May 10, 2001
Robert Straniere
Interviewed by Jeffrey Kroessler
STRANIERE We always talked history and politics. My parents
were never active at all in politics; my mom wanted me
to be a history teacher, and thought that was something
I should do, so I was a history major at Wagner College
and an education minor. Of course my brother, Philip Straniere,
who's a Republican Civil Court judge on Staten Island,
and I developed as boys a very lively interest in history
and politics, it was part of our dinner discussion with
our parents. When I got to Curtis High School, I became
even more interested in politics, the high school fraternity
I was in, they were all Democrats, except for me, I was
a Republican.
KROESSLER As a young man, what was it that made you a
Republican? Was it just admiration for Dwight Eisenhower?
STRANIERE I liked studying history, I liked studying
the dynamics of politics, and I was attracted to Republican
icons: Abraham Lincoln, and his commitment and principles
and effectiveness in reaching out and making us one nation,
and seeing that all Americans, black and white, would
have equal rights under law. I was also attracted from
my interest in the Boy Scouts in Teddy Roosevelt, and
the fact that Teddy Roosevelt had come from New York and
Teddy Roosevelt was an environmentalist, someone who liked
to to hike in the Adirondocks and was an outdoorsman.
And then the Eisenhower mystique following World War II,
my dad was in World War II, and the period in the Korean
War when Dwight Eisenhower said he would go to Korea and
end the war. But my parents' social group were all Democrats,
my best friends were all Democrats, but I was a Republican.
When I was at Wagner College I actually staged a coup
and took over what was then the Richmond County Republican
Club, they were extremely conservative in those days.
We had something then called Liberal Republicanism. I
got everybody in my fraternity and in my girlfriend's
sorority, who were all Republicans, to pay their dues
and we took over the Richmond County Republican organization,
beat back the forces of Barry Goldwater, and I eventually
went to the Republican Party convention in 1964. I had
been an intern in Senator Javits's office in 1963, following
my role as the college director on Staten Island for the
Rockefeller-Javits campaign. In fact I wrote a letter
to the editor, which I understand has recently come to
light, where I urged all liberals on Staten Island to
vote for Rockefeller and Javits. The Conservative Party
had only begun in 1962, so there was not a conservative-Republican
Party, everybody in New York who was in the Republcian
Party was essentially in the liberal, national wing of
the party, Remember it used to be called New York Republicanism,
going back to [Governor Thomas] Dewey, and then certainly
Nelson Rockefeller and the kind of programs he advanced.
Based on that I was selected to be an intern in Senator
Javits's office in the summer of 1963, again I was the
only one of six interns in the office, and the only one
who was actually in politics, the other five interns seemed
to have some family connection to the Senator, but it
was a wonderful opportunity, because that summer we worked
on the civil rights legislation, and I participated in
the march from the setps of the Capital to the Lincoln
Memorial with Martin Luther King, we also worked on the
revision of the immigration laws, and Javits's office
was really the point office for the Republicans in the
Senate in moving both civil rights legislation and the
revision of the immigration laws. Liberal as Javits was,
he always said he was a Republican, in fact he wrote a
book called "Order of Battle," which was published in
1966. At that time frankly there was a lot of interest
in Javits possibliy becoming the vice- presidential candidate
in 1968, had Nelson Rockefeller not pursued it. I also
worked in 1961, very aggressively, on Louis Lefkowitz's
campaign for mayor of New York City. We used to ride around
in a station playing a song that went something like:
How could we miss with a ticket like this, Lefkowitz,
Gilhooly and Fino. That was like the ultimate balancing.
We had Louis Lefkowitz, who actually had served in the
Assembly in the '20s from Manhattan, Paul Fino, who was
the Republican Congressman from the Bronx when there were
Republican in the Bronx, and Gilhooly was a lawyer from
Queens. That was the kind of ticket balancing that used
to take place. We had a lot of fun with that campaign.
Following my internship with Senator Javits I met John
Marchi, at the old Republican clubhouse in Port Richmond,
he had read about my activities in Washington and asked
me if I wanted to start with him. So for $12.50 a week
on December 12, 1963 I joined the staff of Senator Marchi,
and except for the 1967 session, since 1964 I have gone
to Albany each and every January until such time as the
legislature has adjourned. I guess John Marchi, myself,
and I think there may be one of the elevator operators
have been there for this long period of time. But I have
enjoyed this tremendous opportunity. As a boy my ambition
was to serve in elected office on Staten Island, although
as I got into politics, I never aspired to borough president
until two years ago. When I graduated Curtis High School,
my friend Billy Siegler I remember writing in my yearbook,
wished me luck in becoming borough president one day.
I guess back then by the time I was 35 that would the
time to be Borough president.
KROESSLER Borough president, then governor, president?
