The Advance Rocked Today...Great Article

Traveling home today, I grabbed a copy of the Advance for the boat ride back to the Island. The pull out section, AWE (Advance Weekly Entertainment) had an article titled, “30 under 30”.

It listed 30 Islanders, all under 30 years old, who are making a name for themselves on and off the Island. It even took the time to mention there people here who are proof we are not all like the MTV True Life: I am a Staten Island girl.

Out of the 30 people, I want to meet 28 of them. Why 28? Well, one I already know, so Vernon Avery is off my list. I visited his shop a few weeks ago and got a great interview from him.

And another, well, I probably want to meet him more than the others now that I think about it.

Vinnie Postestivo works for MTV and the Advance credited him with helping to reinforce the negative stereotypes of the Island. Go Advance! I am glad that fact was not sugarcoated.

I would love get Vinnie on film. I want to ask him “why”? Being an Islander himself, I am sure I am not the only one who thinks he has some explaining to do.

Here is a list of the other people I want to meet. If you know them, send them this link, we want to meet Islanders who are breaking the mold. Some left the Island to do it and others did it right here. (MTV didn’t get anything right about this Island, did they?)

Sean Quinn, New Dorp
Selita Ebanks, St. George
Emily Gear, West Brighton
Elijah Bullock, West Brighton
Andy Meyers, St. George
Paul Schalda, Port Richmond
Nicholas Fevelo, Westerleigh
Anthony Tirado, St. George
Monette McKay, Grymes Hill
John Boutsikakis, Todt Hill
Tristan Wilds, Stapleton
Eamon Doyle, Port Richmond
Rolando Brown, New Brighton
Ingrid Michaelson, Stapleton
Adewale Ogunleye, Tompkinsville
Tammy Tyburcy, New Dorp
John Bellotti, West Brighton
Christina Caruso, Grymes Hill
Ashley Hurd, Stapleton
John Wolyniec, Annadale
Greg Rikaart, New Springville
Nicky Anosike, West Brighton
John Lavelle, Great Kills
Henry Kim, Princess Bay
Victor Miller, Annadale
Paul Bruno, Shore Acres
Michael Angarano, Oakwood
Bobby Digi, Clifton

I am glad the Advance took time to acknowledge these people. The Island is full of great people and they NEED to be shown more than the negative stereotypes are. The only way to do this is create exposure for those who deserve it.

Too often newspaper are filled with the negative. They cannot help the fact that most news is negative. But they can take the time to do pieces like this.

Thank you, Staten Island Advance!

So Much is Happening...

I can't keep up! My internet at home went down so I couldn't write about Tuesday night until now.

We met the coolest people thus far on our 'Tour of Staten Island'. City-Zen is a local group on the North Shore who Expose the Real Estate and Lifestlye
Options of the North Shore of "The Island".

They are doing the tree lighting at Borough Hall this Friday and are hosting the St. George Ball on the 9th. We will be a full part of the ball now.

The Ball is expected to be the coolest new events on the North Shore. It is casual, tickets are more than reasonable, eats, drinks and dancing and of course lots of cool Staten Islander who have the best interest of this place as their priority.

We will be filming at the party. If you want to come down, get your tickets now, they are cheaper if you buy prior to the date.

http://www.cityzen-nyc.com/home.html

Is the Island Divided?

We have been asking people what they think of the comments in the last post. Most think the reaction is very typical of Staten Island.

People believe this Island needs to be saved from itself. We are divided amongst ourselves and have no pride or self esteem.

We ask most people we interview where they tell people they are from. Do you say Staten Island or New York City and hope no one asks more? If they insult the Island, do you play along? Or do you stand up for it?

We are beginning to think the people of this island have a hand in the negative press we get, however, there is a change happening.

As one person told us, the life of coming from Brooklyn and moving to New Jersey is changing. Generation X is no longer making that jump automatically. We are staying and raising our families here.

I was reminded of this yesterday when I was on line at the supermarket with my son and the person behind me said hello. It took me a moment to recognize the guy I went to junior and high school with. But here we were, two adult who have not jumped ship and left the Island. I told him my son now goes to the school where we first met almost twenty plus years ago.

