The Staten Island Problem - Part 5: Revenge of the Forgotten Borough
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How did the 1993 Staten Island secession vote shape the borough’s political future?
On August 4, 1962, Marilyn Monroe died. Then the rumors started, and she died again. And now we're going to set the record straight and learn about the way Marilyn Monroe actually died, the third way. I'm Jake Brennan, and on my podcast Hollywoodland, I revisit some of the biggest stories from Hollywood history, separating the myths people want to believe from the reality underneath them. Hollywoodland is part of the Exactly Right Network. Listen to new episodes every Monday on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Pushkin
Election night, New York City, 1993, Staten Island Cable.
That is Staten Island Cable's host, Frank Cipolla.
Remember Frank, former assistant press secretary for the Staten Island Borough President, the one who got yelled at in those sham meetings late into the night? he got a new job, which gave him a front row seat to the big vote.
Marky live here on Channel 77 from secession headquarters at the Island Chateau. Channel 77 bringing you that live.
The end of the campaign had been crazy. Staten Island Borough President Guy Molinari drove around the island in something called the Freedom Bus, talking secession. Staten Island politicians worked the rush hour ferries to try and gin up more votes to secede. And on election night, it looked like it had all paid off.
We go to Monica de Clerico at the Island Chateau with the latest results, Monica. There's a new total coming in. Well, there you have it, Frank. That's 66% is the total now. The atmosphere here is, it's like a party.
The numbers were huge.
You know, it's funny, 10 years ago when Senator Markey first introduced the word secession, people thought of it as a joke. Absolutely. We know very well that this is no joke.
It was a landslide. People were celebrating all over the island. State Senator John Markey gave a victory speech. He was the chief sponsor on the bill to secede in the first place.
you realize as a city that can plan for its own and doesn't have to say, may I, may I do this and may I do that, we will be going to... People on the island voted almost two to one in favor of secession. I don't know. I think we just might get rid of that nickname.
Dan Singletary was there, that artist who I'd found on those old tapes passionately arguing for secession.
Dan, obviously your efforts have not been in vain. Did you ever expect to see such political fervor as you've seen tonight? This is one of the most wonderful nights, I think, for Staten Island, for New York City, and for New York State.
It was decisive. Or so they thought. As many of you listening already know, Staten Island wasn't going anywhere. It would remain part of New York City. Somewhere in the back of his mind, Singletary knew that, too. When did you realize that? Well, I was getting down pretty close to the end. So towards the end of this process, you're like, this might actually not happen.
I said, but it had to do something. And I said, you know, if we got something out of this, it was better than what we were.
The vote was a referendum. It was Staten Island saying, we want to leave. But the New York state government was going to have the final say. And the next year, when the referendum came before the state assembly, the speaker just killed it. It was dead in the water.
I hoped that it might be possible, but I knew the probability of all that is so difficult.
Someone else had to have known where all this was going to, Guy Molinari. This was supposed to be the biggest night in his borough's history, and yet he was nowhere to be found on the island. Instead, he was in Manhattan with his good friend, Rudolph Giuliani, who was at that moment being elected mayor of New York City.
When I started this series, I told you that this story would amount to a big argument about where our country finds itself today. There's an old way of thinking about time that I love, from the Middle Ages. The idea is that time doesn't just go horizontally, where today is closest to tomorrow, but also vertically. That certain days are closer to all their earlier incarnations.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
How did the 1993 Staten Island secession vote shape the borough’s political future?
0:00–5:25
2
Why did the 1993 election night turn into a showdown between Rudy Giuliani and the Dinkins administration?
5:25–10:40
3
What role did the off‑duty police protest at City Hall play in Giuliani’s rise to power?
10:40–14:57
4
How did the failed secession referendum influence New York State’s handling of Staten Island’s grievances?
14:57–20:57
5
What does the Fresh Kills landfill tour reveal about the borough’s environmental legacy?
20:57–26:31
6
Why does Ben Nadeff‑Haffrey link the 1993 Giuliani surge to the 2016 Trump wave?
26:31–32:12
7
How does the “politics of resentment” framework explain the rise of strong‑man leaders in New York?
32:12–36:38
8
What lasting lessons does the series draw about remembering the forgotten borough and its people?
36:38–43:23