STRANIERE I don't know how far out I stretched it. I
only wanted to be in elected office, and I guess borough
president, when I was in high school, sounded like a good
place to begin. And over the years as we know, there was
very little opportunity to young people to seek public
office. Ed Amann and Lou Russo were elected in the Eisenhower
landslide of 1952, as really the first Republican Assembly-people.
Sidney Jacoby had served one term as an Assembly Republican
in the '30s, as a La Guardia Republican, but there really
were very few Republicans. The Republicans also won a
state senate seat, that only lasted two years. And then
John Marchi won it in '56 in the Eisenhower sweep. But
Staten Island had been a Democratic county electing Democrats,
'52 provided a break, Ed Amann and Lou Russo both served
for over twenty years each, Amann left in '73 to become
a judge, then Mrs. Connelly ran for his seat. That was
the year I moved out of that Assembly district to Dongan
Hills, I kept thinking if maybe I had stayed one more
year in Randall Manor I might have been the candidate
maybe in 1973 for the Assembly since I had been Senator
Marchi's counsel at that point. Moved to the South Shore,
then in 1980 when Guy Molinari ran for Congress, I had
run for the City Council in 1977, by the way, I had a
primary that year, in both the Republican and the Conservative
Parties, won both of them, and was the party designated
choice in 1980, but won a primary again for that designation,
and there's word I might have to win a primary again this
year. We'll see what happens.
KROESSLER You mentioned Fiorello La Guardia a moment
ago. And one of the things La Guardia said was that there's
no Republican or Democratic way to clean the streets or
pick up the garbage. What do you make of his remark?
STRANIERE I think he's absolutely right. When I worked
on the John Lindsay campaigns for mayor, and the Marchi
campaigns for mayor, we used to say much the same thing.
Which, I guess, for a city-wide race is a good point of
view for a Republican to take in a city where you are
subject to an overwhelming registration against you. But
I think when you're talking about a mayor, a borough president,
a city councilman, we know that in many large cities,
including Los Angeles, the second largest city, people
really don't run on partisan lines. Frankly, when we were
doing the Sovereign Commission, which was the precursor
to the Staten Island Charter Commission, in the early
'80s, I had made the recommmendation that candidates for
local office in fact, do not run on party lines. What's
interesting, for special elections now for the city council
people don't run on party lines, but they do in the general
election. So I felt this was some recognition of what
we were saying for local offices. An office like borough
president, an office like city council, and an office
like mayor, you're not dealing with political philosophy,
the way you are certainly in a national legislative body
or even in a state legislative body. You're talking about
the delivery of basic services to people, you're talking
about the priorities and the distribution of funding that
essentially comes from elsewhere, particularly at a borough
level because you have no taxing authority here. What
you are, certainly in the office of borough president,
and by the way I fought voiciferously to preserve our
vote on the Board of Estimate, that was a matter we worked
on for many, many years, went all the way to the Supreme
Court and lost, because I felt very strongly that Staten
Island deserved an equal vote.
KROESSLER The loss of the seat on the Board of Estimate
is what propelled the secession movement forward.
STRANIERE No question about that.
KROESSLER That's a very legal, very technical point,
but once the secession movement got going it really struck
an emotional and local pride chord. Did you get that sense?
STRANIERE You just brought up pride, and what I've been
talking about is creating a sense of pride in being a
Staten Islander, that I'm concerned is not quite there.
You know, when you tell people from outside Staten Island
that you meet, that you're from Staten Island they're
reaction is usually a smile, You have that garbage dump,
you have that quaint little ferry boat, it's the backdrop
for the Godfather, or they could have filmed the Sopranos
just as well on Staten Island as New Jersey, or Working
Girl, kind of personifies working women on Staten Island,
that's the general image. I want to change that. As a
matter of fact, after I leave here tonight to honor high
school students who have been active in the community,
I'm going to talk about the flag. Because in 1971 Borough
President Connor had a contest to create a flag for our
borough, and although he accepted the flag, and althouth
the flag has flown over the Staten Island Advance and
the Chamber of Commerce, and is in city and borough hall,
it has never been officially adopted. So I have a bill
in to make the flag that has existed for thirty years
that few people know about the official flag of Staten
Island, and actually I've been taking every opportunity
to describe the flag and present the flag. The flag also
is a symbol of our borough, and the makeup of the flag
tells a lot about our borough. But this is a borough,
this is a county, this is a community, this is the 39th
largest city in America. I want people to be proud they're
Staten Islanders, and I also want them to know the history
of this island. And when you see that the population of
this island has increased 17%, we're the fastest growing
county in the state. Many people have come here knowing
very little about the wonderful history of this borough.
So I have another bill in to give Staten Island what Brooklyn
and Queens have had since 1905, and that's an Anniversary
Day. They actually close the schools in Brooklyn and Queens
on those days; my bill doesn't close the schools, although
it gives the School Board the option to do so, but let
them negotiate that with the UFT or the Chancellor.
KROESSLER But that began with Brooklyn Sunday School
Day, and I don't know how they included Queens. It makes
no sense at all.
