Always The Forgotten Borough

Teamwork means reaching across the aisle — or down Pennsylvania Avenue — so that you can build the coalitions needed to get things done:

Congestion pricing has been touted as a boon for the entire city, yet no one from Staten Island is included on a commission to study the controversial plan.

A search of official records indicates that the 17-member panel announced yesterday by city and state politicians has no one who either lives on the Island or represents it.

The revelation infuriated several of the borough’s elected officials, who ultimately would vote on the plan in the City Council and state Legislature.

“What that has done is made a very difficult sell to the people of Staten Island nearly impossible,” said City Councilman James Oddo (R-Mid-Island/Brooklyn).

Oddo contended the commission would lack a voice defending the needs of the Island, where commuters generally feel mass transportation alternatives are lacking and tolls are too expensive.

“Can you imagine Manhattan not being represented?” he asked. “Can you imagine the [former Mayor Rudolph] Giuliani administration creating a 17-member commission of whatever that didn’t include a Staten Islander?”

. . .

Oddo was not alone in his outrage.

State Sen. Diane Savino and Councilman Michael McMahon, both North Shore Democrats, also slammed the composition of the group.

“We are the most under-served and most overlooked constituency by mass transit, and again we are getting short shrift here,” Ms. Savino said.