SI Mentioned on Deal or No Deal

Apparently a contestent mentioned the dump on Deal or No Deal. I did not see the show, but the woman was from Bayonne and she stated "least we don't have a dump like Staten Island."

The forum at SILIVE.com is taking many comments on this. It just never ends with the Staten Island Dump jokes.

Rocky LaPorte

HAS ANYONE HEARD OF THIE GUY? HE JUST DID AN ENTIRE BIT KNOCKING THE STATEN ISLAND. EVERYTHING HE SAID WAS A BUNCH OF CPAP.

I WANT A YOUTUBE CLIP IF ANYONE KNOWS WHERE I CAN FIND ONE.



http://www.rockylaporte.com/

Calling all Bloggers!

We are looking for Island bloggers. The task is simple, we need write ups about your neighborhood. One initial post that gives the readers a real feel for the area, and then updates a few times a year is all we are asking. No daily work needed.

If you are interested, please contact us at savestatenisland@yahoo.com

January 2nd

We launched STATEN ISLAND 2008 yesterday. Today the Advance ran a story on the project on the front page. Next week, I will be speaking at the Community Board 1 meeting on the 8th.

We have high hopes for this project. We need a huge response to make it work though and we need a lot of people behind us to get it all accomplished.

Hopefully we will get enough in the first few months to show it is capable of holding it's own.

In addition to the yearbook, we have a list of ideas that will be taking off each month in 2008. It is going to be a big year. Little by little we hope to engage the entire Island in Staten Island 2008!

Looking for Animators

We have an idea for an opening sequence for the film that would require the help of some animators, photographers and very creative people.

We need to show people missing the ferry and the doors closing on them. We may not be able to film in the terminal.

Does anyone have ideas and suggestions on how we can accomplish this?

Even the Championship Team gets ignored

Tonight the Staten Island Yankees are playing the Brooklyn Cyclones in Brooklyn and tomorrow night is their home opening in St. George. Good Day New York announced the Brooklyn game and did not mention who was playing them.

You would think as the reigning Champions of the NY Penn League, the SIYanks would get mentioned, but guess not.

Let's see if tomorrow our home opener is announced and if they take a moment to mention Brooklyn also. Maybe they will report the Brooklyn score all season and forgot about the Yanks then too. I have seen them do that in the past too.

SIEDC - Tuesday, April 24th

We have so much to say about our day at the SIEDC. We want to thank Ceaser Claro, Jeannine Marotta and all those involved who helped us get there.

We were given a prime spot in the exhibition sections. We met some of the greatest people the Island has to offer, and the list of great things could go on and on.The biggest interview we snagged was the Borough President. We want to thanks him for his wonderful interview. I

n addition to him, we met a few doctors, a judge, business owners, people from the Staten Island Yankees and Brooklyn Cyclones, and so many all around great people.

The hits to our site and the requests to be a part of the project have been tremendous and the brain storming ideas that results will take this project to a new and exciting level.

We need to thank CVS and duct tape for the same reason. They helped us make the greatest prop imaginable at the midnight the night before. We had to be up at 5:30 a.m., but there we were with an inflatable raft, sharpies and duct tape creating a life saver to take pictures with.

The list of potential interviews will be posted shortly.

SIEDU - Save Staten Island will be Attending

On April 24th, Save Staten Island will have their own table at the Staten Island Economic Development Corporation.

We are excited to be invited to meet with many business owners on the Island, the guest speakers and of course the Staten Island Film Festival (SIFF).

Last night we attend Mall Madness for the SIFF while they auditioned some acts for the festival in June.

If you haven't already checked out their web, go now and get a poster!

We would like to thank SIEDC for inviting us down. We cannot wait for the date.

Save Staten Island from Being the Borough with the Most Drug and Booze Abuse by KIDS!

Today the Advance www.silive.com, and a lot of other city papers, printed the results of a study listing Staten Island with the largest percentage of high school students who binge drink and do drugs.

On FreeFM, my new favorite radio station (please sense the sarcasm) once again made Staten Island the topic of their show from 6-9pm.

I was a little more alarmed by the callers than the facts of the study. Too many adults called and stated, sure they grew up here, and regularly drank and did whatever drug while they were younger. At least one admitted he was still using until recently.

Several others called and stated of course Staten Island is the higher rate, their is nothing else to do on that Island.

Then of course there are the ones that left and are still knocking this place. Why they feel the need to knock a place they choose to live for a at least a while is beyond me.

Here a few reasons we believe the rate for us may be higher.

