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It really is a shame that outsiders have so unfairly stereotyped our
home. This is a great cause and it's about time something has been done to fight
it. In the meantime some islanders should realize that the south shore is not
infested with trashy people anymore than the north shore is. From end to end,
the island has a variety of places and people to offer. There is good and bad
everywhere. We should all strive to have pride in our entire home and not feed
into stereotyping amongst ourselves.
Great job again!
Amanda F.
I LOVE Staten Island! It is such a great place to live. I love the
proximity to the city without the craziness of the Manhattan lifestyle.
Erin F.
I think what you guys are doing is amazing! Great idea.
Amanda M
great idea.
Bill M
I am an actor living in tottenville. My friend Mia Denali is also a
SI'er & an actress.We are both currently in the top of an online movie contest
at LiveMansion.com.We need your votes NOW since the contest round ends Friday.
IF WE WIN... THE ANIMALS WIN!
If we win Roles in LiveMansion the Movie....
We will Donate $3000.00 to ANIMAL RESCUE!
Help us HELP!
VOTE YES for Miatta, Luigi and Stevedige
GO To www.LiveMansion.com
staten island was beautiful and peaceful and people had respect for
each other and each others property before they built that bridge...after that
everything went downhill pretty fast.
Sue K
I am very happy to see that there are other people like myself who are
very proud of this forgotten borough. Most of the "critics" of Staten Island
would find much cultural diversity here if only they would take the time to see
through the negative stereotypes that have been established. Those who had the
initiative to start this cause and those of us who cared enough to visit this
website should be smart and see through these narrow minded, naive people who
prejudge based on an address. Obviously these people do not stand for what every
other borough in this city is supposed to be about- diversity. The critics
should educate themselves before they ridicule. So next time one comes across a
negative remark about the borough, (after asking the person making the remark
where they are originally from)ask the person making the remark what else they
know about the island other then the (now closed)landfill and a tastless
televised documentry. I am sure that they would be
very suprised to learn about what the island has to offer.
Robert W
keep up the good work guys! i really support your cause!
matthew m.
I was equally disgusted with the True life series. When I saw the
Casting call info on MTV.com I emailed them pleading to not portray the
Stereo-typical staten islander.
It is great that you are doing this, but You need to branch out to the whole
Island, in most of your pics, i see mainly North shore neighborhoods and pics of
the ferry...
I am a 4th generation native Staten Islander. I live in the area of the island
that my friends and i like to call, central Staten Island. We are not north
shore, and do not want to be associated with the trashy south shore non-natives.
I live in the heart of the greenbelt. I have lots of pictures of the foliage
if you are interested.
Michelle M
Great Job. Keep it up. There are more proud Staten Islanders than you
might think.
Sean S.
I was born and raised here.My mother was born here and my father moved
here from Greenwich Village when he was 6.This place was a paradise when I was
younger.This Island was ruined by people like those on that True Life show.I
will comment further on my next visit to your site.Keep up the good work
Bob V.
I'm a normal
person who knows other normal, nice people who live on Staten Island.
I'm a working professional and MBA student at NYU. I'm a foodie, an
outdoor lover and have a broad range of interests. I live on the north
shore of Staten Island and here are a few of my favorite things and
places:
Cool Places:
Silver Lake Park
Snug Harbor Botanical Gardens esp the Chinese Scholar Garden
The Greenbelt
Tibetan Museum
Gateway
Boardwalk at South Beach
Beach Volleyball league is fun in the summer
Places to Eat
Cargo Cafe for any meal but definitely a good brunch
restaurant in Snug Harbor - great setting and good food, nice brunch
Forect Thai
Tokyo Sushi on Victory
Nori sushi
Adobe Blues (beer selection and food)
Burrito Bar
East (even though it's in the mall)
LaRoccas for ices
Duffy's for burgers
Places to hang out
Muddy Cup for coffee
Perking Latte for coffee
Cargo Cafe for drinks
Martini Red for late night drinks
The Black Dog used to be fun for darts before they got a DJ
Ildi
We are a Paranormal Organization group based out of Staten Island. I
don't know if that counts as "normal" or not to you! LOL! It would be good to
let people know that we are out there to help them document paranormal activity,
though. We were included in an article on the Garibaldi-Meucci Museum in the
Staten Island Advance in October. We recently conducted public ghost tours at
Snug Harbor and are now working with the Friends of Abandoned Cemeteries of SI
in possibly doing it for them, also, as a fundraiser. Check out our website at
http://siparanormalsociety.tripod.com/home.html
THE LETTER
Dear MTV,
My name is Thomas Connors, I am a 24 year old Designer from Staten
Island, NY. Forgive me if this email seems a little erratic and
non-cohesive but i am currently watching the latest MTV True Life
"Im a Staten Island Girl." Myself, as well as all of my close
friends and family are quite disturbed because of the untrue and
insulting picture you've painted of Staten Island and its residents.
