Class Notes — Profile
A MAN WITH A MISSION When Hurricane Sandy slammed Staten Island in October 2012, Joe Tirone Jr. ’79 lost a house but gained a calling. Tirone’s property, a singlestory bungalow in Fox Beach that he rented out to tenants, was submerged in 11 feet of water, its interior totally destroyed. After assessing the damage, he decided it would be folly to rebuild on the same site but wasn’t sure what other options he had. Then, in a conversation with a representative of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), he learned about FEMA’s Hazard Mitigation Grant Program, which provides funds to buy out homes in danger zones and convert the property to open space.
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representing Staten Island’s 63rd District. The election is in November.
BUCK ENNIS
LEARNING EXPERIENCE That was the beginning of a crash course Tirone describes as “like being back in college again.” He spent hours on the phone with residents and officials in Nashville, Tennessee, and upstate Jay, New York, who had successfully applied for buyouts following devastating floods several years earlier. “They were my professors, and they gave me a lot of homework,” he says. Rather than go it alone, Tirone decided to share what he’d learned with his fellow homeowners in the Fox Beach area. At a community meeting
in a local church, he explained how the buyout program worked and asked how many of those in attendance might be interested in participating. “I was surprised by the number of people who raised their hands,” he says. “I said to myself, ‘This is what I’m supposed to do.’” A committee was formed, consisting of Tirone and seven other homeowners. Over the ensuing weeks, they conducted further research, drew maps, and enlisted the
have signed up for the program. A second program, called Oakwood Beach 2, involving another 150 homes, has also seen nearly unanimous participation. Tirone successfully advocated for two additional Staten Island neighborhoods, bringing the total to more than 500 homes currently in line for a buyout. “It is an incredibly fair program,” Tirone says. Participating homeowners receive 100 percent of the preSandy value of their property, plus a 10 percent incentive
Joe Tirone Jr. ’79 on a Staten Island rooftop where one of his neighbors spent eight hours waiting for the floodwaters from Hurricane Sandy to recede.
aid of government officials. Ultimately, the group’s proposal would make its way to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. He not only backed the plan but, drawing on his past experience as US Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, found a way to expedite the process. To date, 184 of the 185 homeowners in Fox Beach
and another 5 percent if they relocate within New York City. After the homes are demolished, the land will be allowed to return to nature, creating a buffer against future storms for homes farther inland. Tirone is not done yet, however. He decided that his next step would be to run for the New York State Assembly,
MEMORIES OF PACE This will not be Tirone’s first run for office. At Pace in the late 1970s, he made a successful bid for student council. He still remembers his campaign slogan—“Let your voice be known, vote for Joe Tirone.” Tirone came to Pace to study accounting, saying that its program was “head and shoulders over any other college I looked at.” He earned his BBA from the Lubin School of Business in 1979. “It was a wonderful experience, and it helped me tremendously,” he recalls. After an earlier career as an investment banker, he is currently in the real-estate business as a broker, investor, consultant, and portfolio manager. When Pace Magazine interviewed him in late August, Tirone had just returned from the Travis Roy Foundation’s annual wiffle ball tournament in Vermont, which has raised close to $3 million to treat spinal cord injuries. Tirone helped create the tournament 13 years ago and pitches for the Staten Island “Wiffle Ball” Yankees, one of 28 teams from around the East Coast. His Yankees took the title this year, beating the Braintree, Massachusetts, Jackhammers 6 to 4, and returning the championship to Staten Island. –Greg Daugherty