• We have more families here where both parents are at work all day thanks to our real estate costs. Who can survive here on one salary?
• The parents are away from the house even longer due to our long commutes.
• We have more affluent families so the money for the kids to use is there.
• We have more areas for the kids to get away with it. The other boroughs are laid out differently.
• Obviously there is nothing else for them to do.
• Our kids have more cars here. Another easy hideout and way to get these things.
• Our store owners are selling the beer and alcohol because the police presence is different here than other boroughs.
• Peer pressure to use or to say you use is really high.
• Or maybe the rate here was inflated because we had more truthful answers. Maybe we have the most getting help right now. I would at least like to believe this last one could be true if that 24% is accurate.

It may seem unreal that we have 24% of our kids on drugs, but let's keep this in perspective. Our population is so much lower than the other boroughs that our 24% is still less than their 14% in an actual head count.

Maybe we do have less to do on this Island in theory, but please show me what the other boroughs have for TEENAGERS! Everyone forgets this group.

They are the forgotten generation. My son will be 13 this year. I know we are in for a rough for years. Except for his sports, nothing is geared to his age group. My options are to let him sit in front of a video game, let him shot some hoops, or hang out aimlessly with his buddies. The hoops is the only hope.

If we ever wanted a real reason to Save Staten Island, here it is. We have an entire generation in need. We have discovered countless things on this Island for people to do, but hardly any are geared to this generation.

If you are out there, please let us know. We need to promote you here.

Our teenage population is the immediate future. As it is now, they believe too many of the stereotypes about this place. They play into so many of them. They believe you need to leave the Island to have a life. The adults know this and yet we see it happen generation after generation with no end in sight. Time to stand up and help the Island from the inside.

Vote Off the Island Results!

We have been received a lot of votes for people whom others want voted off the Island.

Since this is all in the name of good fun (and a little research for the project) we will not be listing all votes specifically.

We have set a few guidelines. For example, no kids will be listed. No person with one vote will be listed. Many will be part of categories.

We do not want to hurt feelings, cause problems or stop some of the creative answers we are getting.

With that being said here is where we stand now:

Politician are coming in first place.
Builders/Developers are a close second.
Guidos rounding out the top three.
The Mall is getting up there.
Tanning booths!
And EVERYONE!

Now for the creative honorable mentions:
Road Rage Animals
Pink/Coral Stucco

and several votes for:
ME (all different people voting off themselves)

Keep the votes coming. More results next week.

FREE FM Has Knocked Staten Island twice (that we know of)...

About a month ago the city began talking about a new slogan for New York. Someone in power who needs more real work to do thinks I Love NY is outdated. I Still Love NY, so I don't get it.

But anyway....FREE FM 92.3, the old KRock decided to have callers suggest new slogans. One they like was "I love NY except for Staten Island!".

Just last week the knocked us again. They have stated the Verrazzano cannot be up for a wonder of the world because 'nothing connected to Staten Island' can have that honor!

Brooklyn's Great!

Listen to what they say about Staten Island at the end.

Blast from Staten Island's Past

Assemblyman John Lavelle

Last night, Staten Island lost one if its own:



Assemblyman John Lavelle, 57, the Staten Island Democratic Party chairman.



Although we are saddened by his death, we were happy to read the Advance is reporting Lavelle was a member of the New York Organ Donor Registry.



The Producers of SSI would like to acknowledge this wonderful gesture. In our family we have an organ donor recipient and a living donor.



New York now has a registry in which you can sign up in addition to marking your driver's license as we did in the past. Remember to continue telling your family members of your decision. They are the only ones who can speak for in the end.



To learn more about the registry and organ donation please visit the New York Organ Donors Network.



To learn more about Assemblyman John Lavelle, visit the advance online at www.silive.com.

We are in the paper today!

The Staten Island Advance printed an article about us today. Thanks to Melissa Anelli, our new favorite Advance writer for contacting us.



There's Something Good on Our Island



We were also thrilled to see we were not only on the front page of the OUR TOWN Section, but we also had the honor of being right next to BiscuitMagoo! Just yesterday we interviewed Ayana Mitchell and John Verdi, the owners. In fact, we took one of our dogs down for an evaluation. Our Chase may spend some time at doggie day care while we are out saving the Island!



I would also like to thank my son for running to the store to pick up several copies of the paper for me this morning. (He did owe me one. Twelve years ago, when he had his transplant and was featured in the Advance, I ran to the store to get the paper!)



Updates:

#1.The hits to our site are jumping today! If are reading this, you made a great choice in stopping by. Leave us a comment and you can have your say about the Island too. We print all comments we are given permission for.



#2 Thatz Wassup was spelled incorrectly in the article. Well, it was correct, but not for how the store spells it in their logo. They are currently on our friends page if you want more information about them.



#3 We had so many hits yesterday our free site meter crashed!

