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District 51

Joseph C. Borelli

Todt Hill-Emerson Hill-Lighthouse Hill-Manor Heights, New Springville-Willowbrook-Bulls Head-Travis, Freshkills Park (North), Oakwood-Richmondtown, Great Kills-Eltingville, Arden Heights-Rossville, Annadale-Huguenot-Prince's Bay-Woodrow, Tottenville-Charleston, Freshkills Park (South), Great Kills Park

Published Aug. 17, 2024, 10:10 a.m. ET

By Rich Calder

Except in rare emergencies, NYC correction officers will no longer be allowed to use pepper spray to protect themselves or inmates on Rikers Island and other Big Apple jails, under a “reckless” new bill being considered by the City Council.

Far left Democratic Councilwoman Sandy Nurse’s legislation would require correction officers to first get authorization from tour commanders before firing “high-powered oleoresin capsicum sprays” — better known as pepper sprays – on out-of-control detainees.

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Published Aug. 13, 2024, 4:18 p.m. ET

By Carl Campanile

City Council members from every borough are urging Gov. Kathy Hochul to block a push by the state’s weed regulatory board to allow more licensed pot shops to open in neighborhoods across the Big Apple.

Nine members of the council’s “Common Sense” Caucus fired off a letter to Hochul on Monday decrying what critics call the state Cannabis Control Board’s half-baked idea to provide waivers for its current 1,000-foot buffer between legal cannabis shops — thus allowing two or more stores to sell weed on the same block.

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Published June 23, 2024, 5:14 p.m. ET

By Carl Campanile

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has halted construction projects at two Queens rail stations to put pressure on Gov. Kathy Hochul after she knocked down the unpopular congestion pricing plan, sources said.

The MTA sent a letter ordering a contractor to immediately suspend work on making its Long Island Railroad stations in Forest Hills and Hollis more accessible to riders with disabilities 

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Published May 25, 2024, 11:33 a.m. ET

By Matthew Sedacca

They were more prepared than weekend glampers in the Catskills.

Plastic bags stuffed with supplies that appear to have been intended for the Columbia anti-Israel encampments recently lined the curb for trash pickup outside the Morningside Heights campus, footage shared by recycling advocate Anna Sacksshowed.

Among the junked sundries meant to fuel the demonstrations were Costco-size boxes of Nature Valley protein bars, instant noodles and dozens of unopened emergency blankets and ponchos.

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Published April 11, 2024, 7:35 p.m. ET

By Haley Brown

FDNY Emergency Medical Services workers will have access to body armor and special training as part of legislation passed Thursday by the City Council to address an increase in attacks on first responders.

The pair of bills, authored by Minority Leader Joseph Borelli, would require the FDNY to provide EMTs and paramedics with bullet- and stab-proof armored vests along with self-defense and de-escalation training.

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Published Feb. 14, 2024, 5:33 p.m. ET

By Joe Borelli

Congestion pricing cameras set up in Manhattan. Christopher Sadowski

Turn on the news, and you are bound to hear any one of a number of congestion pricing’s most sycophantic promoters telling us we must look to our sister city across the pond to see the fruits of its implementation.

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Published Feb. 6, 2024 Updated Feb. 6, 2024, 3:31 p.m. ET

By Post Editorial Board

Opposition to New York’s coming congestion pricing continues to snowball — and rightly so.

The United Federation of Teachers and Staten Island Borough President Vito Fossella are suing to stop the scheme to raise MTA revenue by taxing drivers entering Midtown Manhattan south of 60th Street, and a real gorilla just joined in: 

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Published Feb. 4, 2024, 8:10 p.m. ET

By Carl Campanile

Eighteen elected officials have joined a federal lawsuit by the teachers union aimed at blocking the controversial new $15 congestion pricing toll to enter Midtown Manhattan.

More than half the plaintiffs are Democrats whose fellow party members approved the law greenlighting congestion pricing in 2019.

UTF President Mike Mulgrew and Staten Island Borough President Vito Fossella welcomed the growing, bipartisan coalition who object to having constituents and members pay such a high toll to drive into Midtown south of 60th Street.

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Updated: May. 05, 2023, 6:57 p.m. | Published: May. 05, 2023, 5:32 p.m.

By Paul Liotta | pliotta@siadvance.com

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Anyone driving into lower Manhattan will soon have to pay a hefty fee after the federal government okayed the state’s congestion pricing plan Friday.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Chief of External Relations John McCarthy issued a statement saying the agency had received a needed and long-awaited letter of legal sufficiency from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) saying they could move ahead with the controversial plan.

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By Joe Borelli February 16, 2023 8:46pm Updated

Ask any woke politician worth his weight what the biggest crisis facing New York City is, and the answer will almost inevitably be the lack of affordable housing. And though there are more than 40,000 vacant apartments in need of major renovations that could significantly alleviate this problem within months, these same officials don’t want to acknowledge the economic reality of what it will take to 

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District Office

2955 Veterans Road West, Suite 2
Staten Island, NY 10309
(718) 984-5151 phone
(718) 948-1592 fax

Legislative Office

250 Broadway, 1551
New York, NY 10007
(212) 788-6989 phone 1
(212)-788-7159 phone 2
(718) 948-1592 fax

 Send Email
borelli@council.nyc.gov

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COBA Rally for Safer Jails