STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. - Let's face it, Staten Island will probably never secede from New York City. There are too many financial questions to ponder.

Advance file photo

And you could argue that leaving the five boroughs might not be better off for us in the long run. After all, our relationship with City Hall hasn't been uniformly bad over the last couple of decades.

Don't Edit

AP photo

We did OK when Rudy Giuliani and Mike Bloomberg served their stints as mayor.

Don't Edit

Advance file photo

But we still have a lot of disagreements with Mayor Bill de Blasio, with many having to do with traffic and transportation issues.

So here's an idea: Let's declare ourselves a sanctuary borough when it comes to traffic enforcement.

I have to thank former Judge Phil Straniere for putting this particular bug in my ear when he paid a visit to the Advance newsroom the other week.

Don't Edit

AP photo

There is a logic to it. Eighteen cities across the country have declared themselves sanctuary cities when it comes to helping the federal government enforce laws against illegal immigration.

Five entire states - California, Oregon, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Vermont - have declared themselves sanctuary states when it comes to illegal immigration.

Don't Edit

AP photo

It all means that the cities and states limit how much they will cooperate with federal immigration laws. That's how strongly they oppose President Donald Trump's crackdown on illegal immigration. Leaders of these cities and states say that they're making a principled stand against a policy they vehemently disagree with.

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

AP photo

Berkeley has declared itself a sanctuary city for marijuana use, even though California has legalized weed for recreational use. Go figure.

It all poses an interesting question: When can states decline to enforce federal law? It's the oldest debate in the country: States' rights versus federal authority.

Well, we have the same dilemma: City laws versus local control.

So let's go our own way with traffic enforcement, Staten Islanders.

Don't Edit

Advance file photo

Think about all that we can do away with, beginning with that ridiculously low 25 mph city speed limit. Such a speed limit might work in the other boroughs, where things are so congested most of the time that you can barely even get up to that speed on most local roads.

But it doesn't make sense here. Why should Staten Islanders be forced to live by the one-size-fits-all strictures that the city imposes?

Sanctuary!

Don't Edit

Advance file photo

We could decline to pay when dinged by speed cameras or red-light cameras. Everyone knows that the cameras have nothing to do with safety, but are only revenue generators for the city. And we know that the city hasn't even been following proper procedure when issuing the summonses in the first place.

And the cameras unfairly target Staten Islanders, who are disproportionately reliant on their cars when compared to the other boroughs.

And why are we so reliant on our cars? Because we don't have the mass transit infrastructure that the other boroughs have, including subways.

So we're screwed out of mass transit and then are basically punished when we use our cars?

Hell, no. Sanctuary!

Don't Edit

Advance file photo

It also means we won't have to respect all those bike lanes. We'll surely keep an eye out for out cycling brothers and sisters, but if that bike lane is outside a store or home we're visiting, we're parking there. If the lane is cordoned off by bollards, we're taking the bollards down.

The roads are too congested. We need all the asphalt we can get. We're taking those lanes back.

That's right: Sanctuary.

Make the city take us to court. Let the corporation counsel's office work overtime fielding our challenges. Let judges at every level make the decisions. Tie the court system up in knots.

Don't Edit

AP photo

And, hey, this is something that de Blasio would have a hard time arguing with. He's declared New York one of those sanctuary cities when it comes to immigration. How is he going to insist that the boroughs must follow city law if there is a reasonable disagreement? Is it going to be another one of those classic de Blasio "do as I say, not as I do" moments?

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

Advance file photo

Oh, and screw that HOV lane on the Staten Island Expressway. Nobody obeys it, and the state has not kept faith with us by failing to fully build it out. I'm driving in it even if I'm all alone in the car.

Maybe then they'll pay attention to our gripes.