Anyone wishing to volunteer at HQ may stop by or merely sign up at www.vinnyignizio.com.

Addressing staff, volunteers and friends, Ignizio said, “Now comes the hard part, the last month before election day is crucial to get our message out. This is when the real work begins and I know my supporters will carry me through election day. I can’t thank you all enough.”

Device delivered today performs with spectacular results

Councilman Vincent Ignizio is proud to announce that the Charington beach cleaner that he had sought for the Parks department was delivered this morning to Conference House Beach.  This device was suggested by the Councilman, who then secured $100,000 towards its purchase.

The Charington Beach Cleaner is capable of 8mph and can even go into several inches of water.  This machine is specifically designed for the natural and narrow type beaches that circumnavigate the South Shore.  It can filter glass, cigarettes, plastic and even reduce the amount of bacteria in the sand.

“I feel confident to say that we will soon have some of the cleanest beaches in the city.  We are an Island community and should do all we can to enhance our waterline,” said Ignizio. “I hope I can fund a couple more next year.”

The Charington Cleaner will be able to be used on public beaches from Conference House to Wolfe’s Pond Park and beyond.

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Drivers will be able to skirt traffic at a busy Great Kills intersection, with the opening of a new right-turn lane at the intersection of Nelson Avenue and Amboy Road, expected as early as today.

The curved turning lane was paid for by the developer of a new medical and professional building at the corner. The improvement is part of an initiative to tackle traffic on a grand scale, by working in small tweaks wherever possible.

“That’s how you have to work these things, intersection by intersection,” said City Councilman Vincent Ignizio (R-South Shore), who helped broker the deal between the city and developer Julio Mulkay of A&E Development Corp.

The city worked out a compromise deal with Mulkay during the planning for the building, which replaces an old real estate office that had been built in the bed of what, on the city map, is part of Nelson Avenue.

Mulkay agreed to cover the nearly $150,000 cost of installing the new lane, which will include a landscaped pedestrian island.

In exchange, the new building will score nine parking spots using city-owned land, with the understanding those spaces will be lost if and when Nelson is ever widened to its originally intended 80-foot width. There are no current plans to widen the street.

“It’s going to be a big improvement,” said Borough President James Molinaro, who has been working on getting more private developers to foot the bill for road widenings and other improvements. “That’s how we’re going to do it. One corner at a time.”

Maura Yates covers transportation news for the Advance. She may be reached at myates@siadvance.com.

©2009 SI Advance

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Responding to an Advance probe chronicling the prescription-drug epidemic plaguing Staten Island, the borough’s city councilmen and independent pharmacy owners announced yesterday a voluntary drug take-back program aimed at ridding homes here of unnecessary narcotics.

Borough residents can bring unused, unneeded or expired drugs to one of 10 participating pharmacies, where they will be properly disposed of for free.

Too often, powerful narcotics, such as painkillers, are flushed down the toilet when no longer needed, and can eventually mix into lakes, rivers and streams, officials said. Even worse, the drugs are increasingly snatched by teens without their parents’ or relatives’ knowledge and used recreationally or sold on the street.

“The Advance’s award-winning journalism has brought this issue to the forefront,” said Councilman Vincent Ignizio (R-South Shore), a program sponsor along with his colleagues, James Oddo (R-Mid-Island/Brooklyn) and Kenneth Mitchell (D-North Shore). “When these prescription drugs stay in the medicine chest, it makes it ripe for kids to get addicted to them. The message is clear: Get these ‘weapons’ out of your house.”

See the full story on Silive.com

Read the Advance Article here:

At last, Island’s 2 hospitals may get much-needed help from the city

Ignizio’s bill relates to the cutting and capping of standpipes, as it was partially due to a lack of an availible water that led to the untimely death of two of New York’s Bravest.

“This bill will not make the Beddia and Graffagnino families’ grief subside,” said Ignizio, “but hopefully we wont see any more tragedies stemming from the failings of a standpipe system designed to pump water to where it needs to be, when it needs to be there.”

Pictured Above - Prince's Bay Pharmacy Owner Bob Baker, BP Molinaro and Councilman Ignizio celebrate the opening of the Prince's Bay Park and Ride.

Councilman Ignizio was joined today by BP Molinaro, D.O.T. Borough Commissioner Tom Cocola, Staten Island Railway C.E.O. John Gaul to unveil Prince’s Bay’s new 28 car park and ride on Herbert Street, on the south side of the railroad tracks.

“This is the next step in the long process of going station by station to create park and rides along our railroad,” said Ignizio. “When I first started in government 13 years ago, there were only 17,000 daily riders.  Now, through improvements like this, were seeing over 23,000 weekday trips.  That could mean 6,000 cars off the road each day.”

Over the last few years a coalition of community members and elected officials, including Senator Lanza, Assemblymen Tobacco and Cusick, Borough President Molinaro, Congressmen McMahon, Community Board 3, and the landfill’s Citizens Advisory Committee and John Filicetti, pushed hard to ensure that city agencies would live up to their mandated mission of cleaning up the  final of five toxic landfills around the city.

Throughout the spring the Borough’s three City Councilmen, Ignizio, Oddo and Mitchell, were able to persuade Mayor Bloomberg to incorporate the full $241 million dollars necessary in this year’s budget.  On June 19, the budget was passed and signed and the existing contract with a private environmental remediation company can begin.

While in the Assembly, Councilman Ignizio was able to pass a law on August 16, 2006, which will force the contractor to use the Korean War Veterans Parkway to access the site.  This will keep the more than one hundred dump-trucks a day, which will be carrying the affected soil, off our local neighborhood roads.