What's the deal with Staten Island? (New York, Union: best neighborhood, sales, crime)

[nyc0127]

I didn't refer to working-class European Americans are losers whites. If that's the way you took it, than I'm sorry and didn't mean that. I mean that prejudice whites are losers. What I meant to point out is that usually coincides with non-education, working-class and hostile people in New York City.

By all means, working-class people can and usually are as nice and respectful as educated people. As far as police officers go, I don't degrade them. I degraded the infrastructure of the NYPD, that allowed so many people who were never mentally cut out to be cops, to become cops. I degraded the fact that someone would wash away any potential they had because they believed civil service (as a broad category) was the only line of work they were capable of doing. It's horrible for anyone to underachieve. If you do though, you should go about it in a respectful manner (which many don't do).

I come from the same kind of family as you. My father is working class. I am not calling those families losers. I'm saying the prejudice ones are. We all know bigots exist everywhere. However, in few places, does the infrastructure allow or even go as far to promote bigotry sometimes. Sadly to say, Staten Island happens to be one of those places (especially the south shore).

I would know that it's easy money and a skill-less job because my uncle does it. Honestly, I don't know what my uncle would have did for a living if it weren't for that. He'd probably be bouncing from job to job. He's miserable. He married into money and lives in a nice home in upstate New York. Is it right that a sanitation worker is picking up trash in an immigrated neighborhood in the Bronx that he isn't even from?

Isn't he stealing a job from someone who could use it a lot more? Because he married into money and education, he's constantly reminded of how low class he is. He's one of the most miserable men you'll meet.
I know it's not that bad and lucky for sanitation workers all the time. However, I have had personal experience I can relate that would allow me to know the knowledge of this. He's told me what his job duties were. Every thing I described to you about the sanitation was factual.

Honestly, I never knew how it was to handle trash and don't want. For who wants to do it, I give them respect. I'm arguing about the economical part of it though. No matter where you are in this country, it pays relatively similar. You start out around 15-20 an hour, and max out in the 50's (assuming you don't make it into management). There is filthy trash all over this country, so you could make the argument they should be paid more everywhere. They aren't though. So therefore, a sanitation worker doesn't deserve $35 an hour.

This is simple economics. There are too many sanitation workers. If they're only working 4 hours a day, than they should cut the department by one-third or simply not hire until the numbers are proportional. The same thing applies to the NYPD. They're hiring less. They're making it a job that is less lucrative. They've lowered the salary, enhanced the educational requirements and cut down on all the BS.

With the FDNY, they have too many too. The only thing I respect about the sanitation, NYPD and other city jobs that I don't about the FDNY is that they are fair to all. Go back to that theory I made about the new cops coming about fifty years ago. The U.S. government is federally investigating why it's so racially disproportional. Some people say that it's because it's a family oriented job. That's BS. Anyone is willing to do it, especially considering it pays 10 grand more a year than cops get after 10 years. No dad can help get a child a job in the real world, so why should it be any different there?


Believe me, I know about all the ''rubbish'' on Staten Island. It's unfortunate that I think that more of the people more than the odor on the West Shore express way on a July afternoon. I won't be touching any trash in my life, so don't worry. My studies are right where they are. They give a little thing called winter recess during college. I work retail part-time, so I still have a little time to talk to an annoyance like yourself.

I'd like to believe that all are decent people. Many really are. The society isn't though. A few people with mouths ruin it for everyone. Much of my distaste with Staten Island really only centers around the south-shore. I saw a recent post on here about preferring people to move to the north-shore. If you do choose to move to Staten Island, he's right. That place is able to handle more, because it's more economically, educationally and religiously diverse. Not everyone tends to look like one another there too.

Very few from the south shore would ever move to the north shore. Because rent is so minimal (the south shore doesn't have apartment buildings - yet), or too expensive because it's in the form of two-family houses, many get stuck living with mommy and daddy because they're scared of living around ''diversity.'' In fact, some refer to Aspen Knolls (a lower-middle class townhouse community) as the ''south shore ghetto'', because it has more diversity than the rest of the south shore.

