The
United States Coast Guard has been a presence on Staten Island for two decades,
although sometimes their existence here resembles a closely guarded military
secret. I have written about them fairly often, outlining our
collaborations, events, ceremonies, and most recently, a Coast Guard
Appreciation concert, and I cannot fully express how rewarding this association
has been to me. That being said, it seems strange to me that this
extraordinary branch of our military goes practically unnoticed right in our
own backyard.
Before
I get into the details of the USCG presence on our fair island, I would like to
ask all of you a direct question: Where, when and how have you interacted
with the Coast Guard – either personally or professionally? There is a
specific reason I want to hear about it, and that is because we are in the
process of applying to Admiral Paul Zukunft, the Commandant of the USCG, to
attain the formal title of Coast Guard Community. I’ll explain
further as we go along, but want you to understand that part of the application
process is how the community has interacted with the local Coast Guard station
in a positive and supportive way.
So,
if you have in some way interacted or supported the Coast Guard and their
efforts, please write to me at Borough Hall, 10 Richmond Terrace, Staten
Island, NY 10301. Your letters will be included in the application
package, and you’ll know you were part of effort to formally recognize and
memorialize our borough’s relationship with a branch of service that is
incredibly important to our nation’s defense.
Every
year on August 4th Americans celebrate Coast Guard Day, and Staten
Island stands tall and proud to be home to both the USCG Sector New York and
USCG Station New York. What would eventually become the United States
Coast Guard actually began on August 4th, 1790 under the Alexander Hamilton’s
Treasury Department: they were a Revenue Cutter Service. In 1915,
Revenue-Marine was merged with the U.S. Lifesaving Service and the Coast Guard
was born.
This
fifth branch of military service is unique in many ways – but one particular
distinction stands out. Although it is always a military branch, when it
is not operating in service to the U.S. Navy it operates under the Department
of Homeland Security, as it is today. Indeed, it is the single largest
component of the DHS, composed of 88,000 personnel including active duty,
reserve, civilian and volunteer Auxiliarists. There are 37 USCG Sectors
in the United States and various territories, and their largest sector, Sector
New York, is located right here at Ft. Wadsworth.
Consisting
of Station New York, located on Bay Street, Station Kings Point (at the
Merchant Marine Academy) and Station Sandy Hook, Sector New York is fully in
charge of security for the Ports of New York and New Jersey. Though they
actively work with the NYPD and FDNY, the Coast Guard is top dog when it comes
to port security. On their website, they refer to duty at Station New
York as “one of the most demanding environments in the country.”
We
are applying for Staten Island to be an official Coast Guard Community, a title
obtained through a rigorous application process and granted by the United
States Congress and United States Coast Guard. This designation would
recognize that a special relationship exists between the Coast Guard and the
people of Staten Island. We should all be extremely proud to be the home
of Coast Guard Sector New York, and I look forward to the day when Staten
Island finally gets Coast Guard Community designation.