Remote Patient Monitoring in Staten Island

Staten Island (/ˌstætən/) is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located in the southwest portion of the city, the borough is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull and from the rest of New York by New York Bay. With an estimated population of 476,143 in 2019,^[1] Staten Island is the least-populated of the boroughs but is the third-largest in land area at 58.5 sq mi (152 km²).

A home to Lenape natives, the island was settled by Dutch colonists in the 17th century. It was one of the 12 original counties of New York state. Staten Island was consolidated with New York City in 1898. It was formally known as the Borough of Richmond until 1975, when its name was changed to Borough of Staten Island.^[4] Staten Island has sometimes been called “the forgotten borough” by inhabitants who feel neglected by the city government.^[5][6]

The North Shore—especially the neighborhoods of St. George, Tompkinsville, Clifton, and Stapleton—is the most urban part of the island. It contains the designated St. George Historic District and the St. Paul’s Avenue-Stapleton Heights Historic District, which feature large Victorian houses. The East Shore is home to the 2.5-mile (4 km) F.D.R. Boardwalk, the fourth-longest boardwalk in the world.^[7] The South Shore, site of the 17th-century Dutch and French Huguenot settlement, developed rapidly beginning in the 1960s and 1970s and is now mostly suburban in character. The West Shore is the least populated and most industrial part of the island.

Motor traffic can reach the borough from Brooklyn via the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge and from New Jersey via the Outerbridge Crossing, Goethals Bridge and Bayonne Bridge. Staten Island has Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) bus lines and an MTA rapid transit line, the Staten Island Railway, which runs from the ferry terminal at St. George to Tottenville. Staten Island is the only borough that is not connected to the New York City Subway system. The free Staten Island Ferry connects the borough to Manhattan across New York Harbor. It provides views of the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, and Lower Manhattan.

Consolidation with New York City

 

New housing on Staten Island, 1973. Photo by Arthur Tress.

 

US Navy ships tied up at the home port pier during Fleet Week in 2007

The towns of Staten Island were dissolved in 1898 with the consolidation of the City of Greater New York, as Richmond County became one of the five boroughs of the expanded city. Although consolidated into the City of Greater New York in 1898, the county sheriff of Staten Island maintained control of the jail system, unlike the other boroughs, which had gradually transferred control of the jails to the Department of Correction. The jail system was not transferred until January 1, 1942. Staten Island is the only borough without a New York City Department of Correction major detention center.

The construction of the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, along with the other three major Staten Island bridges, created a new way for commuters and tourists to travel from New Jersey to Brooklyn, Manhattan, and areas farther east on Long Island. The network of highways running between the bridges has effectively carved up many of Staten Island’s old neighborhoods. The bridge opened many areas of the borough to residential and commercial development, especially in the central and southern parts of the borough, which had been largely undeveloped. Staten Island’s population doubled from 221,991 in 1960 to 443,728 in 2000.^[28] Nevertheless, Staten Island remained less developed than the rest of the city. A New York Times article in 1972 stated that despite the borough having 333,000 residents, parts of the island still maintained a bucolic atmosphere with woods and marshes.^[29]

Throughout the 1980s, a movement to secede from the city steadily grew in popularity, notably championed by longtime New York state senator and former Republican Party mayoral nominee John J. Marchi. The campaign reached its peak during the mayoral term of David Dinkins (1990–1993), after the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated the New York City Board of Estimate, which had given equal representation to the five boroughs. Dinkins and the city government opposed a non-binding secession referendum, contending that the vote should not be permitted by the state unless the city issued a home rule message supporting it, which the city would not. Governor Mario Cuomo disagreed, and the vote went forward in 1993. Ultimately, 65% of Staten island residents voted to secede, through the approval of a new city charter making Staten Island an independent city, but implementation was blocked in the State Assembly.^[30][31]

In the 1980s, the United States Navy had a base on Staten Island called Naval Station New York. It had two sections: a Strategic Homeport in Stapleton and a larger section near Fort Wadsworth, where the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge enters the island. The base was closed in 1994 through the Base Realignment and Closure process because of its small size and the expense of basing personnel there.