What is a place where people from lower-ended places come to, yet no people better or even the same come to? That's called a ghetto. Or politely, a below average semi-urban enclave. If I were to rate Staten Island on a 1-10 scale considering everything (assuming 5 is average), I'd rate it a 3. I'd rate the south shore a 1. Staten Island has hope. As I said though, it's status quo is horrible and it's direction isn't good.

I don't hate myself, because I'm not one of them. I don't hate them either. Have a conversation with all the ''good Staten Islanders'' that ditched out to places like Manalapan, Redbank and Howell. Even if they don't express themselves as openly as I do, they'd be reluctant to ever going back.

Camden isn't all that close. It's around 25 minutes away. It would be like saying to someone in Tottenville, go to Stapleton. I've been to Camden and can tell you it's as bad as it's reputation is. I know good people from there though. They may not come from good situations a decent amount of the time, but they know in order to make it in the real world, they'd have to be quiet and go about themselves respectfully. I'd much rather be around a lower-middle class Camden resident than a kid on the south shore who calls everyone gay and can't even say the word bro right.

People on Staten Island fear places like ''Park Hill'', yet they're really not as bad as they are. It's just they're stigma against ''black people.'' How bad could a ''ghetto'' really be, if it was developed primarily in a suburban method? Lastly, stay away from the ''belittle attempts'' of me. How much of a man really are you if you're trying to insult a person you've never even seen?

[Marc Oh!]

Originally Posted by nyc0127

I know people who are just like you. They've been to Staten Island. When they were there, it wasn't all that bad. If you're only there a few times for little amount of time, you don't get a taste for what it really is. That's the same with every place. Florida may be a beautiful vacation or retirement spot, but for many it's not an advisable place to live.

You're right, but I haven't just been there a few times. I have very good friends there who are like a second family to me and I spend alot of time there. I know people from SI are a little different, but I like it there. I feel at home being in any Italian neighborhood I guess.

Originally Posted by nyc0127

No one pushed them out of the city. They pushed themselves out.

When your neighborhood turns to crap and it's not as safe to walk down the street anymore, I'd say you're being pushed out. I've seen it happen my whole life. You can't blame white people for wanting to get out of those situations. For example, my grandmother's neighborhood turned pretty bad. 5 years before she moved out, my father advised her to get out while she still could, when it was all starting and the neighborhood was changing. She waited until the neighborhood was completely in ruins and sold her house for a mere 60K, then finding herself with a new mortgage exponentially higher than that.

[Marc Oh!]

Originally Posted by nyc0127

With the FDNY, they have too many too. The only thing I respect about the sanitation, NYPD and other city jobs that I don't about the FDNY is that they are fair to all.

Wrong. The FDNY hiring process IS (or at least WAS up until the controversy from this latest test) fair. It may be one of the last hiring processes that is truly fair and truly competitive. You take your tests, you get a rank, you're put on a list, and they hire from the list - 1, 2, 3......

Yes, the FDNY has an extremely high percentage of whites. It's either a job minorites can't get or don't want. You can't argue about fairness when they hire from top to bottom in order of candidate performance.

And by the way, the FDNY is a damn hard job to get. They're not just giving it to any white guy that wants it. They test every 4 years and from each test they take around 2000 or 3000 guys I believe. The last test that was given had 22,000 applicants, so they're only taking the top 10%. They don't hire slouches. I'm trying to get on the FDNY (took the test last January), I have a bachelors degree from a top 20 business school and a good job in the city, I wouldn't consider myself a slouch. I'm not applying b/c I had nothing else better do, I truly want to be a fireman. And most firemen truly wanted to be firemen, it wasn't their "degenerate fall back plan" like you may think.

Oh, and being a fireman or a policeman is a repectable, heroic job. Why don't you try giving them a little more credit.

[nyc0127]

Hello Marc Oh! My grammar isn't all that bad compared to other people on here. You abbreviate and shortening out your sentences too. I know how much I'm writing. I re-read it over when I'm done reading it. I don't going through the spelling like it's a term paper for college composition though.

