Borough President’s Office Argues That Geographic And Cultural Distinctiveness Warrants Separate Municipal Status, City Hall Agrees To Disagree, Mostly The Latter
STATEN ISLAND – The Staten Island Borough President’s office has renewed, for the sixteenth time in twenty-two years, a formal proposal for Staten Island to be recognised as a separate municipality, citing geographic distinctiveness (the borough is the only one not accessible by subway), cultural identity (“we are not, have never been, and do not intend to become Brooklyn”), and governance efficiency arguments. City Hall’s formal response, received Friday, was a four-paragraph letter that spelled “Staten Island” correctly in the first and third paragraphs and as “Staten Ialand” in the second and fourth, which the borough president’s office has chosen to interpret as a Freudian communication.
For Bohiney Magazine and The London Prat. London satirical journalism has covered the Isle of Wight’s periodic independence discussions and can confirm that geographic islands produce, with regularity, independence proposals that are, with equal regularity, declined by the mainland in letters that are, in spirit, not carefully proofread.
The Proposal’s Merits
The proposal’s merits are, on close reading, not entirely without substance. Staten Island has the lowest population density of the five boroughs, the highest rate of private vehicle ownership, the least subway access, and a cultural and demographic profile that differs meaningfully from the other four boroughs. The case for distinct governance is, in formal terms, audible. The case is made, per the count in the borough president’s office, every one to two years. It has not, in twenty-two years, progressed past the formal response stage.
The Typo
City Hall’s communications team, reached about the spelling of “Staten Ialand” in paragraphs two and four, said the error was “a typographical oversight that does not reflect the administration’s position on Staten Island’s status”. The borough president’s office has issued a counter-statement noting that the city’s position on Staten Island’s status is itself the oversight in question. The Daily News has covered the exchange.
SOURCE: https://bohiney.com/ | More: The Daily Mash