On Verge of Retirement, City Attorney Reflects on 33 Years (Part I)

[Editor's Note: This is Part I of a two-part series. See Part II on Monday morning. Click the "Keep me posted" button for an alert when it's published.]

I first met Robert Zweben when I was 8 years old. He was the coach of the Senators, my first baseball team. Robert reminded me recently that we went undefeated, 11-0. Today, Robert is still proud of our team’s accomplishment. I had a lucky stuffed animal, a small red lobster I was pretty sure was responsible for our success. I was also good at bunting.

While on the Senators, in our black mesh hats embroidered with a yellow “S,” I became good friends with Robert’s son Seth. Soon, sleepovers at each other’s houses became a regular thing, our families became close, and over time Robert became one of the handful of father figures in my life. I sat down with Robert recently to discuss his career in Albany politics, his impact on my life and his thoughts on retirement and the future.

ENTERING ALBANY POLITICS

Robert’s first foray into Albany city politics came in 1978. It started with a desire for a four-way stop sign at the intersection of Posen and Ordway. He aggressively lobbied the city Public Works staff. When that didn’t work, he got himself appointed to the Traffic & Safety Commission.

He wanted stop signs posted because he and many students would often speed around this curve near his home. Robert successfully persuaded the Traffic & Safety Commission to recommend that the City Council put up the stop signs at the intersection.

His experience with the city and the stop signs whet his appetite. Upheaval in the city political scene led him to get even more involved. Albany voters had recalled two council members in November 1977. Although Robert was not involved in the recall, he followed the political turmoil.

It was at that time he learned the city attorney was up for election in April 1978. When he talked to people in government circles and in the community, Robert learned that the sitting attorney had made some controversial decisions and was not appreciated by large numbers of people. Robert saw an opening and decided to run for the position.

GATEVIEW DECISION OPENS DOOR

Possibly the most damaging mistake the city attorney made was advising the council to go forward with the . The City Council approved the project in late 1973.

The issue was that one council member owned land on Albany Hill that was bought by Gateview’s developers, then given to the city as part of the approval of the project. Some in the community felt this was a conflict of interest and filed a lawsuit that went all the way to the state Supreme Court. The court decided against the council.

The city attorney at the time had given what was essentially bad advice, and the court came down hard. The council member lost the money he received from the land, and the land was forfeited. The court decision came down two months before the election.

ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL

During his first campaign, in 1978, Robert walked 90 percent of Albany’s streets, he estimates, talking to all variety of residents. He walked with Ellen, his wife at the time (they separated in 1993), who was pregnant with Seth, the couple’s first child.

Robert felt that if he could simply get to know the people in City Hall and the voters in Albany, they would vote for him. The few debates that took place between him and the incumbent were well attended. Robert stuck to a simple strategy: Highlight the incumbent’s recent mistakes and tell voters he could do the job better.

In what many considered a big upset, he won the election by 29 votes. Robert was 32 years old.

After this election, he would be seriously challenged two more times for the position. In 1982, he overcame a coordinated attempt by members of the community who supported the former city attorney and were unhappy that Robert won in 1978. The group recruited an attorney to move into Albany and run against Robert. But again Robert won, and after that faced only one other serious challenger.

PERSONAL BEGINNINGS

As a youth, Robert was rambunctious and spent a lot of time in the principal’s office or in after-school detention. Never anything really bad, he just wasn’t afraid to speak his mind during a time when that wasn’t exactly encouraged.

After going to one school in Washington, D.C., from grades three through nine, he decided to transfer. In our talk, Robert said he was happy to leave the school where he faced anti-Semitism and bigotry. He remembered being called “Zwebe the Hebe” and “kike.” Robert still reflects today on how the anti-Semitism may have shaped his behavior as a youth.

He ended up finishing high school at the same school where the Obama children go now, Sidwell Friends. Even in this vastly more open-minded environment, he got to know the upper school principal just like all the previous administrators who tried to keep him in line.

During most of his childhood, he spent summers with his grandparents on the New Jersey coast, just south of Atlantic City. His grandmother well understood Robert’s penchant for adventure.

A buddy of Robert’s had a rowboat, and the two boys, like Huck Finn, rowed around the back bay of the island for hours without permission, adult supervision or life vests. Once, when Robert returned to his grandparents, his grandmother looked at his hands and saw the calluses on his palms. She knew what he had been up to.

For his grandmother, this was it. She was about to put him on a Greyhound bus back to Washington, but relented. As Robert describes it, he was doing what kids do, exploring, fishing, crabbing and generally having a good time.

COMING MONDAY: Learn how Robert Zweben ended up in Albany, after working in poverty law and for Ralph Nader, and why he feels being a city attorney was a good fit for him. Read about his approach to parenting, why he was attacked by environmentalists over waterfront development, and his plans for the future. Click the "Keep me posted" button for an alert with we publish Part II.

If there's something in this article you think , or if something else is amiss, call editor Emilie Raguso at 510-459-8325 or email her at emilier@patch.com.