Boro Presidents' Fight
Extends Beyond Election

Among the city's five borough presidents, only Staten Island Borough President James P. Molinaro may have a race on his hands this year. He has the distinction in the city’s most Republican area of being the first “beep” elected from the Conservative party. Yet his Democratic opponent, a commercial real estate lawyer named John Luisi – who’s raised little money but claims the backing of powerful unions and the Working Families Party – may represent the political future in a borough that’s trending Democratic. In the past two years, Democratic registration has soared by 13 percent while Republican enrollment has increased by 3 percent. After 20 years of Republican control of borough hall, Staten Island might be ready to make a change.
~
But whatever happens there on Nov. 3, all five of the city's borough presidents may face a more challenging test in 2010, when a commission is expected to be formed to review the New York City Charter, perhaps with a view toward eliminating an office that some argue lost its raison d'être 20 years ago.

Ever since the Board of Estimate, with five powerful borough presidents, gave way to the current City Council structure, there have been steady calls for eliminating the post. If Mayor Bloomberg is re-elected and a charter review commission begins work next year as Bloomberg has promised, that body will likely explore term limits, the powers of the City Council, and whether to change or eliminate the office of public advocate. It could also revisit the question of whether borough presidents make sense in 21st-century New York.

The Richmond County race

While the office has lost much of the heft it had two decades ago, borough presidents are not exactly toothless. They have a major role in the city's Uniform Land Use Review Process that governs zoning changes, capital projects and dispositions of city property. Borough presidents weigh in on each ULURP project in their borough and if they disapprove of a proposal, a supermajority of the City Planning Commission (nine votes, instead of a simple majority of seven) must vote to override the BP. The borough president also appoints a member of the City Planning Commission.

The contest over who will perform these duties for Staten Island is “definitely a real race,” said Abraham Unger, an assistant professor of government and politics at Wagner College, on the island’s northern end. "Both candidates have strong name recognition. I do think it's a tough race for Mr. Luisi to win,” Unger said. Molinaro is somewhat better known and is associated with economic development projects—like the North Shore rail line and development along the Stapleton waterfront—that islanders want to see come to fruition, he says. "We're beginning to see some real headway. Staten Island has been waiting a long time for that."

Indeed, things are changing in the borough: Democrat Debi Rose is on her way to becoming the island’s first black City Council member, having defeated the incumbent in primary elections last month. And Democrats are mounting relatively well-funded challenges to Republican incumbents in the island's other two Council districts. Democrats now outnumber Republicans in the borough by a ratio of 1.5 to 1.

Four years ago, Luisi ran what he calls a "quixotic" race against Molinaro, who was first elected in 2001. The Democrat got 41 percent of the vote, despite being outspent by 6 to 1. "I actually have a strong amount of name recognition from that, which I'm frankly surprised at," Luisi says. But he admits to getting a late start in this year's race. Like most Staten Islanders, he expected popular Councilmen James Oddo, a Republican, and Michael McMahon, a Democrat, to fight for the BP post. But after U.S. Rep. Vito Fossella was arrested for drunk driving and resigned, McMahon won Fossella's seat in Congress; then the Council voted to extend term limits, allowing Molinaro to run again. Oddo opted for re-election to the Council. Luisi decided to repeat his challenge.