City of Greater New York

[6][7] New York City had been founded in the 1620s by the Dutch as New Amsterdam at the southern tip of the island of Manhattan.

Originally comprising what is now Downtown Brooklyn, it annexed its surroundings through the 19th century and grew to encompass all of Kings County in 1895.

[14] Green was a member of the Board of Commissioners of Central Park, which provided him a platform to push his views.

Opposition, concentrated in Brooklyn and other outlying districts, focused on loss of local control and fears of ethnic and racial minorities.

[18] Some newspapers such as the Brooklyn Daily Eagle argued that consolidation would destroy the mostly homogeneous, Protestant character of the city.

[19] Considerations of finance and water supply prevailed, and the people of Brooklyn voted by a narrow margin to consolidate.

For example, some issues of taxation and changes in governmental procedures require state approval or granting of specific home rule powers.

[25] The New York City Board of Estimate, created in the consolidation charter with equal votes for each borough, was struck down on similar grounds in 1989.

[26] Many Staten Island politicians, including Senator John J. Marchi and Assemblyman Eric N. Vitaliano supported the movement.

[30][31] The Staten Island secession movement was defused by the election of Rudy Giuliani as New York City mayor, who fulfilled two of the borough's biggest demands: making the Staten Island Ferry free in 1997[32] and closing the Fresh Kills Landfill in 2001.