Staten Island is Ready to Shine

Photo via Wally G.

Forget about living there for a second, right now Mayor Bloomberg just wants you to think of Staten Island as a nice place to visit (baby steps). With all the sudden hype around the borough (a music festival, anti-gentrification graffiti), could 2008 be the year it sheds the bad stigma (and stench) it's known for? The NY Sun reports on the Mayor's initiative to encourage New Yorkers to take a staycation on the Island, making it not only the new Williamsburg, but the new Hamptons?

Not quite. But starting on July 14th the Gray Line bus will begin their "Staten Island Discovery Tour" hop-on, hop-off service there. For 15 bucks the bus will take you to the Snug Harbor Cultural Center and Botanical Garden, the Staten Island Zoo, the Forest Avenue business district, Fort Wadsworth and the Alice Austen House. On top of that, the city has already started seeking out tenants for the ferry terminal's 21,000-square-foot retail space, to open in spring 2009.

The Staten Island Advance notes that the Island is ready for its close-up, and is already basking in the limelight. The cherry on top of the Landfill sundae? Time Warner trucks have been serving up $1 ice cream over there! As part of the bigger picture, the five-borough-wide "Go Local" tourism campaign "will include more than 200 summer discounts at restaurants, at shops, and on tours throughout the five boroughs."

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By Jen Carlson in Arts & Entertainment on July 9, 2008 12:00 PM

Comments [rss]

Kevin Walsh

Richmondtown

http://www.forgotten-ny.com/YOU'D%20NEVER%20BELIEVE/richmondtown2/richtown.html

Spirit of 76

So the consensus is "It's a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there"?

other_islander

LINUS:

I never thought it was such a bad little borough. (wraps his blanket around James Molinaro)

It's not bad at all, really. Maybe it just needs a little love.

nealu

I grew up in Staten Island. It's not such a bad place.

But as long as there's no subway access, I'd never consider moving back there. Right now it's easier to get from New Jersey to Manhattan than it is from Staten Island to Manhattan... That's a shame!

SikBug

The Jet/Giants Stadium should of at least been built there so it could be in NYC. Smells just as bad where the old stadium is, maybe worse.

whantmoore

All I know is that its still SI

MT

It should be noted that Fresh Kills is currently being reclaimed and reinvented as one the largest parks in New York City - so the stink is in fact long gone. And before anyone says anything about a park being built on a landfill, two words: Shea Stadium.

caj211

I lived on Staten Island (in the supposedly new hip neighborhood of St. George) for a few years, and I have no intention of ever returning.

No subways, a useless rail line. It's pretty much impossible to live there without a car.

And don't even get me started about the people there......