Maybe that last interview was right, changes are happening.

It Was Bound to Happen...

We received our first negative response to the project.

I am printing it here so others can see what some of the neighbors are thinking. The question we have is, how many of you belive the Island not worth saving due to certain nationalities moving here.

"I don't understand what the "problem" is or what is left of Staten Island to save.

It was said on your website "the ten best things about Staten Island" or something like that and #2 was: We are all from Brooklyn anyway.

That's a lie. Brooklynites are from Brooklyn. When the bridge was put up, all the Italian people from Brooklyn INVADED Staten Island, ripped down trees, parks and all places of nature and poured cement on everything and built what I can only call cockeroach condos. One small living space, no yard, piled on top of another all in a row.

And NOW, they want to call themselves Staten Islanders?

And I laugh, because the Russians INVADED Bay Ridge and Bensonhurst, which were traditionally Italian neighborhoods and took over everything there. But at least, they didn't destory nature to do it. That was done already in Brooklyn by those cement-loving people.

So I laugh now because guess what? The Russians are invading the Italians on the South Shore. Everywhere you go, all the signs are in Russian because "we are a tolerant people who embrace culture and the melting pot". Hahahaha. Too stupid to know an invasion when you see one.

Ahhh, Karma. Gotta love it.

Wake up call --- Staten Island no longer exists. It was raped and invaded many years ago thanks to money-hungry individuals who allowed it to be torn down and overrun and now there is hardly anything green left at all.

Enjoy your cement-covered town. Comrade."

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving Staten Island.

We will not be doing any filming this coming weekend, but the first weekend of December is jammed packed with appointments.

Check back on the 4th for the scoop.

That's Wassup and Charles Dickens

Today started with the camera on me. There I was looking half asleep with my hat and tea in hand. (It is my constant prop in life.) I am acting like it is the crack of dawn. But it was really about 2 pm. These late nights take their toll.

Off to Stapleton we go. That's Wassup is a new store in the area. We talk to the owner's son about the area, the reason they opened here and what they do. We also got one customer on film.

They sell jewelry on consignment and the designer is there, so we got her too. It was a great outing.

Later the owner contacted us to come back so he could be on film too. We love that!

After the store, we go over to the Dicken's festival to look around. We love Snug Harbor and would have attended the festival anyway. I started my Christmas shopping since we were there anyway. Had some good shepherds Pie too.

It has been a long weekend and I have emails to return, so home we go. Got to get up early for an Expo in Manhattan in the morning.

ETG, Wahoo Skiffle Crazies and the SideStreet

We went to the Everything Goes Cafe for a local band. The owner gladly talked on camera for us, before the band arrived. We also had some awesome food. Highly recommend the Buccaneer tea and the Humdinger if you go.

A local comedian opened, so we spoke with him for a few minutes, then the band arrived.

They were awesome. We got them to end the show with "Save Staten Island." We are trying to get everyone to say that, so if you see us (we frequently have on the SSI hats and one of us wears the kilt)come over and get on camera saying it.

After the show, we head to the Side Street Saloon. Got a few view points about the MTV show again. Hard to film over karaoke, so we can't stay long.

Over to Liedy's. He has a Blue Band, so we film outside for a while. Enough for one day out.

November 17th

It has been a long week. The site www.savestatenisland.com is getting visitors left and right.

The emails are shooting and the myspace account is growing with friends. This Island is into this little idea we started as a joke.

The last email I opened was from the band we were planning to see tonight anyway. They found us before I could call them.

Cargo Cafe

After a pit stop at home to feed and walk our dogs, we head out to the Cargo for 9pm.

We are giving a booth in the corner and spend some time testing the sound by goofing off in front of the camera. (We have to make a blooper reel or something now, it gets too funny at the end of these days.)

We get a few people on film, but we are surprised also. Others who visited earlier, left answers to our questions. Another booth wrote out their answers while we there too.

People are getting into this and the project is taking off in a new direction.

Forest Avenue and Castleton Avenue

We head out again to Forest Avenue in the late afternoon. The Claddagh Shop is first on the list. The owner, a life long Islander, is glad to be interviewed and tells us "God Bless Staten Island."

