East End Businessman Tommy John Schiavoni Is NY's Newest Assemblymember

Tommy John Schiavoni’s 2024 election to represent District 1 as an Assemblyman is just the latest in a lifetime of service. Schiavoni, who is a multi-generation East Ender, has lived his entire life in Sag Harbor.

His venture into service through politics began in 2008 when he served on the North Haven Village Zoning Board of Appeals. He followed that with election to the North Haven Village Board in 2014. In 2016, he was appointed to the Southampton Town Zoning Board of Appeals. He was elected to Town Council in 2017. He also served on the Sag Harbor Board of Education from 2014-17. Schiavoni’s wife is the Honorable Judge Andrea Harum Schiavoni. They have two children, Anna and Thomas.

“The 2024 election season afforded me the opportunity to meet people from the various communities of the First Assembly District. Fred Thiele was a very effective Assemblyman and has left the district in a good position.” says Schiavoni, whose district covers the towns of Southold, Shelter Island, East Hampton, Southampton and part of Brookhaven.

Schiavoni’s roots run deep in the Hamptons. His Italian grandfather and family came to the United States through Greenport to work in the brickyard. His grandmother on his mother’s side was of Irish descent and worked on an estate in East Hampton. The Schiavoni family eventually opened a plumbing and heating company in Sag Harbor, which still exists today. He remembers working in the family business when he was as young as 12 years old. He says that his long heritage in the area gives him a unique perspective that is important to people on the East End.

“As a life-long resident of the area, I understand the challenges of the region,” Schiavoni says. Having a long history of public service both in schools and in municipal government, allows him to work well with municipalities and school districts. He plans to use those skills as the area’s representative in Albany.

Schiavoni’s focus includes practical municipal administration, while maintaining his commitment to a healthy environment, a sound local economy, transportation, sustainability initiatives and support of the arts and education. His district includes 25 school districts,10 villages and a federally recognized indigenous nation.

“I am an advocate for the environment,” says Schiavoni, who taught social studies for 32 years. “I also believe we should increase education funding and improve LIRR service from Speonk to Montauk. “

Although train service currently exists, he says it needs to be expanded to provide a more viable solution for transportation on the South Fork. He says having “sidings” are necessary so two trains can pass safely and access multi-platforms at the same time. In addition, he says with these improvements, trains could run hourly from east to west and from west to east to better serve the South Fork. Schiavoni says that these improvements are part of the MTA’s five-year capital plan. He went on to explain that the East End is a major economic engine of Suffolk County and having a train system that suits the needs of workers will lead to increased economic activity. Schiavoni didn’t run on a lark, he has well thought out plans for his tenure. This includes the goal of getting more people working without adding more cars to area roads.

“When the trains are more desirable and more dependable, people will use them,” says Schiavoni of the system that costs only $3 for a ticket. “The cost is reasonable. We just need to improve the infrastructure and for that, we need the MTA to move forward with improvements that are necessary to address the increasing impacts related to traffic.”

Of course, he doesn’t have a one-track mind and understands that the residents of the area have several other concerns that he must address. “I am particularly interested in water quality and the preservation of open space,” says Schiavoni,

“The Peconic Estuary is important, as is school funding. My background and knowledge in education, and my work in the village and town are vital to the effective representation for the East End in Albany.”

Schiavoni earned a Bachelor of Arts in secondary education in social studies at SUNY Cortland and became a teacher. He worked from 1988 until retirement in 2018 in the Center Moriches School District teaching participation in government, economics and U.S. history and government. While working full time, he earned a master’s degree from SUNY Stony Brook.

“Affordable housing is vital, however, we cannot build our way out of this problem,” Schiavoni says. “We need a variety of options regarding housing. Whether its accessory apartments, home ownership or rentals, all are needed to keep our young people in the area and our workers local. Our population is going up, school enrollment is going down.

Schiavoni says that he is determined to continue the successes of former Assembly Fred Thiele, who retired last year. He also highlights the importance of prioritizing the various, yet similar issues on the North and South forks, in one of the largest Assembly Districts.

“Of course I love Sag Harbor, but it all is beautiful out here,” he says with pride, “which is why it is so important to preserve what we have here.”

Todd Shapiro is an award-winning publicist and associate publisher of Dan’s Papers.