Staten Island Beep Calls For Singapore-Style Corporal Punishment

Staten Island Borough President James Molinaro is mad as hell and he’s going to swat someone’s ass because of it:

The borough president says he is appalled by graffiti found in two South Shore parks and believes the culprits should get more than a slap on the wrist — they should get a slap on the buttocks.

“Frankly, it makes me feel that the law-enforcement approach in Singapore may be correct — graffiti vandals should be punished with caning, that’s what they deserve,” Borough President James Molinaro said yesterday.

At Conference House Park, Tottenville, a stone bridge planned to be incorporated into a Bluebelt project was defaced with spray-painted tag names and vulgar etchings.

Less than five miles away, at Bloomingdale Park in Prince’s Bay, handicapped-accessible playground equipment, which permits usage by children in wheelchairs, was covered in spray paint.

The brand-new equipment, for which Molinaro’s office committed $300,000, is scheduled to be opened officially to the public tomorrow with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

Signs at Bloomingdale Park also were torn down and vandalized.

The graffiti was discovered by Borough Hall staffers Tuesday morning, Molinaro said.

“I am absolutely disgusted by this situation,” Molinaro added. “While I condemn all graffiti vandalism, to have vandals show blatant disregard for new parks equipment and infrastructure is appalling, especially after spending millions of dollars to complete” the projects.

Mother Rapers, Father Stabbers, Father Rapers And . . . Sparkler Lighters?

Staten Island Fourth of July revelers unhappily find that the city was serious about that “zero tolerance” thing after all when SWAT teams stormed backyards to confiscate fireworks and cart offenders off to the pokey:

Walking out of Stapleton Criminal Court yesterday afternoon, 29-year-old Anthony Padovano of New Dorp was quick to point to the cuts and scrapes he said he sustained when eight police officers stormed into his backyard, threw him to the ground, and cuffed and arrested him for illegal possession of fireworks.

“It’s ridiculous. They have all these criminals in my neighborhood, and they bring in a SWAT team for me when I am trying to light sparklers,” Padovano said of his arrest on the Fourth of July.

His comments pretty much summed up the feelings of the nearly two dozen Staten Islanders who packed the holding cell at the borough’s Criminal Court waiting arraignment on the same charges.

Angry, indignant and bone-weary after spending a night in cramped jail cells with “real criminals,” they expressed no regret for what they deem their right to celebrate America’s independence with a few fireworks of their own.

“They took away my whole Fourth of July,” Padovano added.

. . .

. . . 19-year-old Daniel Savino . . . was charged not only with handling illegal fireworks but also resisting arrest after a scuffle with police outside his Annadale home.

After his mother, Josephine Savino, paid his $500 bail at Criminal Court, Savino showed marks on his arm, legs and back, which he said resulted from officers shoving him against a cement wall, forcing him to the ground, then kicking him.

“They were brutal,” Savino said.

He was one of at least a half dozen residents who complained the cops were too heavy-handed in their enforcement efforts. Savino said he’ll lodge a complaint with the city, but he’ll still have to return to Criminal Court next month, facing fines of up to $750 and possible jail time.

As will Dongan Hills residents Mirvet Cioku, 43, and his 17-year-old son, Atdhe. After arraignment before Judge Alan Meyer yesterday afternoon, they walked out of the courtroom clearly irritated.

“I don’t understand. They make fireworks to celebrate the Fourth of July, but they don’t expect me to use them?” asked Mirvet, who emigrated from Albania 20 years ago.

“Forget it. I just want to pay the fine and get out of here so I don’t have to see their faces anymore.”

Ladies And Gentlemen, Due To The Actions Of Some Nitwit Who Jacked Equipment Related To The Train’s Power Supply, We Are Experiencing Unavoidable Delays

Service on the Staten Island Railway was suspended this morning after a vital piece of equipment related to the train system’s power supply was stolen:

Commuters were left stranded for hours this morning when train service on the Staten Island Railway from Tottenville to St. George was halted after equipment that helps supply power to the tracks at the Bay Terrace station was stolen.

Service was stopped around 4:30 a.m.

Two hours later, limited service began from Tottenville to Great Kills, where commuters could board a shuttle bus that would transport them to the Oakwood station, where they could catch a train to St. George.

Information about the stolen equipment was not immediately available.

The delay did not sit well with many of the 15 commuters at the Old Town station, who did not know why their train was late until an Advance reporter informed them.

Just Think, Were It Not For This Very Large Landfill, This Area Might Be Ruined

The Parks Department has begun tours of the Fresh Kills landfill site, which will soon become one of the city’s largest parks:

The tour bus crawled up the winding gravel road in low gear. On both sides, the views stretched through the drizzle toward infinity, green, green, as far as the eye could see. A light blanket of fog enhanced the sense of splendid isolation.

Two hawks swooped low over a hillside; just beyond the border of the road, a fat, bejeweled ring-necked pheasant strutted in the wet grass. One of the passengers, Charles Fallon, piped up from the back seat, “This would be an excellent place for meadowlarks.”

This excellent place was Fresh Kills on Staten Island, former site of the city garbage dump, future site of the city’s largest park. Currently, the place is pretty much empty, which is what drew about 20 tourists yesterday morning to the Parks Department’s first public tour of the 2,200-acre parcel.

“I wanted to see the before and after,” said Ann Pisano, 67, who grew up five miles from the dump, the smell of rotting trash never far from her nostrils.

. . .

The bus stopped and the tourists fanned out along the hilltop and gazed across fields of grass and mugwort, chicory and fleabane flowers. To the southeast lay one of several dense housing developments that have been built near the landfill, but in most directions the view was something like a landscape painting of the French countryside, with a few methane-burning stacks and office trailers standing in for stone farmhouses.

“It’s a lot better than I thought,” said another native islander, James Lonano. “It almost looks like a parkland already.”

There were a few out-of-towners on the bus. Ms. Pisano brought along two of her grandchildren, visiting from State College, Pa. They looked miserable. There was also a three-man crew from Omaha making a documentary about waste. The 23-year-old auteur, Henry Phelps, traveled cross-country for three months this spring, carrying every bit of garbage he generated in a clear plastic bag on his back. He seemed a little disappointed by the absence of visible trash.

Then again, you can always look on the bright side of things:

As the bus headed back toward civilization, Ms. Pisano wondered what the area would have looked like if the dump had never existed. “All this would be homes now,” she said. “It’s a good thing.”

Lee’s Tavern Founder Honored

The street outside Lee’s Tavern will be renamed to honor the founder of one of Staten Island’s top pizza places:

Twenty years after Diego (Dickie) Palemine, the former owner of Lee’s Tavern in Dongan Hills, was killed in a fire in Puerto Rico, Islanders will rename a street in his memory.

The corner of Hancock Street and Garretson Avenue, outside Lee’s Tavern, is slated to be renamed “Diego ‘Dickie’ Palemine Corner” in a ceremony [Sunday].

Councilman James Oddo (R-Mid-Island/Brooklyn), along with friends and family of Palemine, will join longtime patrons of the Dongan Hills tavern to unveil the new sign.

In December 1986, Palemine was vacationing in San Juan with his wife and children, and several friends.

A New Year’s Eve fire at the Dupont Plaza Hotel casino, attributed to arson, ripped through the building and killed 96 people, including Palemine.

His wife was plucked by helicopter from the roof of the 17-story hotel and his children were safe at an outdoor pool while the fire ravaged the building.

His widow, Cathy Palemine, said that when her children reached adulthood, they decided to petition the city to rename the street corner.

The family still operates Lee’s.

Plain Pie, Lee’s Tavern: