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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 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.

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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.

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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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Updated: Aug. 07, 2024, 2:02 p.m. | Published: Aug. 07, 2024, 5:50 a.m.

By Paul Liotta | pliotta@siadvance.com

CITY HALL — Mayor Eric Adams’ administration said Tuesday that hizzoner’s housing plan encompasses a broad set of initiatives, but much of it will rely on its most controversial portion.

Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) account for as many as 40,000 of the 110,000 new units to be built under Adams’ “City of Yes for Housing Opportunity” proposed plan over 15 years, administration officials said Monday, but for Staten Island council members they’re a non-starter.

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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.  

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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.

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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.

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Published: Jul. 16, 2024, 3:11 p.m.

By Paul Liotta | pliotta@siadvance.com

City Council Minority Leader Joe Borelli addresses the media during a call for unity at City Hall with Mayor Eric Adams and other faith and political leaders Sunday, July 14, 2024. (Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)

CITY HALL — Mayor Eric Adams had high praise for a Staten Island elected official this week over his response to the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump.

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Published July 15, 2024, 4:45 p.m. ET

By Joe Borelli

Two years ago I heard that Mayor Adams was interested in getting the DNC to come here to New York City this year.

As soon as I heard it, the first thing I did was I called up the mayor — actually, I texted him — and I called up some of his people and I said, “Make me a part of this, I want to be a part of this.”

People said, well, you’re a Republican, why do you want this?

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Updated: Jul. 09, 2024, 6:15 p.m. | Published: Jul. 09, 2024, 6:14 p.m.

By Paul Liotta | pliotta@siadvance.com

CITY HALL — Mayor Eric Adams said Tuesday that he supports a conservative-pushed rollback of sanctuary city policies passed during Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration.

He said he supported a bill pushed by the Common Sense Caucus — a bipartisan group of the City Council’s most conservative members, including Minority Leader Joseph Borelli (R-South Shore) and Councilman David Carr (R-Mid-Island/South Brooklyn) — that would repeal portions of the city Administrative Code precluding city agencies’ cooperation with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

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