I agree that Staten Island is the cheapest option within the 5 boroughs. Too many people have a habit of comparing it to the other 4 boroughs though. Begin to compare it to Monmouth, Nassau and Westchester counties. I know both Philadelphia and Bensonhurst well. There have probably been so minimal amount of people who have ever done that move that you couldn't compare it to anything.

I swear, it's cute that you believe ''Italians'' still exist. You don't even know who is. What is your element for judging? You aren't even from there so it would be difficult to understand the sociology of things. If you're smart you'll stay in Brooklyn. It's an affluent place. If you move to Staten Island, it will likely only be for economic reasons. Your kids will suffer educationally. If you do make the transition and end up on the south shore, don't say you didn't get a fair warning about the drug usage and foreclosure rates.

Do you actually believe ''ethnicities'' still exist though? How would you know if they ever left? The incompetent census that goes up to 150 percent? Or simply by seeing white people leave? The neighborhood is being flooded in with Asian, Eastern European, Middle Eastern and Latin American immigrants. It's changing. It's changing a lot more than Staten Island at a quicker rate because it is a better place to live with better geography.

The truth is being ''Italian'' in New York City is being ''white.'' That is white catholic culture in New York. What gets even cuter is when people say ''Italian and Irish'', because than you're really take the seriousness out of the whole situation. It's good to know what your background it, but it has little effect over how anyone lives. I've asked my grandmother before, if you had to choose between being Italian or white which would you choose? She said white. I said why, what is so prideful about that? She said because she's American.

It's like she associates white with American. Half of you are probably just thinking she's a dillusional old lady (which she is), but she knew what she was saying. I asked her friend one time (who isn't all the bright) why have Italians gotten whiter since being in America? He said because they just did (I didn't know if he meant because of getting less ''sun'' or if he was trying to be clever). If he was trying to be, he was indirectly correct.

Philadelphia is a dangerous city by all means. The one thing about Philadelphia that other places don't have is that it is a real city. More of it's residents stay. Almost every neighborhood is diverse. There is no way to not live around black people in Philadelphia. 73% of students in that city are applicable for some kind of reduced lunch. Philadelphia is 42% white. It's a poor city for all. If you don't believe me, look at the whites in Kensington and Fishtown.

Philadelphia is a rich place when it is for business. They protect south and market street well. Every university is protected better than any white suburb ever could. They let the rest rot in hell though. They could care less. They need more cops. The gun laws in Pennsylvania are weak because Harrisburg could care less for them. Unlike New York City too, interracial mixing is very high in Philadelphia. Over one percent of their city is legitimate half white and half African-American. Maybe because less of the whites are catholic has influence on that or because there is an equivalent percentage of whites to blacks, but people seem to be more accepting.

The lowest classes of white in Philadelphia are much more tolerant with low-class blacks because they live together. Most could never afford to make it in New Jersey. Bucks county is expensive too. Delaware is no promise land, so they won't go there. Philadelphia cops last longer. Unlike New York, they don't have no cupcakes for any city job (except for Septa). If you're a cop, it should be mandatory that you reside where you are protecting. College may not be a requirement in there police department, but not being a coward is one. More of there cops remain in the city after retiring, even if it means living in a below average row home.

Philadelphia is garbage by all means. Staten Island is too. The only places on Staten Island I'd get give the day of mind to think about is a neighborhood like Westerleigh. In Philadelphia, I'd really only look at the northeast. Philadelphia has had many of it's people remain for over a century. Blacks have been there longer than they were in New York City. Although they have higher African immigration, they have much less West Indian immigration than New York City. They've had consecutive African-American mayors and police commissioners. The blacks do the same jobs as the whites.

If you keep up on the news with the controversy of ''Genos'', he put a sign up on his window that said English only. Philadelphia isn't all as foreign-born as New York City is (what immigrant in there right mind would want to move there?), but who's left to eat? I'm sure lower-middle class black and white construction and factory workers are there primary customers. Surely enough there is racism in Philadelphia, but it's less egged on and the media doesn't do the dirty book. Natives like Bill Cosby would rather be the guys who want to set the record straight.

