Staten Island is the southernmost of New York City’s five boroughs. It is best known as the home of the Mafiosi and the (formerly) largest garbage dump in the world. When tourists board the Staten Island Ferry, it is for the panoramic view of Lower Manhattan, at most for a short trip to the shopping center at the island’s harbor.
«The fifth borough» is connected to the rest of the city by the Verazzano Narrows Bridge, built in 1964 by Swiss Othmar Ammann. But the bridge feels more like a border: the one-way toll cost an impressive 17 dollars. Demographically, Staten Island also differs from the rest of the city: the 500,000 islanders are mostly white car-dependent home owners who vote Republican. Also, the extent of the opioid crisis – many call the island «Heroin Island» – is more similar to the typical American suburb than the rest of New York City. Health department posters warn: «More Staten Island residents die from overdoses than from car accidents.»
For thirty years there have been efforts to break away from New York City. In the 1990s, the then mayor of NYC managed to appease the Staten Islanders in their two biggest concerns: With the closure of the Fresh Kills landfill and the abolition of the toll for the ferry between the Island and Manhattan. However, against the backdrop of growing political division across the country, and encouraged by the success of the Brexit vote, new calls for secession are being heard today.
The differences between Staten Island and the rest of New York City exemplify the growing cultural, economic and social divide between urban and suburban areas in the United States. In the year of the US presidential election, we are therefore dedicating the April issue of the Fabrikzeitung to a portrait of the «forgotten borough» of Staten Island.