Poignant Moment
Ernest Strada, the veteran Westbury mayor, gave his former state Senator, security secretary Mike Balboni, a unique and heartfelt introduction before a meeting of the New York State Conference of Mayors and Municipal Officials the other day.
“Politics in Albany is very very strange, as we all know,” said Strada, the organization’s first vice-president. “But Mike Balboni comes from where we are and is who we are.”
Balboni responded in kind, saying Strada and his family were “very much a part of this decision to leave politics” to try to improve public safety measures against terrorism and natural disasters.
The room grew especially quiet when Balboni said he thinks “all the time” of Ernest’s late son, Thomas Strada, a broker for Cantor Fitzgerald who was killed in the World Trade Center attacks.
Dan Janison
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