Skip to main content

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 Sep. 25, 2024, 11:14 p.m. ET

By Aneeta Bhole, Vaughn Golden, Craig McCarthy and Patrick Reilly

Embattled New York Mayor Eric Adams is facing mounting calls to resign by local politicians after he was indicted by a grand jury on Wednesday night amid a federal investigation into his mayoral campaign and administration.

Several top members of Adams’ campaign have already resigned amid the City Hall chaos following a number of federal raids at officials’ homes earlier this month, sparking concerns of Adams’ ability to lead the Big Apple moving forward as he deals with legal troubles.

READ MORE

Updated: Aug. 26, 2024, 12:08 a.m. | Published: Aug. 25, 2024, 5:50 a.m.

By Paul Liotta | pliotta@siadvance.com

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — A City Planning Commission vote on a controversial housing plan looms on the horizon, but city officials offered no signs this week that they’re looking back.

Mayor Eric Adams said Tuesday that he had heard the feedback, including the overwhelming opposition from Staten Island, but his main goal is to get more housing built through the “City of Yes for Housing Opportunity” plan.

READ MORE

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.

READ MORE

Published: Aug. 15, 2024, 1:30 p.m.

By Carol Ann Benanti | benanti@siadvance.com

Vito Picone, left and The Elegants. (Courtesy/Vito Picone) Staten Island Advance

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Borough President Vito Fossella’s “Sounds of Summer Concert Series,” a series of free musical events that round out each week from July to late August, is all set to unfold on Saturday, Aug.

READ MORE

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.

READ MORE

Published Aug. 10, 2024, 11:09 a.m. ET

By Matthew Sedacca and Georgia Worrell

They’re blowing up patriotism.

Drones should replace fireworks at the annual Macy’s Fourth of July show, according to a scientist and co-author of an explosive new study bashing the cherished holiday tradition as a public health concern.

“In the ideal situation, if we wanted to protect our health as best as possible, let’s replace fireworks with drones,” said David Luglio, a postdoctoral fellow at Tulane University who co-authored a new pollution study, published this week in the Journal of Exposure Science &

READ MORE

Published Aug. 10, 2024, 1:13 p.m. ET

By Rich Calder

NYC Councilwoman Nantasha Williams is trying to drum up City Council support to back controversial legislation requiring police officers statewide to buy personal liability insurance to hold them more accountable for misconduct – a move the head of the Police Benevolent Association called a veiled attempt by the left to “Defund the Police.”

READ MORE

Published Aug. 3, 2024, 11:03 a.m. ET

By Matthew Sedacca

Seven Staten Island pols are pressing Gov. Hochul to remove an MTA board member who recommended stripping the forgotten borough of its promised new railcars. 

The reps penned a letter to the governor excoriating the “outwardly hostile bias and callousness” of nonvoting MTA board member Norman Brown at a June committee meeting on the now-paused $15 congestion pricing tolling program.  

READ MORE

Updated: Aug. 01, 2024, 9:59 a.m. | Published: Aug. 01, 2024, 5:50 a.m.

By Paul Liotta | pliotta@siadvance.com

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Mayor Eric Adams’ City of Yes for Housing Opportunity promises to change the way homes are built in the five boroughs, and Staten Island’s special and historic districts won’t be exempt.

In total, Staten Island has six special purpose districts and three historic districts established in the decades since the 1961 zoning resolution, the last time the city completed a mass rewrite of the local zoning code.

READ MORE

Published: Jul. 26, 2024, 11:55 a.m.

By Tracey Porpora | porpora@siadvance.com

City Council Minority Leader Joseph Borelli (R-South Shore) and his son, John, 4 at Owl Hollow. (Courtesy of Frank Rapacciuolo)

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Infused with a $4.6 million City Council allocation, the turf fields at Owl Hollow in Freshkills Park, which are used by sports leagues across the borough, will soon be refurbished.

READ MORE