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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. Here's a tweet from a woman who lives on Staten Island, retweeted by Borough President James Oddo. It says, "My closest friends are doctors and nurses on Staten Island. They are suffering the brunt of ignorance and mismanagement of messaging on Staten Island. Can you raise those voices, support our frontline workers by not putting them at risk?"

Now, besides that tweet, Staten Island is in the news for a few reasons right now. Last month, Tottenville on the South Shore was a leading edge of a new wave of coronavirus, now a problem citywide. In mid-November, Tottenville had a 6% test positivity rate when the citywide average was 2%, most other places are catching up. As in most places, a spike in cases is usually followed a few weeks later by a spike in hospitalizations. According to Gothamist, this morning, Staten Island University Hospital has 78 of its 83 adult staffed ICU beds full. That's a dangerous 93% of capacity.

Staten Island is also where a bar manager, you've heard this, allegedly drove his Jeep into a Sheriff's deputy over the weekend, as the deputy approached him for repeatedly violating the 10:00 PM curfew and indoor dining ban imposed on bars by Governor Cuomo because of the local virus rates. The bar has become a rallying point for protestors opposed to coronavirus restrictions in general.

The congressional district on Staten Island post parts of South Brooklyn in the news for being one of the 11 that Republicans captured from Democrats in the election as Nicole Malliotakis defeated democratic incumbent, Max Rose. In the presidential race, Trump beat Biden on Staten Island with 62% of the vote. That of course is so much the opposite of the other boroughs. In the city overall, Trump got just 24%. Another way to look at it, Trump won Texas with 52%. He won Staten Island with 62%. Staten Island was 10 points more pro-Trump than Texas.

In sports, the New York Yankees have abandoned the Staten Island Yankees leaving the fate of the minor league ballpark and with it, the tourism dreams of the North Shore even more in shambles than when the big Ferris wheel plan fell apart a few years ago. With the mayoral race looming next year, Staten Islanders are concerned as they often are about being undervalued and underserved in a city whose electorate is dominated by Democrats. Is there a candidate out there who could win Staten Island and the other four boroughs? That would be a feat of political depolarization.

With me now, Staten Island Borough President James Oddo. He's a Republican and we'll be done at the end of next year, after eight years in office because of term limits. Borough president, we really appreciate you coming on. Welcome back to WNYC.

James Oddo: Good morning, Brian. Let me just say at the outset I am not, I repeat not on your show this morning to announce my candidacy for mayor, and that puts me in a very exclusive club apparently with this.

Brian: It does. I see that the top of your Twitter feed actually describes you as a lifelong learner and an aspiring-- What was it? Aspiring, mature adult? Does that mean you're going to-

James: No, an aspiring modern elder, which is a phrase used by Chip Conley in a fantastic book that he wrote. When you turn 50 you do lots of self-reflection, and the last four plus years have reinvigorated my love for reading. That was one of my favorite lines and it gives me hope that these last chapters of my life I can continue to learn and simultaneously share what I have learned with folks younger and smarter than me so that they could fix the problems that before we haven't been able to.

Brian: Well, good for you. Sometimes with age comes wisdom, and it sounds like you aspire to it. First things first, how was the health of the borough today in coronavirus terms? How much of a crisis is hospital capacity right now?

James: The situation's bad. Hospitalizations are arising, deaths amounting, frontline hospital staff is getting sick at increasing rates. I'll give you a couple of numbers because I think the data tells a very important part of the story. On November 22nd, there were 23 COVID patients at Staten Island University Hospital. On Friday at 1:00 PM, when I was speaking to that executive director of that hospital, Dr. Brahim Ardolic, we had 181 COVID patients. By five o'clock that day when he spoke to me and my colleagues in office on Staten Island, there are 188. Last night, there were 199.

The numbers are going in the wrong direction. This is not the full brunt or the full impact or by-product of Thanksgiving. We are still in the "accumulating" stage and mortality has gone up. The really scary part of that is that Dr. Ardolic is telling me that the mortality is lagging and actually slower than what we saw in March and April, which means the startling increase in deaths that we've seen on Staten Island will only get worse for the foreseeable future.

Brian: You tweeted yesterday the chase for staffing help for Staten Island Hospital is on again, albeit right now, not at the level of those horrific days earlier in the COVID pandemic in April. Are you more in danger of being short of staff than short of beds?

