, let me briefly outline some of the prior errors that have occurred on Staten Island. We’ve experienced enough. However, the most important is:
The Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge opened.
Do not misunderstand; many of the neighbors have Brooklyn ancestry, particularly those who moved after the bridge. Even if the idea of a Staten Island pre-bridge is wonderful, especially for the locals, it is simply unrealistic in the twenty-first century.
The issue was permitting master bridge builder Robert Moses to cross Staten Island without permission. Moses envisaged the bridge and the highway as a means of connecting all locations north and south of Staten Island.
The advantage he perceived for Staten Island? Nothing.
Planning for infrastructure? He didn’t know what the words meant.
Storm sewers? Clean sewers? Enhancement of the roadway? More transit, including buses and subways? All to make room for what Moses knew would be a huge influx of additional inhabitants.
No, no, no, and no.
A well-known developer once informed me that the streets of Staten Island were built of gold, which is why I came here.
Indeed, they were.
Staten Island was overrun by countless developers who threw up ticky-tacky houses as quickly as they could, cramming one block after another next to the other.
and took the money and fled.
Sanitary sewer not present? No issue. Put a cesspool underground.
Fill in wetlands prior to their designation as wetlands. Yes. Why not?
No storm sewers? No issue. The water will eventually find its way.
I’m sorry.
There were no longer any marshes to absorb the water. But the water did find a way to get there.
into the basements. By the way, basements were unlawfully turned into apartments.
Disgruntled homeowners with kitchen cabinets coming off the walls called the Advance’s Fingerboard Road newsroom in the early 1960s and 1970s. literally.
The foundations broke. Windows were compromised. Roofs began to leak. Because they were never granted a Certificate of Occupancy, houses were not able to be sold again.
Neighbors reported that the cesspools were clogged with soap suds from the washing machines. To dump the soapy water, the more ingenious of them attached hoses to the washer and ran them to the street. Straight to the road.
Unless you lived on the street, pictures of suds three feet high on South Shore streets were hilarious.
Staten Island has been fighting the city for proper services for 60 years, but they have never been fully provided. Traffic has been increasing annually for 60 years, to the point that it is nearly impossible to get there from here now. 60 years of attempting to preserve Staten Island’s diminishing open spaces and rein in unchecked development.
After sixty years of instruction, Mayor Adams presents his City of Yes proposal.
According to Hizzoner, we require additional homes. Ten pounds of potatoes in a five-pound bag is the tale.
Simply squeeze in more.
There are more high-rise apartment complexes and backyard tiny houses. On an island that will never become any larger, there are more people and cars. All without the need for parking.
Three members of the Staten Island Council suggested practical adjustments to the concept. They weren’t being irrational.
Every elected official, a bipartisan group, approached the administration with reasonable changes that would allow them to meet most of their goals without having too much of a detrimental impact on Staten Island, not one of which was adopted,Council member Joe Borelli said.We’re not being irrational.
Kamillah Hanks, a council member, stated that she does not support auxiliary housing units, such as tiny dwellings.
David Carr, a council member, said,Major infrastructural improvements must be made with new housing to ensure it fits in with the neighborhood’s character.This administration has so far ignored their worries.
Today, the plan will be put to a vote by the Committee on Land Use. As early as December 5, the entire Council may cast a vote.
Ironically, Staten Island s problem is much like the mayor s. We have also failed to learn from our past failures.
Our error? thinking City Hall might pay attention.
In all honesty, enough is enough.
Brian
Oh by the way:I m awfully confused. I ve grown accustomed to the wife watching Hallmark Christmas movies in October. Or listening to Holiday Traditions on Sirius XM for the last few weeks. But driving around, I m seeing giant inflatable turkeys jockeying for position on front lawns with giant inflatable Santas, homes aglow with the magic of Christmas lights. All the while seeing store ads trumpet Black Friday sales a month before Black Friday. It s not Thanksgiving yet, neighbors. The Christmas season begins when Santa on his sleigh brings up the rear of the Macy s Thanksgiving Day Parade. I m old enough. There s no need to rush through life like this.
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