STRANIERE Regardless of the genesis of it, it exists
and it provides an appropriate day in the year for our
community to focus on our history. I've had discussions
with members of the school board, District Superintendent
Cagini , they're all supportive of the idea, I said maybe
we could have one period, but I'm talking about trying
to develop a curriculum where we could have one day a
year we could talk about Staten Island, and the very significant
events in American history which have taken place here
and the famous people who have lived here, and the people
who live here now and what they're doing. When you take
all this together you create a sense of pride in being
a Staten Islander.
KROESSLER If you have no sense of history, as a historian
I'm perhaps a little biased about this, but if you have
no sense of history you can't see where you're going.
If you're looking ahead, if you had to warn your grandchildren
in the next 25 years of the one issue we're facing that
you would hope we would deal with for them, for their
lives, what would you think is the greatest crisis?
STRANIERE It's hard to say the greatest crisis. When
you look at our borough, many of our problems, most of
our problems that we deal with everyday are the effect
of the negative impact that overdevelopment has had on
this borough. Now it just took me thirty minutes to drive
from New Dorp, which is why I was late to the reception
beforehand, a distance of three miles, perhaps. Our streets,
which essentially were developed in colonial times, cannot
absorb 440,000 people and the number of cars we have here.
We have more cars than the borough of the Bronx, even
though the Bronx is three or four times the size of this
borough, population-wise. People in the Bronx obviously
use mass transportation that we don't have here. We have
seen the impact on our schools. And the most recent statistics
I have, which are the Fall of 1999, our schools were 96%
capacity. Where are we going to put all the children of
the families who are moving here? We built two new schools
on the South Shore, and by the way I'm very proud to have
been the co-sponser of the School Construction Authority
legislation that is finally bringing the schools we needed
to Staten Island. But the two new schools we opened are
already at maximum capacity. This winter when I held a
press conference outlining my suggestions on how we responsibly
address the issue of overdevelopment, I saw all the trees
being taken down as far as the eye can see for 2,800 new
homes. Now, I believe 2,800 new homes will probably generate
about 5,000 students. Where are we going to put them?
And this isn't only a South Shore issue, this is a North
Shore issue, as we see older homes being taken down on
the North Shore on large lots, replaced by 4, 6, 8, 12
units; as we see open fields on the North Shore now being
developed with housing. It's a major crisis on Staten
Island: how are we going to have appropriate facilities
for youngsters to go to school. Our kids shouldn't have
to be in portable classrooms, our kids shouldn't have
to be in split sessions, our kids shouldn't have to study
in closets or converted space in gymnasiums, that's not
a healthy atmosphere for education to take place in. So
I think that's a problem. Also I'm very concerned about
the environment, and the environment is really one of
my signature issues for the the twenty-one years now that
I've served in the legislature, I've been on the environmental
committee from day one, in fact I requested that committee
as the first committee I wanted to serve on, because I
had felt Staten Island has been an environmental war zone.
But we're winning the battle, we've closed Fresh Kills.
Our waters are getting cleaner around Staten Island, we've
created new parks, I'm pleased that I've been able to
initiate and work with state officials and the governor
to save Mount Loretto, to preserve St. Francis, to enhance
areas like Lemon Creek, and other parks throughout Staten
Island, in fact next Friday I've organized a tour of the
waterfront of the north shore, beginning over where the
Homeport was, and where I'd like to see movie studios
created, around to Port Richmond. We're going to be looking
at Staten Island from the water, to see what we can do
to possibly create a greenbelt along our water. You know
we have 57 miles of waterfront more or less on this island,
and we have very limited public access and public use
of our waters.
KROESSLER That's common throughout the city, the question
of the waterfront. Just the other day I was driving along
Bay Street and I noticed a new impediment to the waterfront
has just shown up, a generating facility, right there.
STRANIERE It's not on the waterfront, it's on Bay Street,
that's the problem. It should have been set back from
Bay Street, not on Bay Street.
KROESSLER What is your take on the sudden planting of
these power facilities?
STRANIERE Interestingly enough, as you may recall, the
last month, I had Ray Haynes, a friend and co-director
of the Legislative Exchange Council, who's a state senator
in California, come to Staten Island, to talk to us about
the California energy crisis and assist and evaluate where
we are. The fact is we have to have new sources of generating
energy, if we're going to avoid the California experience.