James: It's an unfortunate horse race right now. It was April 2nd at 8:00 PM. I have it ingrained in my head. That is the moment when I stopped chasing PPE or my priority became chasing staff above chasing equipment. That was an email I sent to Mayor de Blasio. I'm happy to say that the city is more proactive. I credit Dr. Katz for the conversations he's had with Richard University Medical Center. Today, as of right now, they need 15 additional med surg nurses, and 15 additional ICU nurses. We're working with Dr. Katz to figure out how to get that staff.

SIUH, State Island University Hospital is already seeing their frontline staff grow sicker. This is a horse race between beds and staff that is problematic. I will say that I am grateful that Governor Cuomo was quick in reopening South Beach Psych Center so that we can take folks who are not ready to go home, who still need to convalesce, but we could send them to a facility and decompress, if you will, those important ICU beds in the hospitals proper.

Brian: Listeners on Staten Island talk to your president, your Borough President James Oddo. Who has a question? (646) 435-7280. We can take a few phone calls on coronavirus on Staten Island and also politics. We will get into Democratic and Republican politics a little bit. Maybe some of you who live on Staten Island want to be cultural translators to the rest of the city or anything else for Borough President James Oddo, (646) 435-7280. (646) 435-7280.

Let me reread the tweet that you retweeted from a Staten Island woman that I read at the top of the segment. She wrote, "My closest friends are doctors and nurses in Staten Island. They are suffering the brunt of ignorance and mismanagement of messaging in Staten Island. Can you raise those voices?" Do you agree with her? You retweeted this so ignorance and mismanagement?

James: I think the juxtaposition of the events and the images that we've seen over the last week coming out of Staten Island against the conversations you have with the leaders of the two hospital systems is startling. It is the story of two separate universes. I still encounter folks in social media who tell me this is all a hoax. I have to tell you, Brian, as an elected official, I've never seen a climate like this. In 30 years of doing this I've never seen a climate where, forget about science or facts or truth, discussion itself worsens things. It doesn't move the ball closer to the goal line.

When you try to have a conversation with someone, it just ensures there's a backfire effect. I'm trying to connect our behaviors as Staten Islanders with Dr. Brahim Ardolic, who runs SIUH, Dan Messina who runs RUMCSI, and all of their frontline workers, what they're experiencing. To be told that it's not so bad. The acuity of the cases is not so bad from Joe and Mary Jones on the street it's just amazing to me.

To that particular tweet, I don't know what more local elected official to do in terms of trying to go to the body, to use a boxing metaphor, with the messaging that science and the brightest minds across the world have told us to say. We will continue to do that in the face of this real obstinance and this real divide.

Brian: Let's take a phone call. Rich on Staten Island, you're on WNYC with Borough President James Oddo. Hi, Rich.

Rich: Hey, how are you doing? If you look at the COVID map on Staten Island, look at the map, how the election just panned out, you'll see that the areas that voted higher for Trump have the highest COVID. I think a lot of it has to do with how the elected official leadership on the South Shore differs from the elected leadership on the North Shore and the messaging that's going out.

James: I think there's some truth in the overlapping of the maps but I also think that's a little over-simplistic. Look at Elm Park and portions of Staten Island on the North Shore that have elevated numbers. If you look at the electoral map, if you look at Coney Island and some other locations across the city, it doesn't necessarily ring true 100%. I hear the point. Certainly, as one of four or five Republicans on Staten Island in office, I have a different point of view and my messaging has been quite different than my colleagues'. To whatever extent you think we have say over the folks, you can believe, a premise of your point.

I'm not sure how many people out on Staten Island don't listen to anyone in an elective office right now. In fact, that's why we're trying to get medical frontline staff and small businesses now to carry the message of "Wear the mask, socially distance," because a lot of folk, depending on their political proclivities have turned me off, have turned Andy Lanza off, have turned Diane Savino off, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

Brian: You told New York 1, "The majority of Staten Islanders are complying but we have pockets of folks who do not, and more times than not, it's the same folks who aren't complying, who rail about lockdowns and closures. It's their behavior that can determine what can happen the rest of this fall and this winter." That makes it sound like it lines up politically because we know the national numbers about who takes coronavirus restriction seriously and who thinks they're overblown.

James: That particular comment was in response to a study that had one person standing on a corner for one day and said, "Mask usage on Staten Island was 46%," which I wanted you to push back against. To your point, specifically, yes, the phrase I've been using for the last few weeks is a warped self-fulfilling prophecy. You think this is government overreach, you bristle at the notion that there are restrictions so your behavior reflects that and it flies in the face of the science, which makes this virus bounce all around, increases the numbers and whether you agree or disagree, the reaction is obvious.

