Editing Staten Island (section)

===Consolidation with New York City===
[[File:NEW HOUSING ON STATEN ISLAND - NARA - 547837.jpg|thumb|right|New housing on Staten Island, 1973, photo by [[Arthur Tress]]]]
[[File:US Navy 070528-N-5758H-116.jpg|thumb|right|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 [[Boroughs of New York City|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 from the 1960s onward, 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.<ref>{{cite web |title=New York City Population by Borough, 1950 - 2040 |website=NYC Open Data |date=February 7, 2020 |url=https://data.cityofnewyork.us/City-Government/New-York-City-Population-by-Borough-1950-2040/xywu-7bv9 |access-date=November 27, 2020 |archive-date=November 28, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201128102538/https://data.cityofnewyork.us/City-Government/New-York-City-Population-by-Borough-1950-2040/xywu-7bv9 |url-status=live }}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web |title=Staten Island: The City's Offshore Bucolic Niche |website=The New York Times |date=July 18, 1972 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1972/07/18/archives/staten-island-the-citys-offshore-bucolic-niche-staten-island-offers.html |access-date=September 21, 2019 }}</ref>

Throughout the 1980s, a movement to [[Partition and secession in New York#Staten Island secession from New York City|secede from the city]] steadily grew in popularity, notably championed by longtime New York state senator and former [[Republican Party (United States)|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 (United States)|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 [[Municipal charter|city charter]] making Staten Island an independent [[Administrative divisions of New York (state)|city]], but implementation was blocked in the [[New York State Assembly|State Assembly]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/03/05/nyregion/home-rule-factor-may-block-si-secession.html |title='Home Rule' Factor May Block S.I. Secession |last=McFadden |first=Robert D. |date=March 5, 1994 |work=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=October 20, 2009 |archive-date=November 15, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121115012023/http://www.nytimes.com/1994/03/05/nyregion/home-rule-factor-may-block-si-secession.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.silive.com/news/2019/11/forgotten-borough-no-more-borelli-moves-forward-with-plan-to-revive-island-secession-from-new-york-city.html |title=Forgotten borough no more: Borelli moves forward with plan to revive Island secession from New York City |last=Kashiwagi |first=Sydney |date=November 8, 2019 |website=silive |language=en |access-date=November 11, 2019 |archive-date=November 11, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191111154243/https://www.silive.com/news/2019/11/forgotten-borough-no-more-borelli-moves-forward-with-plan-to-revive-island-secession-from-new-york-city.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

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, Staten Island|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.
[[File:Staten island south beach.jpg|thumb|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,<ref>
{{cite book |last=John |first=Lloyd |author-link=John Lloyd (writer) |author2=Mitchinson, John |author-link2=John Mitchinson (researcher) |title=QI: The Book of General Ignorance |publisher=Faber and Faber |date=October 5, 2006 |pages=114–115 |isbn=0-571-23368-6 |title-link=The Book of General Ignorance }}</ref> was closed in 2001,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/html/fkl/ada/about/1_2.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070603045619/http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/html/fkl/ada/about/1_2.html |title=Fresh Kills:Landfill to Landscape |archive-date=June 3, 2007 |via=archive.org }}</ref> but it was briefly reopened for the debris from [[World Trade Center site|Ground Zero]] following the [[September 11 attacks]] in 2001. It is being [[Freshkills Park|converted into a park]] almost three times the size of [[Central Park]] and the largest park to be developed in New York City in over 100 years.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Freshkills Park |url=https://freshkillspark.org/ |access-date=July 11, 2023 |website=Freshkills Park |language=en-US }}</ref> Plans for the park include a bird-nesting island, public roads, boardwalks, soccer and baseball fields, bridle paths, and a 5,000-seat stadium.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://nyc.gov/html/dcp/html/fkl/fkl3.shtml |title=Fresh Kills |publisher=New York City Department of City Planning |year=2009 |access-date=October 20, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091124160916/http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/html/fkl/fkl3.shtml |archive-date=November 24, 2009 }}</ref> 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.
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{{wide image|Verbridge1.jpg|980px|alt=[[Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge]] connecting the eastern portion of the island to Brooklyn|[[Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge]] connecting the eastern portion of the island to [[Brooklyn]]}}