Just today Long Island has announced a new plant of the
Long Island Power Authority, which will be constructed
in Melville. The ten plants that are going to be available
and ready, are not going to be used except when necessary,
those few days of the year when you cannot meet the energy
needs of New York City. We have to replace the older power
plants in the state, the youngest of which is about 30
years old. We also have a bottleneck in that the transmission
lines to bring power from upstate and out of state are
very limited, so that has got to be expanded. And as we
replace the older plants we're going to do so with plants
that are state of the art, very limited pollution, a way
of generating the energy we need. That said, we can do
more on conservation, and we should be looking at wind
power and solar power, in the city. Some of the studies
I've read indicated up to 20% in savings could be achieved,
although we should not be ashamed of our conservation,
we are number 2 in the nation as far as the amount of
energy that is used on a per capita basis. California
I believe is fifth. So we're doing a good job in educating
New Yorkers in conserving energy, but that's not enough,
given the expansion of our economy, the nature of our
economy, and the personal use of computers and other technological
devices, either for education for employment or for learning,
need energy in order to function. But we also ought to
be looking at solar power and wind power as a way of reducing
our need to rely on more traditional ways of generating
energy, either petroleum based or gas.
KROESSLER It's intriguing that you're a Republican and
it's hard to fit, given what the national Republican Party
seems to be saying, and even some local Republican statements,
that we should control development, or that we should
protect the environment, or we should seek alternative
forms of energy. These don't seem to be traditional Republican
positions these days.
STRANIERE I think they're traditional Republican positions
in the philosophy that I believe in, that as I said is
rooted in Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, in whose seat
I sit on the floor of the Assembly. Teddy Roosevelt was
the Republican Assembly leader a hundred years befor I
was elected, he was elected in 1880, I was elected in
1980, and certainly the kind of enlightened public leadership
that I think New York Republicans have brought to issues
historically. I don't look at issues and then say, gee,
what does my philosophy tell me what to do. I like to
be a problem solver, and use common sense in addressing
public issues.
KROESSLER You mentioned an issue I'm very interested
in, that is, you have a marvelous single family house,
you drive by in a day there's a fence up, I just saw this
from the Victory Boulevard bus, and suddenly three single
family houses are gone and we're going to look at a half
dozen or a dozen townhouses going up. Now as a borough
president, what practically can you do?
STRANIERE That's a very good question. I outlined back
in February an eight point plan, which I have legislation
now pending in the State Assembly, that I think if adopted
could address these issues. Number one we need a new zoning
for Staten Island. The zoning resolution we have was adopted
40 years ago in 1961, when this was a totally different
island, it was done by people not of Staten Island, for
Staten Island, that gave no regard to the contour of our
land, the nature of our community, our road network, and
what we were going to become with the impending opening
of the Verrazano Brdge. I don't think rezoning of Staten
Island should be done by Manhattan or Queens or Brooklyn
based people, it should be done and I think it could be
done in rather short ordr by Staten Islanders, I call
this borough empowerment. So the first thing we do is
get a zoning resolution that doesn't attempt to rezone
the entire city of New York. Look they haven't been able
to move the plan Chairman Rose advanced two years ago
on Manhattan bulk development, can you imagine if we wanted
to turn this over to the city to re-do Staten Island?
So as Borough President one of my first priorities would
be immediately to implement a coming together of this
community, the professions and the civic leaders to get
a new zoning resolution so we change the rules by which
development is taking place. The other thing we must do,
we must put a moratorium on the construction of new residental
housing until we can be sure there are school seats available
for those children. The South Richmond School Certification
law is 25 years old, it was a very limited and weak attempt
to respond to development that was beginning to take place
25 years ago on the South Shore. Five years ago I asked
both the Board of Ed and the Planning Commission to revisit
that issue. Both have refused to do so. This is what we
should do. We put a freeze on development the issuance
of new permits for new dwellings, unless you can certify,
meaning the government, the planning board, that there
are two school seats available in the school district
to be served where that house is going to be constructed.
Not if you have a vacant seat in St George for a house
inTottenville. If you're going to build near PS 16, where
I'm going tomorrow to be principal for a day - a month
late but that's how the scheduling worked out - and where
I went to school, then you can get your permit, And I
say two for one. You see the current law is you can get
two permits for one seat anywhere. That's no reglulation
at all. That's something else we should do. Another thing
we should do is the posting of bonds, by developers, especially
commercial developers. Why do all the commercial strips
on Staten Island have to be institutionally ugly? Why
are there no trees, why are there no planters, why is
there no cleaning up? It's not that that they aren't required
to do it, I think they buy dead trees cheap. If you require
the posting of bonds you can make sure that places are
properly maintained, there are proper amenities, that
there are trees, that there are planters, that there's
cleanliness. And how about having the parking in back
of stores, not in front of stores.
KROESSLER I had to laugh, because to hear an elected
official, or a candidate for elected office speak in terms
of aesthetics, as if the aesthetics of our community would
be something of concern is very unusual. It brings me
to my next question, about historic Staten Island. We
just had a very unfortunate event here, the destruction
of the Dorothy Day Cottage. What about historic preservation
and the Landmarks Commission?
STRANIERE Thank you. Because part of my package also
had two other components. The governor's budget as presented,
and I have over the years sponsored legislation that would
grant a tax credit for the preservation of historic structures.
