We tried hard to secede, Staten Island did, but the Bronx folk need our money because WE actually work.
So they shot it down.
Giuliani was crazy but he was a patriot and threw Arafat out of more than one occasion.
Actually Manhattanites contribute considerably more in taxes than Staten Islanders do. The fact that that a huge portion of the population of Staten Island are government employees should be taken into consideration as well.