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Oh Say, Can You See? Huge Flag Draped Over Staten Island Borough Hall

By Nicholas Rizzi | August 31, 2016 2:47pm
 Oddo put the flag in after the city said it would take months to replace the one of the roof.
BP Oddo Teams With Artist to Install 30-Foot American Flag at Borough Hall
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ST. GEORGE — Oh say, can you see? Actually, this Old Glory is impossible to miss.

A huge flag has been unfurled on Staten Island's Borough Hall — and it literally puts the building in the shade.

After months of complaining that the star-spangled banner wasn't waving, Borough President James Oddo took matters into his own hands by draping a 30-foot-by-20-foot flag over the front of the building.

Oddo teamed up with controversial artist Scott LoBaidowho recently made headlines for creating a giant pro-Trump yard sign  — to unveil the display of national pride on the Richmond Terrace side of the building Wednesday.

"If you're going to go, you're going to go big," Oddo said. 

"We needed something done quickly and Scott said I have it, came to office and said this is my plan."

Oddo noticed the flag on top of Borough Hall was missing around Memorial Day and was told by the Department of City Administrative Services that the flagpole had broken and needed to be replaced, he wrote on Facebook.

The city told him that a crane needed to be placed on the roof and the building's structural stability had to be checked first. 

The project would need to be put out to bid for contractors, which would take at least four months, so Oddo met with LoBaido to come up with an idea while waiting.

The two said Wednesday they have a more complicated plan — which they won't yet reveal —  but hung the giant flag while that's prepared.

"We had to do something," LoBaido said. "I couldn't sleep at night."

LoBaido, a self-described "creative patriot," has made numerous pieces around the borough. He painted a sleeping baby with an American flag outside a school, a muscular Ronald Reagan mural on Hylan Boulevard and the 12-foot-tall pro-Trump yard sign.

After the original "T" sign was burned down this month, LoBaido installed a larger 16-foot version on a Staten Islander's lawn.

Oddo called LoBaido a "national treasure" and a person Staten Islanders should be proud of, regardless of whether they agree with his politics.

"Scotty expresses his first amendment rights articulately, forcefully and he represents Staten Island in a really positive light," Oddo said.

"You may not agree with his political beliefs, you may not even like his art, but you got to love the passion. You got to respect the love of this country."