But historic structures on a federal registry or a state
registry are much too limited. What I would like to see
is the use of tax credits up to the $50,000 now authorized
for the preservation of older buildings that are appropriate
to the neighborhoods where they are located because they
anchor and they give a certain character to a community,
and if you as the owner, or the developer who buys that
house, if you're willing to preserve that structure, let's
help you out with the tax credit, not just historic homes
but significant older homes, and let's do for the increase
in the assessment for that home what we do with new construction,
or the J-51 program, which is to taper in over a period
the increase in tax, so we don't in effect penalize you
for having improved your property. And that designation,
being able to preserve what I call older homes that anchor
communities, should be by a Staten Island based neighborhood
preservation commission, and my legislation addresses
that. The second point, the Doroty Day House underscores
the failure of Borough Hall and some of the Council members
of this borough for not seeing that the Landmarks Commission
calendared the issue. Now there was an interesting story
in a city-wide publication two weeks ago that raised a
number of issues as to why this may have happened, the
article by Wayne Barrett outlining the campaign contributions,
certainly gave a lot of people time to pause about what's
going on here. I believe we should have a Staten Island
landmarks commission, why does it only have to be the
city of New York in Mahnattan looking to designate properties
that this borough believes ought to be preserved, or that
you as the owner of a property wants to have preserved.
I worked some years ago with the people in New Dorp to
preserve the Lane Theater which was built in 1938, and
is the last art deco theater still standing in the city
of New York. There was talk of turning it into a disco,
but many thought it would be disruptive, not only to New
Dorp but the loss of this wonderful entertainment facility
that we might have. In fact in those discussions I was
trying to see if we couldn't get Snug Harbor interested
because the reality is we don't have a community based
cultural center for the South Shore. Now I'm a firm supporter
of Snug Harbor, and do many events there during the course
of the year, but the fact is it's something of a long
trip for people on the South Shore to sometimes get all
the way up to St. George, and maybe some satellite cultuiral
facilities on the South Shore would be a good idea, so
that was the idea behind that. If we had a borough based
landmarks commission you wouldn't see something fall through
the cracks like the Dorothy Day house. Now that it's down,
what is left to do, landmark an empty lot, put up a marker,
I am very disturbed and concerned by what I read about
why this may have happened.
KROESSLER Shifting topics for a moment, we are at the
College of Staten Island, which is part of the City University
of New York. In recent years Mayor Giuliani and the Board
of Trustees under Herman Badillo have been attacking the
City University as not having proper standards, of not
doing a good job of education their graduates. I'm just
wondering, as a candidate for borough president what your
approach to the City University might be.
STRANIERE Well, I think, along with Senator Marchi, in
whose room we are doing the show today, we have been a
team, and I don't think you will find two stronger legislators
who have been as concerned and supportive of this university
and its mission. And this university began with a very
important mission in this city, about 1848 or so, that
is the concept of free tuition for an immigrant population
in order to pursue private higher education. So that's
where we start with the mission of this university, a
university that provides an opportunity for all of the
people in this city, who want to to pursue higher education
to have the opportunity to do so. And certainly this university,
for a hundred plus years, has graduated some of the most
prominent and successful and enlightened Americans of
any university in the United States. For a variety of
reasons, perhaps cutbacks in the ability to expand faculty,
so that we didn't have overcrowded classes, perhaps part
of the problem has been the public school system, since
most of the students come out of the public schools of
New York City, were ill-prepared to do college work. And
I think there's a middle ground. The remedial program
has been revisited. I believe we should have remedial
education available to help those either while still in
high school, or getting out of high school, to develop
the skills they need to do college level work. I don't
want to characterize what has taken place as an attack
on this university. I'd like to characterize it more as
a reformation or a revision of how we insure that the
students who graduate from this university can have pride
in their degree and that that degree is valuable. My son
Brit is a graduate of the College of Staten Island and
Hunter; he's got a job but he got that not because of
his ability to market the degree he got from the university.
And that's been disappointing to him. He enjoyed his courses
here, he enjoyed his courses at Hunter College, he has
a degree in Cinema Studies, but that doesn't mean he just
watches movies. He works in entertainment companies, he's
a producer and he's doing very creative things. And the
faculty here, particularly in his courses, was excellent,
everybody I've worked with at this college over the years,
I've been extremely impressed by their commitment. I once
taught for one semester an international law course here
myself, and I enjoyed that opportunity, This is a wonderful
university. I think this college which bears the name
of our borough is something very, very special, and the
atmosphere that students have here, and the technology
that is available, a growing internet capability, and
the special programs that are being generated, and trying
to bring the business community into what's happening
at this college, I think bodes very well for the future
of the College of Staten Island and for the University.
I was very impressed, and I in fact met here two months
ago with the Chancellor, and President Springer, brought
us all together, I'm very impressed by the increase in
enrollment in the City University, the improvement in
test scores, and the direction the university is going.
