Legislator Robert T. Calarco ’05

Robert T. Calarco ‘05, Suffolk County Legislature

Suffolk County Legislator Robert T. Calarco ’05 was elected to represent the 7th Legislative District in November 2011. Already, he has defined himself as an energetic leader who delivers solutions to the communities he serves.

Legislator Calarco grew up in Auburn, NY. His father was a first-generation Italian-American, who served his community as a firefighter, and his mother, a stay-at-home mom, who helped support her family as a seamstress. Since a very young age, he has known the values of hard work and respect for all people.

The legislator was heavily inspired by his father, who served 34 years in the Auburn Fire Department, and led the effort to unionize the department, and his grandfather, a former Superintendent of the County Parks Department, who helped lead the restoration of a major county park on Owasco Lake. As a result of these strong influences, Legislator Calarco came to public service naturally.

Legislator Calarco eventually relocated to Long Island to attend Dowling College in Oakdale, NY, where he worked his way through school and earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. He then went on to earn his Master’s Degree from Stony Brook University in Public Administration. Since then, Legislator Calarco has spent more than 10 years working in county government, and to date has helped deliver a number of projects within his District:

• The East Main Street re-development in Patchogue
• The Medford Memorial Park hamlet green and its summer concert series
• An ArtSpace in Patchogue Village
• The Annual Play for Peace Soccer Tournaments in Patchogue and Medford
• The Canaan Lake remediation in North Patchogue

However, this is only the beginning … Legislator Calarco is currently leading the effort to repurpose the old Blue Point Laundry property, find an adequate location and funding sources for the Carnegie Library in Patchogue Village, create a business district for Gordon Heights in addition to future economic development along the Bellport Montauk Highway corridor, create a Traffic Violations Bureau, ensure police have the resources necessary to fight crime, and craft a regional approach for job creation.