I am currently 10 minutes into the show and have found myself
furious and even nauseous. It has been too long that individuals who
were born and raised here have been ridiculed for being a "Staten
Islander". The disrespect and utter hate residents of our "Sister
Boroughs" have for us is caused and fueled by such untrue and
discredited facts. Most of the views others have about our residents
are passed down from parent to child. To be the "forgotten borough"
is hurtful and has always baffled me since we are the third largest
borough in NYC with 60.9 square miles of hill top houses, lush
greenery and culture filled urban areas. The rest of the so called
more important boroughs are as follows: Bronx is 44.0 square miles,
Brooklyn, 72.5 square miles, Queens, 112.1 square miles and the
smallest of boroughs, Manhattan with a meek 22.4 square miles. Be
careful of who you anger in this city because approximately 50% of
staten Islanders work, play, and travel into Manhattan on a single
day. Wait down by the Whitehall street station and watch all the
DIFFERENT people rushing to get to work on time. We have a
population of 460,000 residents and the smallest portion of this is
infected with such individuals that you have chosen to use in this
"documentary". Like any place, we have sections, or neighborhoods,
each with their own culture, history, and mood. The people you've
chosen to follow during the taping of this, grow up and live in a
section of staten island that is the furthest away from manhattan,
thus cutting them of from the more cultured areas. These people are,
for the most part, ignorant and apposed to anything other then what
is fed to them from their parents silver spoons. I assure you, there
is more to Staten Island then what you've chosen to feed the public.
For such a, "Speak your mind", Liberal entertainment company, you've
done nothing more then satisfied a tiny population on staten island
and fed the rest of the nation a bias and unfair mouth and earful of
garbage. There is such difference between all of the residents here,
all you had to do was travel to the north near westerleigh and
mariners harbor and you would be smack dab in the center of a
cultural mine field. Westerleigh, whose neighboring areas are
populated with all but the kitchen sink, is one of the most highly
populated irish american areas in all of NY. Young children here
have struggled to wipe them selves clean of the vale that is the
"typical staten islander." I happen to be one of hundreds to
possibly thousands of musicians and artists that have been
struggling to make a mark on any other place other then staten
island. No one wants to hear or even give or music and art a chance.
We have been "type-cast" and pinned as a group of ignorant people
that have nothing more to offer then a bad accent and all that their
parents gave them. It would have been more appropriate if you titled
this show True life "Im a spoiled conservative republican, italian
american girl from Tottenville whose only accomplished read is Us
Weekly." If you wanted to paint a more accurate picture of poeple on
Staten Island, then maybe you should have follwed 3 different people
around the island, showing there obvious differences and but at the
same time sharing a common ground. In a world that is a ticking time
bomb, we cant be creating tension between social classes and
cultures. This episode especially condoens narrow mindedness. I have
an idea, since MTV is supposed to be about the celebration of MUSIC,
lets show it. Write a show about underground music in NYC, different
types from each borough. Come down and document the family of
musicians struggling to pay rent to have a cave like studio to call
their own. I will not accept that the reasons for using these people
are for the fact that Italian Americans make up a large portion of
the population here. My family is Italian American and Irish
American, and i cant find a single person like this in mine. This
small group of people think the "perfect Italian" is Tony Soprano.
This episode reaks of ignorance and is a breeding ground for
steriotypes. I myself have had to deal with the eyes and cynical
remarks of non-staten islanders all of my life. Just today the
director of human resources at my place of employment gave me the
good ol', "Oh your from staten island, Isn't that built on a garbage
dump". No one wants to acknowledge the fact that we have one of the
largest areas of natural and protected land within the five
boroughs, the Green Belt. This you cant take away from us. Believe
me, I see the beauty and history behind a borough covered in a
webbing of concrete, block and mortar. But i see more importance in
an entire borough and family of people who care more about the
preservation of the last bit of natural and protected land. It would
be more appreciated and TRUE LIFE if you documented how much the
rest of the city and even the nation don't know about Staten Island.
