Staten Island, Smarting From N.Y. Slights, May Get Revenge

When angry residents of Staten Island first announced they were going to try to break away from the rest of New York City, critics of the plan chuckled and labeled it a “sitcom secession.”

But few politicians are laughing now.

On Tuesday, the island’s voters are expected to cast their ballots to become a separate city--tossing a decidedly dicey issue back to the state Legislature where it was incubated, some say inadvertently.

In 1989, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed a lawsuit challenging New York’s voting structure under the one-person, one-vote rule. The result: The Board of Estimate was abolished, where Staten Island, like New York’s other four boroughs, had a single vote--the same clout as Manhattan.

In its place, power was redistributed to a 51-member City Council, and in the council Staten Island has only three votes. The Supreme Court’s decision was the last straw. Smarting over a long list of slights, the island’s residents began organizing to secede.

By all odds, many politicians say the movement should have died quickly in the state Legislature. But as a favor to state Sen. John J. Marchi, a popular Republican lawmaker from the island, the Republican-controlled state Senate passed a bill allowing Staten Island residents to vote on forming a commission to write a city charter.

It expected the State Assembly to kill the plan, but the Assembly voted for it, believing Gov. Mario M. Cuomo would veto the bill. Instead, he signed it. And in 1990, by a whopping 83% majority, voters on the island passed a referendum establishing the commission, which drafted a city charter.

On Tuesday, islanders will vote on the new charter. If it passes--and most politicians expect passage--Cuomo and the Legislature will have the final say on whether New York City will be dismembered.

“Is there something written in stone that New York City must survive in its present form forever and ever? It was put together by man. Men can take it apart,” said Dan Singletary, a 51-year-old island resident and a secessionist movement leader.

For most people, Staten Island is a nondescript chunk of land at the end of one of the world’s most scenic--and cheapest (50 cents round trip)--ferry rides.

The mostly residential island, 2 1/2 times the size of Manhattan, contains woods, hills and the world’s largest garbage dump. Many of its almost 400,000 inhabitants argue that they are shortchanged when it comes to city services.

Homeowners say sewers are inadequate and streets flood after heavy rains. The toll on the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge to Brooklyn is high. Only one rail line operates on the island. Civic leaders say other sections of the city have more clout when it comes to attracting businesses.

“The island has been at the end of the service delivery chain,” said Singletary. “We are five miles out in the bay. We are not thought of as politically potent. . . . The New York Times announces it will have sections for ‘all four’ boroughs. We get the New York Times with the New Jersey section in it.”

Secession advocates argue that studies have shown that with cost controls Staten Island can be self-sustaining, having a sufficient tax base to support necessary municipal services.

But opponents, including Mayor David N. Dinkins, argue that Staten Island would be sinking into a swamp of uncertainties--with a questionable financial future, higher property taxes, fewer municipal services and the threat of some New York City workers who live on the island losing their jobs.

With the aid of the powerful United Federation of Teachers, and a union of municipal workers who also oppose the plan, the mayor’s office has been trying to whittle down the breakaway vote.

But secession fever remains strong. If the vote carries, the issue almost certainly will be bounced back to the state Legislature for further consideration, and the debate could well be emotional.