Brexit Fever Staten Island Wants Secession from NYC
The world has Brexit fever, which is both a metaphor and an actual virus that causes xenophobia, nationalism and demagoguery in its sufferers. Now that Britain has voted to leave the European Union, plenty of geographic regions are wondering "Hey, why don't we go it alone?" Texas? New York? Uh...Alaska?
New York City councilman (and Trump campaign apparatchik) Joe Borelli took to Facebook to beat the drums of Staten Island secession once more on Thursday. If he gets his way, does that mean that Staten Islanders who move here become transplants?
On Facebook, Borelli applauded Great Britain's vote, taking it as an opportunity to revive the dream of an independent Staten Island, "regardless of cost":
The CSI that Borelli was referring to isn't the hit CBS drama, but rather the College of Staten Island, which studied the issue in 1991 and 1992, then released a paper in 1993 endorsing the decision. Buried in there is the gem that back in 1992, 68% of Staten Islandites thought the city would be a worse place to live in five years, which haha, whoops.
If you're too young to remember, or just didn't pay attention to New York City politics before you moved here from Davenport, you should be aware that the potential for New York City becoming four boroughs instead of five is a possibility. The 1993 vote for secession got 65% of the "Yes" vote, and Staten Island only remained a part of the great city of New York due to Mario "The Good Cuomo" Cuomo's insistence that any referendum be approved by the state legislature, which ultimately didn't grant the island its independence. Since then, the idea has been revived occasionally but hasn't gone anywhere.
"Regardless of cost" is certainly an interesting way to look at whether breaking away from the city is a good idea, but when you've got a bad case of freedom fever you're too busy throwing up blood to really think things through. The comments on Borelli's Facebook post suggest the idea still has plenty of support, so get ready to spend the rest of the summer talking about Staxit.
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