Our family is Irish and we show him all our Claddagh rings which were all purchased from him. Plus my brother is wearing his kilt for bagpiping. (We can't help but be noticed at times.)

Next over to Gregorio's, the oldest florist on the Island. The owners are again more than happy to speak about their Island and the negative images people have, particularly about the North Shore. We get the second comment of the day pertaining to the Verazzano Bridge. Apparently, some people want it gone! News to me.

Across the street to Rustic Music. We catch them off guard, but we talk them into speaking on camera. They get into the MTV show a bit. That show really made people angry.

German Beer house, (yeah, I am not going to attemp a spelling at their name right now) is next. We get a private tour of the garden and some interior shots.

Across the street is the Perking Cafe. Never had been inside before, but we are going back. It was great. Camera shy people all around, but one customer gave several suggestions on where to visit next.

Hop in the car to find Buddy's. Buddy is there and waiting for us. Not only was he not camera shy, but he was ready and waiting for us. People are passionate about this Island.

November 11th -morning

Off we go with the camera. (Truth be told, we had to make sure we knew how to work the thing before we left.)

Gerardi's is the first stop. We are there no more than ten minutes when we get invited to Buddy's Tattoo Shop. This is great, appointments number 2 arrived without any effort.

We talk with Enzo Gerardi about his business for a while and get the place on film. Then across the street to the Sunoco station and mechanic. We speak with Vinny, the owner there for a while and he discusses the problems he is having with his sign and the city.

Both guys are camera shy! It's okay, we got the interviews anyway.

Then off to the Green Market in St. George. It only has two weeks left before the season ends.

Our first non-camera shy victim awaits. The owners of Scalisi Florist on Victory Boulevard are more than happy to talk. Life long Islanders have a lot to say about this place. They even recruiting a customer for us.

I see an old co-worker and head over to see if he has "been saved!" It is pretty funny as he tries to figure out what I am talking about. Several introductions later and we were brought to the Downtown Staten Island Council.

We explain the project and ask for permission to take their walking tour and film the experience. (note to self: follow up with them on that idea)

Every merchant at the market gave us permission to film and all the information we needed off camera. So far this project is getting great feedback from the camera shy side of the island. We have to work on that one.

Last stop before we recharge the camera is Liedy's Shore Saloon. Liedy invites us in and gives us the historal tour of the oldest bar on the Island. We have an open invite to visit again and interview the customers.

November 10th

We have one scheduled meeting tomorrow at Gerardi's Farm Market. Okay not actually scheduled, but when I was buying fruit the other day, I said, "Hey can we come down on Saturday and film your stand?" He said "yes", so it counts! You have to start somewhere.

Tonight we are printing informational material to hand out and charging the camera. We have some time, so we decided to put on the new hats and walk around the neighborhood. The hats say 'Save Staten Island'. Pretty cool!

Without planning it, we are breaking the first stereotype. We are walking around St. George after dark, alone, hats on with release forms. Were we mugged? No, in fact just the opposite. People were extremely nice to us. No one bothers you here.

We made our way to the Side Street Saloon, Cargo Cafe, and Ruddy and Deans. We have permission to show up with the cameras now.

The reaction you get when you first tell someone what you are doing is unreal. We fully expected to be disregarded by most people and loved by the ones who had a few drinks already. We were wrong.

We have an open invite to the Side Street, the Cargo gave us an exact time to arrive and Ruddy and Deans sat with us talking about the neighborhood and what is needed; and we didn't have the camera yet! We vow never to leave without it again.

Before we head home, one last stop near borough hall to look at the building itself. A few locals are mulling around, we say hi and are on our way. Makes us wonder why everyone thinks this neighborhood is the "bad one".

Welcome

Welcome to the Save Staten Island blog.

Over the next few months, we will be filming a documentary style project on Staten Island in the hopes of breaking the stereotypes and negative image the Island has been handed over the years.

This project is being filmed on the weekends and some evenings. The film makers are also holding down full time jobs and are active members of the Very Nice People Society.

Stayed tuned for blogs after each trip we take across the Island to interview Islanders about their home.