Schiavoni runs on water, affordability and local control

Democratic incumbent Tommy John Schiavoni is seeking a second term in the state’s 1st Assembly District on Nov. 3, with water quality, affordability and environmental protection among his top priorities.

Mr. Schiavoni, elected in 2024 to succeed longtime Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr, represents Southold, Shelter Island, Southampton and East Hampton towns and a portion of Brookhaven Town. 

His achievements since going to Albany include co-sponsoring legislation that increased state reimbursement for eligible homeowners installing innovative alternative wastewater treatment systems from $10,000 to $25,000.

He also co-sponsored legislation that would increase the state income-tax credit for eligible volunteer firefighters and ambulance workers from $200 to $800 for an individual and from $400 to $1,600 for a married couple filing jointly.

Mr. Schiavoni recently joined Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie in Greenport on Oct. 5 to announce a nearly $3 million boost for much-needed park and infrastructure upgrades.

He also helped secure $2.25 million in state funding for the Long Island Head Start facility in Riverside, voted to ban cellphones in schools and backed legislation to extend the Long Island deer-management pilot program.

“We have a problem with white-tailed deer all over Long Island and particularly the East End,” Mr. Schiavoni told the Times Review Editorial Board during an interview. “Agricultural crops are lost, tick-borne illnesses, and our forests are being changed slowly before our eyes.”

Mr. Schiavoni said he opposed sweeping changes enacted this year to the State Environmental Quality Review Act, which governs environmental review of certain development and infrastructure projects.

The changes allow some qualifying housing projects to bypass additional SEQRA review if they meet specific conditions. Outside New York City, those conditions include being built on previously disturbed land, connecting to existing water and sewer systems and remaining within certain unit caps. The law does not override local zoning or other environmental permitting requirements.

“It’s a bad idea. I believed it then, I believe it now,” he said. 

He said he knows the balance between land preservation and development on the North Fork is difficult, but that land-use decisions should ultimately remain subject to local zoning laws.

“I believe in home rule, and I think towns and villages should zone the way they they want want their communities to look,” he said. He added that he also likes other tools such as “the transfer of development rights and using the community preservation fund to make farmers whole, so that row crop farming can stay in place.” 

In conversations with constituents across the district, Mr. Schiavoni said he regularly hears concerns about roads, traffic and transportation, issues he hopes to focus on more in a second term.

He also thinks the state should conduct some “real forensic auditing of our charter schools, considering that’s public monies.”

“Like all public monies, that should be completely in the public’s view. That way we can evaluate how that is being spent,” he said.

OLA of Eastern Long Island has proposed a public safety policy governing how Southold police interact with federal immigration authorities when there’s activity across North Fork hamlets. Mr. Schiavoni thinks it’s a “good proposal.”

“These are things that I think we should be doing anyway,” he said. “I don’t know what the dust-up is about it. It is an event that the community needs to respond to, and it’s a good idea to have a plan in place if that were to happen.”

Before joining the Assembly, Mr. Schiavoni served on the North Haven Village Zoning Board of Appeals, was elected to the North Haven Village Board in 2014 and later served on the Southampton Town Board.

He was a high school social studies teacher for 32 years before entering politics and is also a member of a multi-generation family plumbing and heating business in Sag Harbor. 

“Being a lifelong resident — I’m a local here — I know the East End,” Mr. Schiavoni said. “ I know the issues out here. I know every inch of this place, and I think it’s a good fit for me to be in this position.”