New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani recently expressed support for letting the Irish determine whether their island should be unified — but the Emerald Isle is hardly the only one whose residents have long sought the right to draw their own political boundaries.
During the city’s recent St. Patrick’s Day festivities, the mayor said that “as someone who believes deeply in the principles of self-determination, I think that should also be something extended to the Irish.”
That afternoon, Assemblymember Sam Pirozzolo, who represents neighborhoods in northern Staten Island, mimicked Mamdani, changing just one word in his phrasing: “As someone who believes deeply in the principles of self-determination, I think that should also be something extended to Staten Island.”
Political leaders in the Forgotten Borough have spent generations fighting for the right to self-determine their own boundaries, specifically by splitting from New York City and establishing what would become the state’s second-largest city. But they’ve been routinely blocked by City Hall and Albany. In 1993, 65 percent of residents backed an independence referendum, but the state Assembly declined to pass a bill to make that binding, citing a lack of support from the City Council.
“If you believe in democracy, you believe in independence, there’s no reason why the people of Staten Island should not have the right to govern themselves,” state Sen. Andrew Lanza said.
The movement on Staten Island — smaller in scale than the one across the Atlantic — has taken on new life since Mamdani was elected mayor with 23 percent of the borough’s vote. Pirozzolo, notably, read a “Staten Island Independence Declaration” at a Revolutionary War site soon after the election.
“Look at the things that have been forced upon us on Staten Island, with marijuana shops, battery shops, speed cameras, red light cameras, the City of Yes, the homeless shelters, displacing the veterans to put in illegal migrants — all of that becomes under the control of the city of Staten Island,” Pirozzolo said.
But Mamdani, like mayors before him, is hardly embracing plans to let voters determine whether they should splinter the city.
“I love the fact that Staten Island is a part of this city, and it’s not just one part of the city,” he said Friday at an unrelated press briefing. “It’s, in many ways, a glimmer of what draws so many to this city, as a city where we are now the most expensive in the United States of America. Staten Island has for some time been one of the last places where New Yorkers can dream of being homeowners. It’s the shining example of what free public transit can look like. It is the home to one of the greatest rap groups in American history. It is also a place where you can get the best Sri Lankan food in New York City.”
Mamdani was less direct when asked if his philosophical views on borders extend to the island much closer to home, though.
“There will be disagreements when it comes to politics and policies,” he said. “One thing that I will never lose sight of, though, is what makes this such a beautiful city is every single one of the people that calls it home. And I’m so proud that I get to be the mayor of a city that also has Staten Island as one of those parts.”
His critics aren’t surprised he’s offering less than full-throated support.
“He’s very selective in whose independence he says he supports — I would ask him if he supports Israel’s independence,” Lanza said. “Listening to him for years, it didn’t sound like he did.”
City Hall did not immediately comment on Lanza’s accusations, but Mamdani, a vocal critic of Israel, has repeatedly said he supports its right to exist, but not as an explicitly Jewish state.
With Mamdani in City Hall, would a new referendum perform better or worse than the 65 percent the 1993 version received?
“With him over there, I think it would be 80 percent,” Lanza said.
Joe Anuta contributed to this report.
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