That is not to be critical of what was here before, but
I like where we're going on now, and I will continue to
be supportinve of this university and its mission, and
let's remember its mission: to educate the people of this
city, wherever they come from. And when you realize we
now have the largest immigrant population in this city
since 1910. About 40% of the people in the city of New
York were born outside the United States; over 50% of
the students in the public schools, their parents were
born outside the United States, so we need a university
that's going to welcome those students and their families.
And one of the great things about this college is the
number of adults, the number of people over 25 who are
going back to school and pursing their degrees.
KROESSLER Which is why the tone of the debate about CUNY
about graduating in four years and the rest seems rather
misplaced.
STRANIERE Took my son seven or eight years and he went
full time. Either he didn't get the right course or he
changed his major. But he kept at it, and it was a very
proud day three years ago when we were all here for his
graduation.
KROESSLER Another aspect of education is public libraries.
And I heard the other night that the public library in
Stapleton doesn't even have a bathroom. And I'm wondering,
STRANIERE Libraries are part of the overall education
network that we have an obligation to provide. Under the
New York State constitution education is the responsibility
of the state, not the city, not the federal government,
it is the responsibility of the legislature and the governor.
We have, I'm glad to say, in recent years been able to
enhance the funding for libraries, but we've got to do
a lot more. As youngsters go on the internet and work
with laptops and computers, I still like to read books,
frankly, we have to improve the capacity of our libraries.
Something else I'm very concerned about. We cannot have
a situation where young people who are going to school
do not have at home access to computers in order to be
able to study. Having a computer today is as essential
as taking home a book to study at night. And although
we have wired our schools, and we have computer capacity
in virtually every school in the state of New York, I
do have concern about our ability to see that youngsters
can have a laptop to take home, or at least a basic computer
so they can study at night at home with their parents.
KROESSLER Laptops for all the students on Staten Island
would pretty much break your budget I think.
STRANIERE No, actually we have a bill that the Assembly
Republicans introduced a year ago, which would grant a
tax credit of up to $1,500 a year, credit, not a deduction,
so it's money back, for purposes of assisting parents
in supplementing the public education of their children.
We spend $40 billion in this state, maybe more, probably
$70 billion if you combine the local share, the state
share and the federal share on education, but parents
have very little direct control over how those dollars
are spent. Some parents need help buying a computer, some
youngsters need remedial help after school which maybe
they can't get, some parents want their children to take
up a musical instrument, some parents want to be able
to enhance the reading material of youngsters. I believe
it's a good approach, and that is definitely affordable,
the total price tag for what I'm suggesting is about $400
million. We're sitting with a surplus right now of about
$2.7 billion, that's growing every day because there's
no state budget, this is now May, they're talking about
no budget for the entire year. By the way, I don't get
paid until there's a budget. I wish we'd bring this to
closure. But we're talking about possibly going the entire
year without a budget, which means we do now monthly extenders.
So we are spending at last year's rate, but revenues continue
to increase, because in spite of this little dip in the
economy the tax revenues continue to be strong. So we're
going to have an enormous surplus available to do a lot
of good things. Yes, we can and should cut some taxes,
and I've been advocating the beginning of cutting the
sales tax on gasoline, which is something the state can
do, it can do right now, one way we can respond to the
people of the state of New York in meeting the high cost
of buying gasoline at the pump. We have to put some money
aside, because I think most people anticipate, maybe not
a recession, but a slowing, a cooling of the economy,
at least as an interim measure. And, we have to enhance
funding in a number of areas, and frankly most of us want
to see a stronger commitment to education, in fact we
must address education and the DeGrasse decision which
said by September 15th, legislature, you'd better find
another way of funding education in this state, particularly
the city of New York. And the city of New York has unique
and special problems. We are adding 25,000 children a
year to the public schools in New York City. Many of them
immigrant children, many of the kids inour city with special
needs for a variety of reasons. So it can't just be, we're
going to give everyone in the state the same money and
you're all going to come out the same, because everyone
doesn't come in the door with the same background, everyone
doesn't come in the door with the same family support
to perhaps give some of the enhancements I spoke to you
about. So this is a high priority, an important priority,
and frankly I'm disappointed, I work out when I'm in Albany
every day with Randy Kuhl, who's head of the Senate Education
Committee, and just nothing is happening in this area,
and this is very troubling, because I thought we should
have met Judge DeGrasse's date, which we could have done,
of Spetember 15th, the way we're going now is virtually
impossible.
KROESSLER I'd like to open it to questions, about life
and politics on Staten Island.
QUESTION 1 Mr. Straniere, I'm not from here, but I wanted
to ask a couple questions.
STRANIERE Where are you from?
QUESTION 1 I'm originally from Oklahoma. Considering
that the people that you have to work with at borough
hall, and the people who will have to be more or less
of your philosophy, considering some of the things you
want to accomplish, you make an awful lot of sense, how
hard will it be for you to carry through with your plan
and your projections, how strong can you be, and, I don't
mean this in an ugly manner, considering you have not
had exactly the best publicity at times.
