A former corruption-fighting Yonkers mayor who later as a lawyer represented developers remaking the city”™s downtown and its postindustrial riverfront was honored with the naming of the Alfred B. DelBello Riverwalk near Yonkers City Pier.
Yonkers officials were joined by elected officials across Westchester and family, friends and colleagues of DelBello at a wind-chilled Nov. 23 ceremony at the city”™s waterfront amphitheater. Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano unveiled new signage for the renamed stretch of the downtown Hudson River esplanade between the mouth of the Saw Mill River and the southern end of the Scrimshaw House boardwalk. The riverwalk segment is owned by the city’s Community Development Agency.
The Scrimshaw House boardwalk adjoins the site of a luxury apartment development planned by a surviving partner of Struever Fidelco Cappelli LLC, the city”™s former downtown master developer, and client of DelBello”™s White Plains law firm, DelBello Donnellan Weingarten Wise & Wiederkehr LLP.
DelBello, who died on May 15, was a third-generation Yonkers resident, said his wife, Dee DelBello, publisher of the Westchester County Business Journal, at the morning ceremony. Before taking office as mayor in 1970, DelBello worked with his father in a Yonkers law office with views of the Hudson. “He would often say to me, ”˜The Hudson River should be the eighth Wonder of the World,”™” his widow recalled.
DelBello, a Democrat, at 35 became the youngest mayor in Yonkers history after defeating the Republican incumbent in a November 1969 election. He served four years as mayor, winning reelection with 80 percent of the votes, Spano noted at the ceremony.
DelBello went on to serve eight years as Westchester County Executive before serving two years in Albany as lieutenant governor to Mario Cuomo.
“Al was the definition of an elder statesman, a political titan not just here in Yonkers and Westchester County, but all through New York state,” Spano said. He called DelBello “a natural leader.”
Yonkers City Council President Liam McLaughlin, a Republican, said DelBello offered him simple advice as a public official: “Do what”™s right and work together whenever possible.”
U.S Rep. Eliot Engel, a Democrat whose 16th Congressional District includes Yonkers, said DelBello in his career “went from new kid on the block, young dynamo, to elder statesman, someone who lasted in the political arena for a long time.”
“Through it all what I remember about Al is that he was just a really, really nice guy,” the congressman added, “someone collegial who worked with everybody.”
Town of Greenburgh Supervisor Paul Feiner cited DelBello”™s achievements on behalf of the arts and environment in Westchester, including closing the Bronx River Parkway to motor vehicle traffic for Bicycle Sundays.
“To me Al DelBello represented optimism,” Feiner said. “He really made Westchester a much more fun place to be. ”¦He did so many things that made people want to live in Westchester County.”
The riverwalk dedication in Yonkers will not be the last tribute to DelBello. Westchester County Executive Robert P. Astorino recently announced that Muscoot Farm, the interpretive farm and educational center in Somers and part of the county parks system, will be renamed the Alfred B. DelBello Muscoot Farm.
The honor recognizes the effort by DelBello and his wife to have the county preserve the farm for visitors, Astorino said. A formal naming ceremony will be held at Muscoot Farm next spring.