Lastly, I saw a post saying that 50% of Staten Island is Italian-American. That is false ignorance. If you look at the incompetent Census, it's 38%. They go up to in the range of 135 percent. They say Staten Island is 7% Jewish. It's more than that. I've lived there. It's probably double. It's 12% Latin American. Not every Latin American immigrant acknowledges the politically incorrect term ''Hispanic'', so therefore it's less. It's near 18 to 20 percent. So legitimately, you'd have to divide by 2/3 (100/150).

That would mean it would be about 25 percent. Maybe thirty at a stretch. Maybe one-third on the south shore. That doesn't mean people don't have relatives who are married to people of Italian descent, but that doesn't make you that for that reason. Recently, another incompetent source (Wikipedia) posted that Staten Island was 44.4% Italian-American. I took the initiative to edit the page (regular people create it) and explained this statistical disproportion. The web-site changed it to 38%.

You have to think outside the box to put this whole puzzle together. I wish you the best in New York. Something tells me you'll end up in Jersey though.

[samyn on the green]

Well nyc0127 you seem to somewhat intelligent and a young person with potential. However I don't think you have seen much of the world, outside of the Staten Island/Jersey/public school education paradigm. It seems like your point of reference is Staten Island and all of your hate, love and worldly rationalizations are based on your limited experiences with the working class people there. I don't think you realize how lucky you were to grow up around the Staten Island people of such common decency and quiet dignity.

As you get older and if you have the privilege to travel the world you will find that the people you disparage in Staten Island are not that bad at all. For the most part they are family people that take care of themselves and place their family first. You speak of assimilating into the white masses like it is some educated socially uplifting thing to do. That is a huge fallacy, assimilating into the white masses is cultural suicide. Have you been around middle America suburban whites? We are talking a culture that varies from vapid to boring and a cuisine that caries from whopper to big mac. Drug use in Staten Island? Half of American assimilated whites have a meth issue and that is destroying their families and culture. You will live better and eat better with your Staten Island natives.

Is Staten Island for everyone? No way it is a unique American environment but one of the few places where the bland, dull assimilated suburban American culture has some flavor. Go beyond your public school brainwashing and get a bit ahead of the cultural curve. There is a reason why recent immigrants have no interest in assimilating into common American culture, it is a dead end culture. People in Staten Island have held on to their vitality. Educate yourself beyond the morbid textbooks of modern education. Realize the common fallacy that assimilating into the mainstream is not upward mobility but cultural death. Travel the world and hold on to your roots and who you are. Staten Island is life, assimilation is death.

[Marc Oh!]

Originally Posted by nyc0127

Hello Marc Oh! My grammar isn't all that bad compared to other people on here. You abbreviate and shortening out your sentences too. I know how much I'm writing. I re-read it over when I'm done reading it. I don't going through the spelling like it's a term paper for college composition though.

Sorry, I think I abbreviated the Fire Department of New York to FDNY...You're right, it's not a college term paper, but your horrid grammar, spelling, and sentence structure cheapens any argument you do have.

Originally Posted by nyc0127

I swear, it's cute that you believe ''Italians'' still exist. You don't even know who is. What is your element for judging? You aren't even from there so it would be difficult to understand the sociology of things.

Yes, we do exist. No, I'm not from Italy, nor are my parents or grandparents. When I say I'm Italian, I mean I'm Italian-American. I never said I wasn't white, but people in America that are of Italian descent have a separate culture and an identity, so you can't say there are no "Italians". Much of the way I was molded and raised was similar to other Italians. The majority of blacks in this country have had their families here for many generations and never stepped foot in Africa. Do they still have a cultural identity that is different than other groups? Yes. Would you tell a Russian they're not Russian or a Puerto-Rican they're not Puerto-Rican?

Originally Posted by nyc0127

I asked her friend one time (who isn't all the bright) why have Italians gotten whiter since being in America? He said because they just did (I didn't know if he meant because of getting less ''sun'' or if he was trying to be clever). If he was trying to be, he was indirectly correct.

