""We had five per cent of the city's population and we got a hundred per cent of the garbage. Staten Island was dumped on, literally and figuratively, and the rest of the city said, 'Too bad.'""
""Every day, it was a stench. There were seagulls flying everywhere," recalled Vito Fossella, reflecting on his childhood experiences living near the landfill."
"In 2001, a nonbinding plebiscite showed that sixty-five per cent of Staten Island's residents did not want to be part of New York City anymore."
"Sam Pirozzolo, a Republican state assemblyman, recently read a declaration of independence for Staten Island, echoing the island's historical grievances."
Staten Island, New York City's least populated borough, has a long history of feeling marginalized, particularly due to the Fresh Kills landfill, which operated from 1948 to 2001. Residents like Vito Fossella recall the overwhelming stench and the perception that they bore the brunt of the city's waste. In 2001, the landfill closed, and a significant portion of the population expressed a desire to secede from the city. Recently, the sentiment has resurfaced, with political figures like Sam Pirozzolo advocating for independence.
Read at The New Yorker
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]