Vallone Hosts Book Signing

Former City Council Speaker Peter Vallone set out three years ago to create a textbook to help teach college students about the ins-and-outs of government.
Halfway through his endeavor, a friend who knows a little something about education, CUNY Chancellor Matthew Goldstein, told Vallone he thought it would be best to sprinkle his own experiences throughout the text, making it more reader-friendly and personal.
Learning To Govern: My Life In New York Politics, From Hell Gate to City Hall was born.
Last week it was released at area bookstores, and on October 5, Vallone greeted more than 100 readers at a book signing at the Bay Terrace Barnes & Noble.
Vallone, who has kept a diary since high school, said he was most concerned with writing a book that talks to young people who are interested in pursuing a career in government.
“I used my own experiences to show them how to get into government and what to do once they get there,” Vallone told The Queens Courier. “I wanted to give them a primer and teach them that good government is much more important than good politics.”
Vallone, who teaches at Fordham and Baruch, spends much of the book lauding examples of good government, from the “Safe Streets, Safe City” initiative to the dismantling of the Board of Estimates. He also looks at what’s wrong with government — in his opinion — like the political wheeling-and-dealing in Albany that led to the end of the commuter tax fee.
“In Albany, political control is far more important than good government…so the Democratic assembly passed this mad law, and the governor happily signed it,” Vallone writes in the afterword of his book.
Aside from his thoughts on the role of government, Vallone takes readers back to his childhood in Astoria and rise to power at the Council. He brings readers into meetings he had with mayors and party leaders.
Not all of the interactions went well then, but looking back Vallone sees how they played out over the long term.
“While I put the disagreements in, I did not highlight them,” Vallone said. “I want people to know that government is a good thing.”
Vallone also reflects on his religion, and how it’s shaped his life in the public eye.
“This country is unique in that it is the only one dedicated to a creator…that’s where we get our rights from,” he said.
editrich@queenscourier.com