Archive by Author
We Like Pizza
Posted on 17. Dec, 2009 by Joseph Tacopino.
How do I describe Staten Island’s pizza legacy in one paragraph? It’s like a national pastime there. You’ve got Denino’s crispy flat crust, Joe & Pat’s saucy fresh mozzarella slices, Big Al’s Chicago style pizza, and the best bar pies in the universe at Lee’s Tavern. The pizza there is so famous that people come [...]
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Scenes from the Ferry
Posted on 09. Dec, 2009 by Joseph Tacopino.
Hundreds of people crowd onto the ferry each day as part of their commute to Manhattan. Staten Island may be ridiculed by Saturday Night Live for its ethnic idiosyncrasies but the mystique of the ferryboat remains one of the most romantic aspects of New York. For the holidays, the city decided to spruce the place [...]
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The Allure of Alice
Posted on 02. Dec, 2009 by Joseph Tacopino.
She used to live in this house. It overlooks the New York Harbor, the Verrazzano Bridge, the Manhattan skyline, and, on a clear night, you can see the lights of the Brooklyn Bridge twinkling off in the distance. The picturesque Dutch-Colonial farmhouse sits on the tip of Staten Island. It was once the home of [...]
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Bloomberg's Invisible Precinct
Posted on 19. Nov, 2009 by Joseph Tacopino.
Mike Bloomberg made a promise. The construction of a new police precinct on Staten Island would be completed in four years. But this was election season, and some were skeptical. “We don’t play politics with public safety,” his spokesman said at the time. That was in 2005 when Bloomberg was vying for his second, and [...]
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Running on Empty
Posted on 10. Nov, 2009 by Joseph Tacopino.
The ground was wet and muddy just before dawn. The temperature was below 50 degrees and a slow drizzle continued to fall. People from around the world huddled under large tents in heavy coats, winter hats, parkas and sleeping bags. More than 40,000 athletes descended on Staten Island’s Fort Wadsworth Sunday morning, at the edge [...]
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Crowdsourcing the Ferry Story
Posted on 06. Nov, 2009 by Joseph Tacopino.
So after a reported million or so people attended the Yankee parade in Manhattan today there was a fracas at the Whitehall Ferry Terminal. The Staten Island Advance is reporting “chaos,” this twitpic came in from augiemania. My man on the scene said this: There’s just so many people down there trying to get on. [...]
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From Tugboats to Tacos: Port Richmond's Evolution
Posted on 26. Oct, 2009 by Joseph Tacopino.
Port Richmond has been a home to sailors and tug boats, the commercial hub of Staten Island — and a strip of abandoned retail outlets. Now the neighborhood is up-and-coming again and Nat’s Mens Store has been there through it all. For more than 75 years the store has been selling work apparel to the [...]
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Olbermann says "public option" 17 times in two minutes
Posted on 20. Oct, 2009 by Joseph Tacopino.
So the White House started a little beef with Fox News recently, and this caused a reaction from media critics across the spectrum. As expected, most of the criticism focused on Fox. “Through its influence, (Fox) has made all of cable news unpleasant and unreliable.” – Jacob Weisberg for Slate “…as a product the straight [...]
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Guys with guns chase after ferry
Posted on 19. Oct, 2009 by Joseph Tacopino.
When the 4 p.m. Staten Island Ferry left the Manhattan’s Whitehall Terminal today it was trailed by a Coast Guard boat on both sides. The small vessels, speeding alongside the Ferry, each had a patrolmen at the helm with what looked a heck of lot like a mounted weapon. Was there a terrorist on board? [...]
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In Defense of Michele Bachmann
Posted on 15. Oct, 2009 by Joseph Tacopino.
Conservative firebrand, Republican congresswoman and all around nutball Michele Bachmann was profiled in today’s New York Times, along with a companion piece that detailed a fact check on her statements. Even inside her own district, the most conservative in Minnesota, her constituents either “adore her or they loathe her,” according to the Times. One of [...]
