Staten Island and Stereotypes

The weather was cloudy, a little chilly and rain was in the forecast so instead of heading into NYC we decided to stay a little closer to home and explore Staten Island. As one of the five boroughs of New York City, Staten Island is located on the west side of the Narrows at the entrance of New York Harbor. The existence of the borough dates from unification of New York City in 1898, however until 1975 the borough was known formally as Richmond. By far the least populated and most remote but a very ethnically homogeneous borough of New York City, Staten Island is often the object of humor as being somewhat enigmatic and rustically suburban. Except for the areas along the harbor, the borough remained relatively underdeveloped until the building of the Verrazano Narrows Bridge in 1964, which is considered the watershed event in the history of the borough since it opened up the island to explosive suburban development. For the last half of the 20th Century, Staten Island was arguably best known as the site of the Fresh Kills Landfill, the primary destination for garbage from the five boroughs of New York City and the largest single source of methane pollution in the world. The landfill was closed in early 2001 but was temporarily reopened later that year to receive the ruins of the World Trade Center disaster.

Throughout the 1980s, a movement which had as its goal the secession of Staten Island from the city steadily grew in popularity. Reaching its peak during the mayoral term of David Dinkins the movement quickly evaporated with Rudolph Giuliani's election as mayor in 1993. However deep below the current day issues of Staten Island’s potential succession thoughts is the lurking legend of how Staten Island came to be a part of New York. When looking at a map of the area, it makes sense that Staten Island could/would/should be a part of New Jersey. Like the sale of Manhattan to Dutch settlers for $24, it is the historical tale that has been repeated time and again: Staten Island became part of New York rather than New Jersey as a prize in a sailing contest held in the 17th century. Over the many centuries, this legend has been confirmed, disputed, called into question and twisted, bent, exaggerated and embellished. Only one thing is certain - there is still doubt in the minds of some people about what really happened but like most urban legends it is fun to believe.

While ethnically very diverse, Staten Island is largely populated by Italian descendants. I have been in search of Tony Soprano even while we were in Philadelphia but now that we are in NYC/NJ, I was totally on the lookout. When Captain Mark first told me that we were going to be staying at the Great Kills Yacht Club, I immediately “knew” that Tony and “the guys” would be close at hand. After all, Great Kills could only have one meaning…correct?

Well, my overly active and somewhat dramatic imagination was extremely incorrect – in fact, majorly politically incorrectly as well. It seems that “Kills” is the Dutch word for river and since this area was first settled by the Dutch, Kills is a very common name/phrase for locations in the area of New York and New Jersey. Alas, it has nothing to do with murder, the mob or illegal activity. However, we very quickly understood where and how the stereotype persona of the mobster came into being. Oh my gosh, we walked into a market (which is a tiny grocery store) and we met our first Tony Soprano street lieutenant - he was a fast and wise talking, cigar smoking hulk of a guy and I just knew that he shaking down the owner of the market. All I could do was stare while Captain Mark told me to pick my chin up off the floor as he quickly pulled me away from the store.