By David Luces | [email protected]
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — A New York City councilman took to Twitter Friday to debunk an apparent rumor of migrants arriving to be housed at a borough film studio.
“Just listened to a certain weekend overnight radio host who dresses up like a traffic cone go on the air and claim migrants are coming to the former Arthur Kill prison… so I asked the owner of the site, myself. (The state doesn’t own it anymore). He said absolutely not,” Minority Leader Joseph Borelli (R-South Shore) wrote in a tweet.
The councilman was referring to comments made by former mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa on WABC radio.
Broadway Stages Staten Island is located at the former Arthur Kill Correctional Facility in Charleston.
Borelli added there is a deed restriction on the property against it being used for any other purpose than a studio.
On it’s website, Broadway Stages describes its Staten Island location as a “69-acre waterfront campus that is being designed as a full-service production facility offering ample space for film, television and music video productions of all sizes.”
After closing down during the pandemic, the Advance/SILive.com reported in September 2020 that production had resumed at the site.
MIGRANTS ON STATEN ISLAND
As thousands of migrants arrive in New York City, Mayor Eric Adams’ administration has been scrambling to find housing options in all five boroughs.
On Staten Island, the vacant former site of the Richard H. Hungerford School in Clifton recently began accepting asylum seekers last weekend.
The emergency shelter could ultimately be home to hundreds. The school would be able to handle up to “300 single migrants,” Assemblyman Sam Pirozzolo (R-Mid Island) said he was told by the city.
Two Staten Island hotels have also become the latest emergency shelters. The Ramada Inn in Willowbrook and the former Staten Island Motor Lodge in Rosebank are being used to shelter migrants.
Local politicians have echoed Adams’ comments last month when he said the city faces a crisis as it picks up a $4.3 billion cost to care for the migrants over two years. For months, Adams has been calling on the Biden administration to provide fiscal relief to the city.
During an appearance on Caribbean Power Jam Radio, Adams said that an average of 300 to 500 migrants are arriving in the city each day and the new arrivals could cost the city over $4 billion.