We eat, sleep and breath just like the rest of the residents of the
golden boroughs. Most of the people who make these rude and
degrading remrks about people in our situation, are looking from the
outside in. So many of the young professionals that live in NYC are
NYC "transplants." Id like to meet the man, women or from the looks
of it, child that produced and researched this. With this latest
plagiarist documentation of the already downtrodden, unappreciated
and hated residents of staten island, you've managed to add more
fuel to the already fast burning fire .
Keep up the (always questionably) good work
sincerely,
Thomas
Staten Island is a great place to live. You have more property than
Brooklyn and you don't have to fight for parking (most of the time). I love it
here.
Connie
i hope you can stop by the burrito bar. there are lots of great people
here and i'm sure they will have plenty to sound off about...good luck with your
film and thanks for trying to get the respect STATEN ISLANDERS deserve.
Brian
true life i'm a staten island girl was about rich spoiled g**** that
made staten island look really bad i have alot of friends
here and none of them talk like they did, they sounded like idiot on the show
e.m.
I am an original Staten Islander. I have seen many changes in my 57
yrs. For one housing. Too much housing is being built here on Staten Island now.
They are taking away our precious greenary. Also traffic is so congested now. It
seems as though we are going to be a transient boro because so many people move
here and use Staten Island as a stepping stone to move to NJ or somewhere else.
While growing up on Staten Island as a child we were able to play in the woods
camp in the woods and go ice skating on ponds all over Staten Island. Today the
kids dont have too much to do other than hang out. Unless of course if they are
involved in sports like Babe Ruth League or Little League or Cyo baseball and
basketball or YMCA also. Other than that when was the last time you seen a pick
up game of softball or baseball for that matter.
Bowling used to be very big here on Staten Island also. With Colonial Lanes,SUnset Lanes,Coral Lanes,Bowling on the Green,Columbian lanes, Wishing Well,Big Ten, Madalones, Country Lanes and SHowplace Lanes, Now we only have Country and Showplace. Its terrible that housing has taken those sites over also. I guess some people call this progress I dont I call it a shame. More homes and of course more shopping centers. Where is the fun for our children. The south beach rides gone to housing,Al Deppes gone also. You have one small area on Staten Island that has some kiddie rides inside.
We also have a carousel in Willow Brook Park . We need to have more things outside of our homes and in the fresh air that our children can do and maybe just maybe the obese child
problem will go away. Nutrition in the schools is a step in the right direction
but when litle Johnny comes home from school and turns on his computer and never
gets off until mom or dad make him or her get off. We are becoming very
sedintary at such a ripe young age. We need to do more to make our children
active. Thanks for reaading this and I hope it has given you some ideas .
Matt I.
Staten Island a great place to live. Too bad the city wont give us the
time of day or a say. My family has lived here since the potatoe famine since
the 1850's. It hurts to see that the bourough is divided. The Island natives
live in the North shore and the "transplants" South shore.
Colleen C.
We need someone to take the effort and pride of introducing as the asset that we are.
Ethel
I am so glad to see this site. My significant other is from Brooklyn. We're in Atlantic City a month ago at a comedy club and the comedian starts telling everyone that people from Staten Island are stupid. Well thats all I needed to hear. I start telling him its because we were invaded by Brooklyn. This opened up a can of worms. I had to apoligize to a few other's for that comment and my other half. Then I hear that MTV has done a show about Staten Island girls. It wasn't pretty. I haven't seen the shows but the women or young ladies didn't make us look like we were to smart. This boro, as I am sure you know, is unique and could have been another quaint little town but alot of the builders just dropped houses where ever they could and that hurt us. Our colleges are said to be, by some, not taken seriously. This is alarming. Whats happening here. Are we changing? Any way what is done is done. I do think we are changing and it may be worse before it is better and we all see what we always were. An Island unlike the others and it has a lot of good stuff here. One of the Beetles even came here for treatment.
Thanks for this site.
Elizabeth
Hi, another really good thing to know about Staten Island is that the
New York Times did an article on two artists that moved out of NYC to Staten
Island to work. The article was intitled Where are all the artists going. I am
an artist I was excited to here that they came here!
Elizabeth S.
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