STRANIERE Hey, I'm on the front page of the paper more
than George Bush! First, I want to thank you for your
question and then for your optimistic assessment that
I might win the election. Thank you for both. I am not
interested in having people in borough hall who are necessarily
Republican. I'm interested in having people in Borough
Hall who are committed to doing a good job every day,
who are committed to improving this borough, who are honest,
and who will reflect the diversity of Staten Island. I
am terribly disturbed, and I have said this repeatedly,
the fact that we have in borough hall, and we have had
for the last 12 years, an ethnic litmus test as to who
works and who doesn't work. I want to see African-Americans
in prominent positions in Borough Hall. I want to see
Hispanics. How can we have a borough hall where nobody
speaks Spanish when we have 53,000 Latinos in this borough.
We have a growing Asian population, there's not one Asian
that I'm aware of working in Borough Hall. I'm very proud
that with my very limited staff I have both an African-American
and an Asian- American, in fact I'm the first one to have
an Asian-American in any of the legislative offices working
on my staff. I want to see people from all of our communities
to have a place at the table, and I am committed to doing
that. I think people have stayed away because they have
felt unwelcome, or they will not be considered, and that's
going to come to an end. Another thing I want to do to
create this sense of community. You know borough hall
looks out at the Statue of Liberty, and you know how when
you go to the United Nations you see the flags of the
world, I want to see a flag in front of our borough hall
that represents every country that we have a Staten Islander
who came from, or their parents, or their grandparents,
or their ancestors, because borough hall . Now I've served
21 years in the Democratic Assembly, there are only 51
Republicans but I have never seen that as a barrier in
any way in being effective for this borough, working with
my Democratic colleagues, I always calll us the team for
Staten Island, I work very closely with Eric Vitaliano,
Mrs. Connelly, now John LaValle, I don't know, and I lead
the debate for the Republicans on the floor, I don't believe
I've ever had anything but a friendly debate, not only
with my Staten Island colleagues but with colleagues on
the other side of the aisle, as long as we stay focussed
on trying to find the right solution to public problems.
Let's sit down together, and try to develop a consensus
on how we resolve public issues. I feel the same way about
working with whoever the next mayor may be. This is not
a personal, a political agenda, because when we opened
the discussion we talked about there not being a Democratic
or Republican way of picking up the garbage. I am proud
to be a Republican, I will run as a Republican, I hope
I will win as a Republican, but in all my campaigns I
never really put on what my political party is. In fact
I have a campaign piece for me for Borough President,
cause I run for what I stand for, talking about what my
accomplishments are, what my vision is for this borough,
and what my priorities are, the borough hall that I want.
I want an inclusive borough hall, I want borough empowerment,
which is a different aspect of secession. Borough empowerment
means bringing back to this borough the ablility of the
people, America's 39th largest city, maybe with the recent
census figures we'll even move up, but based on the 1990
statistics we're the 39th largest city in the United States
of America, and yet the people who live here, which is
separate and apart from the rest of the city, have a extremely
limited ability to control development, which is a major
issue from which so many other problems come off. Address
the issues of education in a more meaningful way, by giving
powere to a borough board, a lot of these ideas came out
of the work I did on the secession charter commission,
the commission by the way still exists, and I believe
that there will be great interest, whoever the next mayor
is, in seeing borough empowerment, which is power in this
borough, so the people of the borough have a say, they
have a say in decision making, but they also have a say
in coming to borough hall. I'm also anxious to explore
the possibility of two satellite borough halls, because
it takes so long to get from mid island or the south shore
to St. George. We have three community boards, I don't
see why, I don't know what the charter allows as far as
calling them deputy borough presidents, but somebody at
the level of the deputy borough president in mid island,
the south shore, and in borough hall, because government
should be close to the people. It shouldn't represent
having to take a day off to go all the way to St George
because you have a problem. Let's face it, except for
the train, it's very difficult to utilize public transportation
to get around this island. We're being strangled by the
amout of traffic we have now. This is part of my proposal
to bring government closer to the people, and we're not
dealing here with issue of national philosophy, we're
talking about the delivery of basic services, we're talking
about police protection and sanitation and parks. Another
role that I see the borough president having, and the
borough president is the most important office on the
island, except for the district attorney, it's the only
office elected by all the people of the borough, because
the Congressman is elected by Brooklyn, so he's got split
responsibilities. The Borough president is elected by
all the people of this borough. The borough president
should be the advocate, the leader, the initiator, the
model, the person who stands up and speaks out, who lobbies
the government and other colleagues about what is right
about this borough. My personal problems? They've been
out there for many, many years, I think like most Staten
Islanders, who've had good days and bad days, and we've
weathered them.
KROESSLER Another question?