We became "white" because we eventually, as a whole, got out of poverty and somewhat socio-economically caught up to the WASP'ish whites.

Originally Posted by nyc0127

Almost every neighborhood is diverse. There is no way to not live around black people in Philadelphia. 73% of students in that city are applicable for some kind of reduced lunch. Philadelphia is 42% white. It's a poor city for all. If you don't believe me, look at the whites in Kensington and Fishtown.

New York is much more diverse than Philly. Philly is a city where you are pretty much either black, or you are white. Oh, and Kensington (Phila) is a sh*thole. Many of the whites that are there are trying to gentrify it (I really don't know why though, it's one of the worst areas of the city. I guess because it's close to downtown.)

Originally Posted by nyc0127

Philadelphia is a rich place when it is for business. They protect south and market street well. Every university is protected better than any white suburb ever could.

Yeah, then you take a step off campus and you realize you're in North Philly or West Philly and since you're a white college kid, you make the best target for the degenerates in the neighborhood to rob. Oh, and they protect South Street now because people rioted and looted there about 6 years ago. South street sucks anyway...the clientele are either freak hipsters, tourists, or ghetto people.

Originally Posted by nyc0127

The gun laws in Pennsylvania are weak because Harrisburg could care less for them.

Gun laws aren't going to prevent the criminals running around the bad neighborhoods from getting there hands on them. Gun control only controls the law abiding citizens.

Originally Posted by nyc0127

Unlike New York City too, interracial mixing is very high in Philadelphia. Over one percent of their city is legitimate half white and half African-American. Maybe because less of the whites are catholic has influence on that or because there is an equivalent percentage of whites to blacks, but people seem to be more accepting.

Wow, a whole 1% huh? Like I said before, Philly doesn't hold a candle to NYC when it comes to diversity. It is not a liberal city (yes they vote Democrat but I'm not talking in that sense). By the way, I would say that most whites in Philadelphia are Catholic (majority of whites in Philly have Irish or Italian blood in them, or both).

Originally Posted by nyc0127

The lowest classes of white in Philadelphia are much more tolerant with low-class blacks because they live together. Most could never afford to make it in New Jersey. Bucks county is expensive too.

I don't know where you get the idea of this racial harmony in Philadelphia. The whites that live amongst the blacks are simply just dealing with it. Most of them don't like it at all. Ask a South Philly Italian (or even Irish) guy what he thinks of a black moving into his neighborhood (You better believe every other word will start with an "N"). Ask someone from the Northeast what they think of the Russians moving in (the Northeast is getting its fair share of blacks too). The nice neighborhoods left of Philly are the ones that are predominantly white. Most of the predominately black areas are bad, that's just reality, not racism.

Originally Posted by nyc0127

They've had consecutive African-American mayors and police commissioners. The blacks do the same jobs as the whites.

Yeah wow, Mayor Street did a phenominal job, let me tell you. And it sure seems to me like blacks in Philly don't do the same jobs as whites. The white-collared jobs and the more-skilled blue collared jobs (ex. Electrician's Local) are taken mostly by whites.

Originally Posted by nyc0127

If you keep up on the news with the controversy of ''Genos'', he put a sign up on his window that said English only. Philadelphia isn't all as foreign-born as New York City is (what immigrant in there right mind would want to move there?), but who's left to eat? I'm sure lower-middle class black and white construction and factory workers are there primary customers.

Yes I know the story. Quit throwing out little tidbits of information to show how you know soo much about Philly. Any time I've been to Pat's (across the street from Geno's) or Geno's, it's mostly whites and tourists, and on weekend nights, it's drunk kids that want something to eat at 2:30 in the morning.

