to Project Hospitality. In the late 1980s, Lamberti led staunch opposition to the proposed City Charter revision abolishing the New York City Board of Estimate. At the time, this board was responsible for budget and land-use decisions for the city. It gave the mayor, comptroller and city council president each two votes on the board, while the five borough presidents got one. The proposed revisions would significantly reduce the power of borough presidents and resulted in Lamberti, among other elected officials, making secession from NYC a political issue on Staten Island. In 1986, Lamberti appointed a 15-member committee yesterday to study whether it is economically and legally feasible for Staten Island to secede from New York City, stating "We do not want to secede from the city of New York," adding, "If you take away our voice in city government and reduce us to a spectator, we may have no other choice." In 1987, Lamberti made a controversial deal with then New York City Mayor Ed Koch by which the four homeless shelters originally planned for Staten Island were not built in return for accepting a new city jail on Staten Island. In 1988, Lamberti announced that New York City has agreed to limit the jail from what was originally planned for 4,000 beds on a draft environmental impact statement to a limit of 1,000 beds, and stated that this amounted to "our fair share" of city jail space. On March 22, 1989, the United States Supreme Court unanimously decided that the New York City Board of Estimate violates constitutional protections of one-man, one-vote – since Lamberti's vote, at that time represented about 400,000 Staten Islanders, and carried the same weight as Brooklyn Borough President Howard Golden's, representing 2.3 million. This decision led to Lamberti being the last Staten Island Borough President to serve on the New York City Board of Estimate. He was defeated in the 1989 by then Congressman Guy Molinari, the first time in 20 years, that a Republican won this office. To date, Lamberti is the last Democrat to serve as Borough President of Staten Island. Later career (1990–2005) Upon his departure from Borough Hall in 1990 Lamberti was appointed Executive Vice President of Staten Island University Hospital where he served for 15 years, retiring in 2005. Accolades In 2001 NECO awarded Lamberti the Ellis Island Medal of Honor. This medal is presented to American citizens