Governor Cuomo is going to institute these restrictions. Because of your behavior, you get the very restrictions that you're bristling against. It's a warped self-fulfilling prophecy. I don't know what it takes to try to convince folks that their behavior can help them and help small businesses avoid these shutdowns. I believe that that's what's the best science says.

Science is self-correcting, people are self-justifying. I'm going to put my North Star at science. I've done that from day one. That's how I live my life outside of the COVID. The science says, "Engage in these behaviors. Don't engage in these other behaviors." If the numbers continue to increase, Governor Cuomo was to institute these restrictions. Those are the facts of the game. You can't change them. What you could do is change your behavior, and try to avoid the very things that you're bristling against.

Brian: Do you think with what you're saying that if you were term-limited out, that you would be defeated in reelection as Staten Island Borough president despite being a Republican for the things you've been saying about COVID right now?

James: I could only hope. No, I jest. I still have faith in Staten Islanders that there are more folks who understand where I'm coming from. I'm confident in my record, although I will never appear on the ballot again. This is going to sound egotistical, I believe, I got a 21-year record of busting my towel for this community. I put my name on a ballot locally, I'm going to win a race.

Have I lost support in my own party, from the extremes of my party? No doubt. Do I care about that? No, because I've worked my ass off to build political capital to use it to do good, to do right. If I walk out of Borough Hall with an abused popularity rate, but I've done the right thing, my head will hit the pillow, I will sleep at night, and I've done my job. I'm not popular. I see a lot of folks who supported me, attacking me on social media, so be it. I'm going to try to do what I believe is right, what I believe is grounded in the best science available today, and if folks don't agree with that, so be it. They have 385 days left to deal with my incompetence. I have 385 days left to deal with their ignorance.

Brian: Whoa. Anthony on Staten Island, you're on WNYC with t-minus 385 days Borough President James Oddo. Hi, Anthony.

Anthony: Hi, good morning.

Brian: Hey there.

Anthony: Hello?

Brian: Go ahead. Can you hear me?

Anthony: Hi. Good morning, Mr. Brian. Yes, I can hear you clearly Brian. Two quick points. One is not as important as the second point. One, Borough president you promised us on Staten Island, an indoor soccer facility many, many years ago, and it never materialized. That's just one question. My second question is pertaining to Max Rose's campaign. Now I'm a Black person. I live on the North Shore. I have called Max Rose's office on multiple occasions complaining first about the fact that he endorsed Mayor Bloomberg and as a Black person that was absolutely crazy, in my opinion.

Also the campaign that you run, I think was an atrocious campaign. All of the ads was always about not what he did or what he planned to do, all they were criticizing Malliotakis. I don't think either of them addressed the Black population on Staten Island. The one thing that you could have possibly supported Rose on is when he marched with a Black Lives campaign and soon as Malliotakis put an ad out, criticizing on that he just completely backtrack.

Yes, people may have voted him more. I don't know what the final numbers were with Black support for him or whomever but I think the fact that he ran away from Black people on Staten Island, maybe people split their vote. They voted for Biden. Because he was such a bad camp, in my opinion I think people didn't vote for him. As I said I don't know what the final number were-

Brian: Maybe just abstain. Borough President Oddo, obviously you're a Republican, you're not here to defend Max Rose's failed Democratic Congressional Campaign but what do you think about his analysis?

James: Brian, you will find I have opinions on lots of things, so let's take it out. First, let me say the closest I've ever come to promising Staten Island an indoor soccer facility was many, many years ago. Then Councilman Vin Ignizio and I stood out in the snow and said to the park department, they should bubble a tennis court so that you could play soccer inside. I've never promised anyone an indoor soccer league stadium. I'm a baseball fan.

In terms of his point about the negativity of the campaigns, yes, they were both embarrassing campaigns in terms of how vicious they were. I've run and won eight campaigns. I've never once engaged in negative campaign mailing. That's not my style. I, like many other Staten Islanders, were fatigued at the volume and the level of vitriol. In terms of Max, listen, gentlemen, if he's not a Max Rose fan, he might, he might get a chance to vote against him again because it seems Max might be running for mayor. Again, I'm not here to defend [crosstalk]

Brian: On the soccer fields as the borough becomes more diverse, why wouldn't it be something as borough president that you would have wanted to do like they've done in Van Cortlandt Park near me, and other places in the city as they become more diverse rather than just say, "I'm a baseball fan," which is a sport for older white fans in general.