I love Philly (the non-ghetto parts). But for some reason you're giving it this false portrayal of racial harmony. It's less liberal, less diverse, less open, and as racist, if not more, than New York (out of the white Philly natives that are still left). As a whole, b/c it's a lower economic class than NYC (whites included), I also think people are a little more down to earth. Philly sometimes gets a reputation as being racist actually and any time I go out in Philly a fight breaks out somewhere, it doesn't happen nearly as often in NY. I don't think I'm being racist in saying this, but it's a sad reality that the city was destroyed by you-know-who. And some of the really racist Philadelphians moved out and are in the suburbs. Delaware County, PA is affordable by the way and the parts of it that border the city are starting to face the same problems that they have in the city. So I don't know what you have against SI, it's one of the nicer parts in the 5 boroughs to raise a family. And it's sad that it has to be this way, but the truth is, the outward racism amongst these people you're talking about is what keeps these neighborhoods nice and less prone to becoming another crime-riddled ghetto (South SI, Bensonhurst, old school Italian neighborhoods in South Philly, etc.)

[SeventhFloor]

just to clarify things......one race doesnt destroy a neighborhood - black, white, etc.

its more who's poor and who's not poor.

because as much as u can go to any projects in nyc and see a lot of black people, u can go somewhere in the deep south and see the white trash trailer park types as well, without a pot to **** in.

so lets get it clear - the only color that really matters in the world is green....

[neonwattagelimit]

I didn't want to quote this entire post, 'cause it's really long, but nyc0127 said...

"Long Island, Westchester and other places had people there before 1960. Staten Island had 30,000 people. America, through immigrant, health and fertility rates double it's population over the past 57 years. If no migration occured, and a normal American immigrant patern existed, they'd have 50,000 people. They were wiped out though. In between 400,000 and 450,000 losers of all backgrounds were dumped into Staten Island. Some good ones were too. I don't like to generalize everyone, but it's somewhat true. Many of the blacks who came were poor."

I'm not even going to discuss the other assertions in this paragraph - suffice to say that it's a gross generalization - but where are you getting your numbers from?

I pulled this from the Census Bureau's website, if you want to see for yourself click this link - http://www.census.gov/population/cencounts/ny190090.txt - and scroll down to "Richmond County."

1990 1980 1970 1960
378977 352121 295443 221991 Richmond County

In 1960, Staten Island had about 222,000 people. It's true that the population exploded post-bridge, and I'm normally not one to split hairs, but where on earth did you get 30,000 from? That is EGREGIOUSLY off the mark.

And to your points of reference, while Westchester, Nassau and Suffolk all had more people than SI in 1960, they are all far larger in terms of land area (Nassau, the smallest of the three, is about five times the size of SI).

(NOTE: After looking at this, I realize that the years and figures do not match up. I can't figure out how to make this work. I assume you can figure out that the first year corresponds with the first figure, the second year with the second figure, and so on.)

[nyc0127]

First I'll start out by responding to neonwattagelimit. If you read my posts on my criticism of the U.S. Census, you'd realize that might explain why you left that little note. However, if those numbers are correct, than you're right. You have taught me something. I'm 19. I know I don't know everything. I shouldn't have based my fact on ''30,000'' because that was hearsay I got from family on the south shore of Staten Island.
Obviously, it would be bias.

That doesn't explain the development of the south shore though. The thing is, over the past 57 years the U.S. grew by double for a number of reasons (i.e. baby boom, immigration, health). The U.S. had 151 million in 1950. During the summer, the population surpassed 302 million. This is going with the accordance of the U.S. being 14% Latin American, 4% Asian, 1% Middle Eastern and 1% of other groups immigrating to the country post world war II (Eastern European, West Indian, African, ect). That accumulates to about 20%, which Staten Island does too.

Staten Island had 191,000 people in 1950. That would mean they should have 382,000 people. The recent estimate I seen says Staten Island has 491,000 people. In between 1920 and 1930 as well as in between 1950 and 1960 represented huge bulks of populations that were unexplained. From 1920 to 1930 was partly due to African-American migration from the south as well as the baby boom from 1950 to 1960. However, approximately 20,000 people moved in from out of the borough during those two decades. Predominantly, that was from Brooklyn.

