Transcript
Automated transcript · uncorrectedWith us this morning is Senator Scarsella Spartan and she is the state Senator for the Northern Shore of Staten Island and she’s very much concerned about economic development in the north Shore of Staten Island. And with us also who runs the fairy Hawks day to day is Eric Shuffler, and he’s concerned about the Northern Shore of Staten Island. Well,
where do we start, Senator’s.
We all start by saying that everybody should get out to see a Fairyhawks game. It’s one of our crown jewels here on Staten Island. It’s a place that I love to take my own kids. They always have a great game. And I’m really excited to see over the next couple of years some of the investments that the
city is going to be making into the north Shore to really make it thrive and live up to its full potential.
Well, you know, Eric and Scarsella. I’m looking forward to coming up with the final game plan that EDC Economic Development has in mind for the north Shore. But because the north Shore does need a lot of help, and I’ve been talking to Vito for Sella a lot, and Vito feels we need a lot of help in the
north Shore.
You know, it’s such an area of huge opportunity, you know, center you and I have talked a lot about it, John and I talk a lot about it. With the waterfront there and the outlet, and now with the stadium doing well as John and I have focused on making it a year round entertainment venue. It’s a huge potential
and a huge opportunity that we’re really excited about. More growth, more people there, and that’s what the stadium’s trying to do. But I know you’ve been working hard on a lot of you know, economic development the area and public safety in the area, which is you know, as John always tells me, it starts with people feeling safe.
And that’s very important. And one of the new things that we’re going to be getting done on the north Shore is have valley parking for the stadium because people don’t necessarily want how did a Jews say it slip to the parking lot. So having valet parking, we think we can almost double the attendance of the And we
need DC to cooperate, and we need your help to help EDC cooperate. We’re giving us more parking.
Absolutely. Look, I always say Staten Islanders. We don’t have the best transportation. We do depend on our cars. And when you make it easy for Staten Islander to park, or anybody frankly who’s coming from out of town to come to visit, that’s going to give all the more incentive for people to come and do so. I know
for myself, even I’m lucky enough that I can utilize my office right across the street from the Ferryhawk Stadium, but it’s very difficult sometimes, especially parking over there. So any ways that I can support valet parking for the stadium will go a tremendously long way, Senator.
New Yorkers are very concerned about retail theft, they’re very concerned about crime in the streets. And I’ve been I told the Governor, I told the Mayor, I’ve told everybody that if you ask the police commissioners a current one and previous ones, there’s thirty three hundred repeat people that have been arrested fifty times. Is there somebody, you know,
why can’t Aubany realize that these people don’t belong in a civilized world of eight and a half million New Yorkers.
Public safety is something that is probably my number one, two and three priority with regard to retail theft. There was a lot of measures that were put into the budget this year, but the one that I’m particularly most proud of is my retail worker assault bill. Was we were able to have conversations with the Governor’s team, we
advocated for really hard, and we got it done. The governor actually recently signed that bill into law. It was out the bill signing and people need to feel safe in order for anything to be successful. So while there’s a lot more work to be done, this is a good step in the right direction. As a matter of fact,
one of the things that we’re working on doing similar to how a police car says it’s a felony to assault a police officer, and on the side of the buses there’s a PSA that says it’s a felony to assault a bus driver. We have windows signs made up. We’re already starting to roll them out both on Staten Island
and in the southern Brooklyn portion of the district that we represent, putting them up in the windows to let people know that it’s a felony now to assault a retail worker and it’s punishable by up to four years in prison.
And that is a very good move. How about the people to throw people off the subway, off the tracks, I mean that.
Should be listen. That’s a huge it’s so alarming to me that sometimes people are I guess understating how important it is for people to feel safe. That’s unacceptable. We actually have another piece of legislation which would it’s called the Supportive Interventions Act, which would allow the MIYPD to get these people who are severely mentally ill. Again to specify,
these are people who are a danger to themselves and to other people. And I would certainly classify that group of people when you hear somebody getting push off the subway as a danger to themselves and other people and public safety as a whole.
And like I said, yes, fush, Like I said, there’s thirty three hundred repeat violent criminals after I mean used to be under Rockefeller Law three strikesing you’re out, Well right now, I’ll take ten strikesing you’re out. I’ll take anything, you know, because some people are not meant to be in a civilized world. That’s all. Let them go. Let
them go someplace else and abuse people, but don’t abuse them in New York City.
Right listen, if you have repeat offensive, I think you should be treated much differently within our criminal justice system because clearly, whatever lesson, you’re not learning it right. So that’s something that I think we really need to address and take seriously, because when it’s the same people who are committing crimes over and over again, we can’t keep
releasing them. It’s not working. Whether it’s people who need to serve time or get mental health treatment, which we’re not able to do right now because my bill, the Support of Interventions Act hasn’t passed. We can’t just let them back into the street. They’re not going to get the help that they need on their own, and they
need to face a different consequence.
Since we will support you, we will support you. Tell us who is against it, and we will well, we’ll do what we have to do, and thank you. And we need EDC’s help to get more parking so we can get more people in the seats in the stadium.
For Eric to not to be aggravated, always excited, always excited.
Me and Eric have a lot of conversations about how we can make people feel safer, what’s going to bring them into the stadium, and I think that’s a great first step, but I always like to you know, Yep, Staten Island is the safest city in America. So that is from our district attorney, Mike McMahon. We could always
do better, but hopefully with the different laws that I was able to advocate and get put into the budget, people will feel safe and comfortable come and visit us, whether they want to come by boat or by car.
Thank you so much. And uh Vito for Seller is pushing to make sure we get more parking from EDC Economic Development and if you call them to economic development, maybe we can get it done. And Eric, you guys you got this is Mother’s Day weekend and you’re playing on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
You go home weekend. Sunday. Moms get in free, Moms run the bases free. My god. Great, and we’re doing family pictures on the field, which figure, what would a mom want coming to a baseball game? Maybe, but that elusive family photo with that backdrop on the stadium. So mom’s getting free, run the bases and family photos on
the field.
Happy Mother’s Day, Eric Shuffler, Happy Mother’s Day to your wife and Senator’s Garcelo, thank you as Carcela Spartan, thank you so much for being on today.
Absolutely my pleasure. I hope everyone has a great Mother’s Day and enjoy the view at the Fairyhawk Stadium.
Thanks Senator, thank you,
Sunday, May 12, 2024
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