QUESTION 2 You mentioned what you don't see in Borough
Hall in terms of the minority community, but how do you
embrace the minority community? How do you dispell the
notion that Staten Island, at least from the minority
perspective, is run mainly by Italian men, Molinari, Straniere,
Molinaro. How do you deal with that issue? I feel about
as attached to Staten Island as I do to this carpet, and
I've lived here all my life. How do you begin to embrace
a community that has felt so separated?
STRANIERE Thank you for your question. I think one of
the things you have to do as the borough president is
affirmatively reach out to all the communities you describe.
I have for many, many years, on my own, I have sponsored
the biggest Black History celebration on Staten Island
for over 15 years, and my own Assembly district has the
fewest African- Americans of any Assembly district, certainly
in the city of New York out of the 61 districts, if not
the state of new York. I have for 15 years sponsored a
Lunar New Year program where I reached out to the Chinese
and Korean communities. In fact last Saturday I sponsored
my annual Pan-Asian Month Brunch, because May is Pan-Asian
Month, where we brought in additional communities of Asian
Staten Islanders, to come together to discuss their issues.
I have been an active member working with the Latino Civic
Association. I've sponsored a new Americans program, I
think this will be either the third or fourth this summer,
where we single out seven people who were born outside
of the United States who have been successful and to serve
as role models. Each fall I do a Hispanic heritage program
where we single out a high school student of Hispanic
background who is excelling academically because we have
foud through studies that the Latino population in this
city is lagging terribly behind the general population
in academic performance, and what can we do to encourage
that. I have toured the schools on the North Shore even
though I represent the South Shore, because I'm interested
in seeing what's happening there. I'm a graduate of Curtis
High School by the way, and I've worked closely with Ed
Zito. I've been meeting on a regular basis with the African-American
ministers, the religious leaders, to see what can be done.
I went to PS 31 in January when no one else did to meet
with Arnold Obie, the only elected official to do this,
to find out what could we do to improve that school. I
grew up in St. George and Tompkinsville, I know that neighborhood.
And I met with Arnold to see, are there things we could
be doing together, to get that school off the Chancellor's
watch list. These are just some of the things that I have
personally done and that I will do more. And by having
representatives of the communities you describe in Borough
Hall, in my cabinet, meeting with me every day, I'm going
to know what those issues are, I'm going to come up with
ways to resolve those those problems. And we're going
to do it collectively as a borough. We're not going to
be North Shore- South Shore, we're going to be Staten
Islanders. Go back to Abraham Lincoln, North and South,
Civil War, no. I want one Staten Island that all Staten
Islanders are proud to be part of. And an island that
overcomes some of the reputation that you described. I
often say Staten Island is no longer Georgia 1953, this
is Staten Island 2001. We're an important part of this
country, we're a diverse borough. I'm proud to say I'm
the first candidate who campaigns shopping centers, on
ferry boats, and on the trains with people who reflect
the diversity of Staten Island, because I want people
to know my commitment, and what I stand for, and the kind
of office I'm going to run if they choose me as borough
president. That is absolutely what I'm committed to. So
when my four years or eight years as Borough President
are over, I want to see a Staten island where we are one
community and a proud communty, black, white and Asian
and Latino, all coming together, proud to be members of
this borough.
KROESSLER Assemblyman Straniere, we have just time for
one more question, and since we are in a library I want
to ask you, what are you reading?
STRANIERE Oh, that's a very interesting question. The
book I'm reading right now is the book that just came
out about El Duque, and Havana and baseball in Cuba, that
my son Bret gave me for my birthday. Before that I read
The Bible Unearthed, which is a fascinating study of the
events that took place in the Bible and putting them in
a time frame. When I finish this one I'm going to be reading
a book on Woodrow Wilson, a biography that just came out.
What I try to do is balance a biography, a historical
book and a piece of fiction. Fiction that I like to read
are generally stories about New York. I'm always fascinated
with books on this city, and as a history major and a
political person I enjoy history and biographies. I finished
two months ago a marvelous book about the construction
of the railroad, the Ambrose book, and I've read most
of Ambrose's books about World War II. A wonderful book
I read recently, The Flag of Our Fathers, about the Marines
putting the flag on Iwo Jima, which I found fascinating.
I'm interested in space so I just finised a book on Mars,
and the questions about whether there is life on Mars.
I read Four Blondes by Candace Bushnell, that was a lot
of fun. My wife always yells at me when I go to bookstores
because I come home with a bag of books, and they're all
over the place. I don't know where to put all the books.
And I also like to read books on the New York Yankees.
I read a great little vignette, had 15 people each write
a chapter on the World Series, on the Yankee-Mets. I read
a book on the New York Jets, I'm a Jet fan, which was
the history of the old New York Titans for three years
before they became the Jets. I subscribe to the History
Book Club and the Book of the Month Club, and you can
actually save a bit on the books instead of going into
Barnes and Noble. I think it's great we have a Barnes
and Noble on Staten island, though it's dangerous for
me to walk into the store.