 

View of the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge from the South Beach on Staten Island.

Fresh Kills and its tributaries are part of the largest tidal wetland ecosystem in the region. Its creeks and wetlands have been designated a Significant Coastal Fish and Wildlife Habitat by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Opened along Fresh Kills as a “temporary landfill” in 1947, the Fresh Kills Landfill was a repository of trash for the city of New York. The landfill, once the world’s largest man-made structure,^[32] was closed in 2001,^[33] but was briefly re-opened for the debris from Ground Zero following the September 11 attacks in 2001. It is being converted into a park. Plans for the park include a bird-nesting island, public roads, boardwalks, soccer and baseball fields, bridle paths, and a 5,000-seat stadium.^[34] Today, freshwater and tidal wetlands, fields, birch thickets, and a coastal oak maritime forest, as well as areas dominated by non-native plant species, are all within the boundaries of Fresh Kills.

Parkland

Staten Island includes thousands of acres of federal, state, and local park land, including the “greenbelt” and “blue belt” park systems and the Gateway National Recreation Area, in addition to hundreds of acres of private wooded areas. The National Park Service maintains full-time wildland firefighters to patrol Staten Island sites in wildfire brush trucks.

The parks on Staten Island are managed by various state, federal and local agencies.

Five sites are part of the 26,000-acre (110 km²) Gateway National Recreation Area, managed by the U.S. National Park Service and patrolled by the United States Park Police:

• Great Kills Park
• Miller Field
• Fort Wadsworth
• Hoffman Island
• Swinburne Island

Two New York State parks are managed by the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation:

• Mount Loretto Unique Area
• Clay Pit Ponds State Park Preserve

New York State Park Police officers patrol these parks and the surrounding streets.

359 acres (145 ha) of State Forests, state wildlife management areas and Wetlands are managed by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation:

• Saint Francis Woodland
• Butler Manor Woods
• Arden Heights Woods
• Todt Hill Woods
• North Mount Loretto State Forest
• Lemon Creek Tidal Wetland Wildlife Management Area
• Blosers Wetland Wildlife Management Area
• Goethal Pond Wetland
• Bridge Creek Tidal Wetland
• Old Place Creek Tidal Wetland
• Oakwood Beach Wetland
• Sharrots Shoreline Natural Resource Area
• Sawmill Creek Wetland

The 359 acres (145 ha) of NYS Department of Environmental Conservation land throughout the island are patrolled by New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Police officers and one NYS DEC Forest Ranger, who has the dual task of law enforcement and fire suppression.

The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation manages 156 parks, including:

• Conference House Park
• Willowbrook Park
• Graniteville Quarry Park
• Silver Lake Park
• Clove Lakes Park

The Fresh Kills Landfill was the world’s largest landfill before closing in 2001,^[42] although it was temporarily reopened that year to receive debris from the September 11 attacks.^[43] The landfill is being redeveloped as Freshkills Park, an area devoted to restoring habitat. The park will become New York City’s second largest public park when completed.^[44]

The Staten Island Ferry is the only transportation directly from Staten Island to Manhattan, roughly a 25-minute trip.^[151] The St. George Terminal, first opened in 1886,^[152] was rebuilt in 1951^[153] and again in the 2000s.^[154] The ferry has been fare-free since 1997. The Staten Island Ferry transports over 60,000 passengers per day. It runs 24/7 every 15 to 20 minutes during weekday rush hours and every 30 minutes at other times.^[155] The ferries and both of its terminals are patrolled by a combination of the New York City Department of Transportation, New York City Police Department, United States Coast Guard and private security contractors.^[156]

An NYC Ferry route is planned to start operating in 2021 between St. George Terminal and Manhattan’s West Side. This route will be operated separately from the Staten Island Ferry and will charge a fare.^[157][158]