Biscuit Magoo

What can we say, as animal lovers who have rescued our fair share, and then some of cats and dogs, we were delighted one morning when we saw a sign in New Brighton/Shug Harbor. It said Biscuit Magoo.

I made a mental note to look them up. Later, I found them on Craigslist advertising a new dog salon/day care/ boarding place.

Today I was able to not only interveiw them for the film, but I had my dog evaluated at the same time. I need someone like them near my house.

After the interview we joked we both due to be in the paper. Maybe we will both be there tomorrow as expected.

Biscuit Magoo

Helping Hands Initiative

Helping Hands Initiative

Yesterday, we headed out to the Cromwell Center to meet with Julianna Farella, President of Helping Hands Initiative Incorporated.

This is a great group. Julianna gave us a unique view on how Staten Island treats the disabled. A lot of the same concerns came out as usual; transportation, over developement, attitudes, etc.

But it was also just great to see a person who running her own Staten Island based organization and volunteering her time at a community based facility to teach music.

New Reality TV Show

I was watching TV last night and a comercial came on for a new reality TV show about film making. My son asked if I was going to submit Save Staten Island.

Uh...NO!

This project started because one reality show did the Island wrong, I am not going to add to it. It goes against my purpose, however the show itself looks interesting.

There are two types of reality shows. One where you are in a competition and really only your actions can make you seem bad. The other is where you let the producers into your home to film you and ultimately make an ass out of your their ratings.

MTV True Life was the latter, whereas THE LOT is the first, so it shouldn't be that bad.

If there are any talented film makers out there reading this, check out their site:

http://www.thelot.com/

Scheduling

We finally got in touch with Vernon from Thatz Wassup. We are set to see the new digs on February 5th. The store has moved from Water Street to the NY Art Cypher Center at 12 Broad Street.

I think the reopening will be mid February. Check their myspace account for more details.

Another Night with SCARED

We went back to the Garibaldi Meucci Musuem last night for round two of the Scared investigation. This time we met up with the Staten Island Paranormal Society also.

Both groups are Staten Island based, paranormal investigators. Scared also has a show in CTV. Check out their websites:

SCARED

Staten Island Paranormal Society

And the best part is they travel the Island also for their work and don't mind us tagging along.

Save Staten Island In the News

Two weeks ago we did an interview with the Staten Island Advance. Last week, we did a photo shoot for the article. If all stays on track, it may be out this Sunday, the 14th.

Not only that, but we are working on scheduling a date with NY1.

We knew when we started this, it was a cool idea, but a lot of our crazy ideas seem cool to us. We had no idea how quickly this would catch on and all the attention it would get.

Our little idea of ‘Saving’ the Island from MTV turned into a real thing. No one cares about MTV anymore, but they do care about the Island and its future.

Hopefully the momentum will continue to grow and this project will turn out the way it is meant to be.

We have signed on with the Staten Island Film Festival. It was weird at first. We got an email asking us to call them about our film. At that stage, we didn’t have more than three hours of footage, yet we were getting called by THEM!

We went with the honesty route since it is usually the best bet and admitted we were just getting started. After explaining what we were trying to accomplish, it was decided we could work with the festival. No place else on the Island, will so many talented, artistic people come together at one time, than they will in June.

So we are officially invited to film some behind the scenes footage of the festival in 2007. Hope to see you guys at the festival.

New Art Exhibit

We attended the Garibaldi Meucci Museum tonight for the opening of a new art exhibit. Until we started this project, I never realized how many artists the Island homes.

Michael Santini will be on display until April. Stop by if you have a chance, see his art, tour the museum and maybe you will hear or see a few odd things along the way. The place is haunted you know.

SSI wishes everyone a happy and healthy New Year!

Welcome to 2007. We have started the new scheduling for Save Staten Island. Please contact us if you wish to be interviewed, if you have an event we can attend, or if you want more information on the project. All Staten Islanders, past, present and future are encouraged to call us!

The Save Staten Island phone line will be up next week! Check the site for details.

We are actively looking for music for the film. If you are a Staten Island musician and have a song with Staten Island in the words, please contact us for consideration in the film.

Happy Holidays!

Merry Christmas Staten Island

The St. George Ball

We were honored to sponsor the outside of the museum for the first St. George Ball. I know that sounds funny, but for those of you who don’t know yet, one of our main producers is a bagpiper. He played Christmas Carols on the Pipe outside the Museum.

People who lived in the area or who were walking up from the Ferry commented on the music which could be heard from blocks away.

Inside the museum after the party was underway, we set up the camera and started the interviews. We were lucky enough to get several unique perspectives on the Island and even caught up with the staff of the museum and the artist who is on display, Sarah Youst.

Thanks to Cecelia and Ann Maria for inviting us to such a great event.

PS I even saw my high school English teacher that night. This Island really is a small place.