James: No, the Baseball line was an attempt at humor. Listen, I've used lots of taxpayer money during my tenure to build a whole bunch of soccer fields across Staten Island. Soccer is more popular than baseball today, so I recognize that. In fact, we're working really hard to bring professional soccer to Richard County Ballpark. I love seeing young people engaged in all kinds of physical activities. What you heard is a baseball fan who is bit upset how the game is dying on the vine.

Brian: Vince on Staten Island, you're on WNYC with Borough President Oddo. Hi Vince?

Vince: Hey, how we doing guys? A couple of questions about development on Staten Island. I grew up on the island on the South Shore, and back in 2004, I moved down to the North Shore. At that time, there were lots of plans for development on the waterfront. All these things were supposed to happen. We were supposed to get a park all along the Stapleton Waterfront at the old Homeport. All sorts of things was supposed to happen.

We have right now, obviously, the ballpark has just been built at that point, but now we don't have a team. The Empire Outlet is not even completed, it's not fully open. The Lighthouse Point right across the way from the ferry terminal, I don't know what's going on there. The development seems to have stopped. It's taken longer for that thing to go up than one World Trade Center it seems. Why is it on Staten Island, nothing can ever get done it seems? It goes back to NASCAR, the Wheel, all sorts of stuff that have been promised or planned, and then they just disappear. Why can't anything get built?

James: NASCAR didn't get built because there were some of us in office who absolutely didn't want it to be built. That didn't just die on the vine, that was defeated, but your overall point is a fair one. No one should be more frustrated than us at Borough Hall because we're at the tip of the spear trying to keep these projects alive in the case of the Wheel and pick them up off of the canvas in the case of Lighthouse Point.

Listen, when all is said and done, by the time I walk out of Borough Hall, we will not only have baseball back at Richard County Ballpark, we will have other professional sports, and we will have that facility more alive than it's ever been, or at least on the way to that.

To your point, we don't have time to go down individually, but each of those projects, the Wheel, Empire Outlets, and Lighthouse Point has run into their own unique set of circumstances. Empire Outlets was built on the notion that 2 million tourists were going to be coming over the Staten Island Ferry. It was built on the notion that we were going to have a huge part of food and beverage. COVID came in and took a project that was still trying to find its footing and knocked it back down.

These projects are not dead. I was on a call with Lester Petracca from Lighthouse Point just last week. I'm in constant conversations with James Patrick, who's one of the best members of the de Blasio administration. No one has given up on these projects. It's just a series of different circumstances that have delayed at time and time again. I am as frustrated by it as much if not more than anyone else.

Brian: In our last-minute, be a cultural translator for the rest of the city, if you can, which voted overwhelmingly for Biden. Everybody who's heard you this segment, even if they didn't know you before will say, "This is an independent thinker," but you're Republican. Did you vote for Trump? Why did 62% of Staten Island voters prefer Trump despite everything as most of the rest of New York would see it? Why did Staten Island give Trump a 10-point bigger majority even than Texas did? Be a cultural translator to the other four boroughs.

James: I am a huge fan of the author Robert Greene, and I think his book, The Laws on Human Nature is just an incredible work. I've read it, outlined it, studied it, but you're asking me to delve into human nature and I'm not sure I have the answers. What I will tell you is I think a portion of this is built into our DNA and our history, and that is but for the years of Rudy Giuliani as mayor, Staten Island believes that we've been forgotten or mistreated by all levels of government. We rage against the machine.

Although I was never a Trump supporter, I was a John Kasich supporter in 2016, I understand that he represented a chance for people to stick it to the system, the system that's never seemed to embrace Staten Island. I don't know if our Islanders hate hearing this, or they're tired of hearing us complain, but that is the truth. We have never been treated well by city government but for those years of Rudy, and Trump embodied in one person or was a vehicle for a lot of those frustrations to give voice to those frustrations.

I think that's part of it. There's some of it that I can't explain. As a local elected official, I've worked hard not to stare into that sun and I'm going to try not to stare into that sun for the remainder of my tenure.

Brian: Staten Island Borough President James Oddo, thank you so much for coming on today.

James: Appreciate the time. Thank you.

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