One of the first tasks of the six-session Future Culture Working Group was to identify the “places and spaces” that make the North Shore special – existing cultural assets that ought to be protected and preserved.

Members of the Working Group shared memories and personal histories about cultural life in the waterfront neighborhoods, and strategized about how lessons from the past and present can inform future development:

“El Dia De Los Muertos”
IRMA BÓHORQUEZ-GEISLER

“The birds singing on Van Duzer Street remind me of West Africa.”
OUMIE CEESAY-PETERS

“The North Shore is an outpost of progressive ideas, ethnic diversity and creative energy.”
DEBORAH DAVIS

“We should be bringing back independent cinema to Staten Island.”
VOLKER GOETZE

“Bay Street was rocking in the 80’s”
CAROL HOOPER

“I moved here 20 years ago and…fell in love with the architecture of Fillmore Street.”
JOHN KILCULLEN

“The North Shore…you can’t put a label on it.”
FERN METCALF