There is still another 109,000 people that are unexplained. Those people descend from Brooklyn. The south shore of Staten Island in 2000 had 90,000 people. It's likely they're coming close to 100,000 now. If you lived in the south shore, you'd know that in between 80 to 90 percent of people there descend from Brooklyn. That would be in the neighborhood of around 75,000 out of that 109,000 people would have had to move to Staten Island. The other 34,000, along with the other 20,000 made there ways to other parts of the island.

Both of us agree that there was more of an establishment in Nassau county before 1960. More direct immigrantion went there. Assuming the population was about 222,000 in Staten Island in 1960 doesn't mean that people didn't migrate from Brooklyn during the 50's. That resource didn't provide any statistical data for the 50's. The post WWII, baby-boom generation began in the mid 40's and ended in the 60's. The bridge was just the reason to over-explode into.

Many inner-city or semi-urban enclave whites in this era in America desired the suburban image you might see in the Stepford Wives. Staten Island was a cheap place to own a split-end home. Most of that it's population pre-60's was in semi-urban enclaves on the north shore (ex. Port Richmond, Mariners Harbor, St. George). Find me populations of Eltinville, Annadale, Huguenot or Princes Bay before the 60's. The only south shore place that had any real population was Tottenville.

For the south shore, this awkward disproportion explains many of it's awkward social elements.

[nyc0127]

Next I'll respond to samyn on the green. From the way you're speaking, I can tell you have a personal bias towards liking Staten Island. I'm not saying you live there, but you may have some kind of connection you are fond of. I have seen Staten Island education. Truthfully, I was only in New Jersey education for about the last two years. I lived in Florida (Tampa area) for about 2 1/2 years too. I went through 4 high schools (including technical high schools and 3 states). I had to take several state exams (in which I passed all).

I'd agree with that belief If I had grown up in New Dorp, Westerleigh or a ''normal'' place on the Staten Island.
I know what I grew up around. I lived there. I lived around some good people. I lived around a lot of horrible people too. I lived around bigots with little self-independence or intelligence. I'm not a mean person. It takes a lot for someone to say a decent amount of the society you lived in had ''horrible people.''

I'm sure I exaggerate about how bad Staten Islanders are, but it's not good to be naive either. Whether they like it or not, it's inevitable that they will integrate into the real world. In fact, many people on Staten Island already want and achieve that. You can make the argument that it's a cultural suicide, but wasn't leaving Brooklyn in the first place a social suicide? There are only so many bags you can carry with you. Currently speaking, most of there connection with Brooklyn is severed.

You are right that it does have some flavor, but they have many never qualities. If this was a community that has respect for other people, than maybe others would respect their independence. If they were appreciative that some elements of the ''old world'' still exist in the south shore of Staten Island, maybe it would be a more respectable place. Many vote Republican (simply because they're ''white'', which even the wealthiest suburbs of NYC never do). Many criticize the societies that exist around them (the north shore) or even the ones they descend from (Brooklyn).

Even if you wanted to contain the good elements of the south shore of Staten Island, it's undeniable that some sort of social reconstruction needs to happen in order to allow these people to live in harmony with their neighbors when they eventually enter the real world. The plan you present may benefit the day. The proposition I offer represents a better way for the long run.

As far as recent immigrants go, I couldn't blame them to be reluctant of American culture. American culture is there destiny though. The only way to contain cultural values is to take good out of it. Religions have a big advantage (Jews, Muslims) right off the bad. Immigrants with high educational obedience (Chinese, Russians, Indians, Middle Easterners) also have a strict advantage. Latin American immigrants who can contain the Spanish language at a fluent educated measure also will have one foot up. If you can't take no good out of it though, your destiny will be one of those ''cute'' people who say they're Irish, Italian, Polish or Puerto Rican. For them, it's nothing more than an obsolete title that they have to force.

Staten Island (especially the south shore) is a place that does represent vitality. It's the bad baggage that comes along with it that will leave a bad taste in future peoples mouths when this current south shore culture we see dissolves. Staten Island may have some life now, but eventually will be death.

I do travel much and do my best to keep an open-mind to understand different culture. That is part of the reason why my major in college is Sociology. Assimilation may inevitably be death, but disgrace is hell.