Most of Mr. Donald Barbieri’s life was spent dealing with adversity, and yet all of the time he faced it head-on, and worked tirelessly to support and better his community.
Mr. Barbieri was dauntless and never lost his belief in what he was doing, and for what he called “the good fight.”
There are too many exceptional examples to note, but not everyone may know that for years Mr. Barbieri owned and ran a small shoe repair business in Penn Station; in fact it was the one that was readily visible.
There I would sometimes see Mr. Barbieri on my way to or from my work downtown. Amazingly, Mr. Barbieri managed his commute via the LIRR, which was and remains vastly less than friendly to handicap access, let alone manageable for any reasonable commute. Mr. Barbieri managed a staff of eight employees of whom I believe several were vets.
Then several years ago, literally overnight and without warning, the MTA raised rents 2-3 times for Mr. Barbieri’s and other small independent businesses in Penn Station.
Mr. Barbieri had to close shop and vacate, but he did not call it quits. This despite the MTA’s open proclamation to champion these very same small businesses; bold proclamation can still be found on the MTA’s website.
At the time I had secured the help of a kind-hearted political appointee at my federal agency, who had connections at the state level and within the MTA.
We tried to support Mr. Barbieri’s David vs. Goliath effort to reverse the travesty.
Alas, to no avail. Basically, the MTA’s “business model” had changed to prefer higher paying small businesses. Mr. Barbieri noted that one vacated location had a new Dunkin’ Donuts.
Despite the loss of his business, having to lay off loyal employees, and the loss of needed income, I never saw Mr. Barbieri miss a beat. Never.
Mr. Barbieri’s greatest efforts were supporting his community and friends. And here he was one of the kindest, most positive, exceptionally generous, giving, and capable people I have ever had the honor and privilege to know.
And he did so especially because of his vast propensity for kindness and humanity and for reaching out in his deeply warm and meaningful way.
Mr. Barbieri did so without compromises, unreservedly, unflinchingly and without reservation. He was always there to listen and help you work through a civic matter.
We need Mr. Barbieri’s unflinching moralism and activism to balance out those of us who bumble through without disturbing ourselves too much to defy those aspects of our communities and the powerful bureaucracies with which we disagree or should disagree, and to limit what we don’t want to happen.
His manner of activism helped foster the successful approaches and civic infrastructure that was effective in succeeding against the forces that all too commonly siphon off of our good effort.
A community without people like Mr. Barbieri could probably not work.
We shall keep talking and thinking and sincerely missing Don, for all his exceptional qualities and examples, we shall miss his wonderful approach to community service.
I am honored to have known such a great and humble man.
Stephen Cipot
Garden City Park
