Lifelong Saratoga Springs Resident Gets His Day in The City

SARATOGA SPRINGS — It was February 1986. Ronald Reagan sat at the resolute desk in the Oval Office, the Space Shuttle Challenger had three weeks earlier met tragedy after it lifted off from Cape Canaveral, and the song “We Are The World” was poised to take home all kinds of awards at the 28th Grammy Awards.  

Twenty-six year-old Tony Izzo saw a story in the local newspaper that read: Saratoga Needs Lawyers. He promptly headed to Broadway, met with the mayor and the city attorney, and 10 days later began his first day of work at City Hall.     

“Thirty-nine years ago today I walked through that front door, thinking to myself that I had absolutely no idea what to expect,” Izzo recalled during the Feb. 18 meeting of the City Council, where he was honored for his years of service.   

“Here it is, 39 years later, and when I walk through that front door, I still don’t know what to expect that day,” he said, after city Mayor John Safford read a proclamation to name the day in Anthony J. Izzo’s honor.   

“Tony is one of the most familiar and most recognized public servants who gives unselfishly of his time and legal talents,” said the mayor, leading the honors at City Hall. “He is one of the least pretentious persons among us, and conducts himself with honestly, thoughtfulness and compassion.” 

“You know I write so many of these proclamations for other people and I sit out there in the front row and watch the expressions on their faces,” said Izzo, who has served nearly one dozen mayors during his years of service as legal counsel for the city. “Now, I guess I know what it feels like.”