Who They Are: Profiles of Our Elected Officials

This week: Village of Larchmont Trustee Michael Wiener
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by Paula Eisenberg

Village of Larchmont Trustee Mike Wiener

(July 10, 2003) How does he get it all done? "I don't need much sleep," Mike Wiener told the Gazette on a damp summer afternoon during his family's Martha's Vineyard vacation. "And I don't watch t.v. except for baseball." That's a good thing, considering the huge volume of work, paid and volunteer, he crams into his waking hours.

Merrill Lynch Vice President, Village Trustee, former Fire Department Chief and current volunteer, liaison to numerous committees and commissions, husband and father, Mike Wiener wears many hats, but his favorite one seems to be his fireman's helmet. Involved with the department since he was 18 and qualified as an interior firefighter since 1981, Wiener said, "I keep doing this because I think everybody should do some public service, and I love the sense of comaraderie in the department."

Along with the camaraderie comes danger, at times. Wiener recalls the most terrifying moment in his years of volunteer firefighting. "It was during the fire at Monahan's on Palmer Avenue, where Palmer's Crossing is now," he said. "I put my foot through the floor, right over the fire." His wife, Leslie, remembers that day. "We could see the plume of smoke over the trees from where we live," she said. "We went over to the scene, and although we couldn't see Michael, we just knew he was in there, in the fire." These days, she says, she just prefers not to think too much about her husband's firefighting work.

Wiener was born in Geneva, Switzerland, where his father worked for the United States Information Agency. The family moved to Larchmont in 1971, and Wiener has lived here ever since, attending Chatsworth, Hommocks and Mamaroneck High School. He studied at Penn State and graduated from Iona College with a degree in computer science and a minor in mathematics, paying for his education by working full-time at PepsiCo, at night.

"All I wanted after college was a day-job," he quipped. He found it, going to work for an insurance company as a programmer and capacity planner. In 1987, he joined Merrill Lynch, and is now Vice President for Private Client Distributed Technology Architecture. Another milestone in his life occurred that year: he got married. He and wife Leslie have two children, ages 10 and 3.

Leslie and Mike Wiener with daughter

Going into local politics seemed a natural progression after years of volunteering in the Village, Wiener told the Gazette. His first bid for a seat on the Board of Trustees ended in defeat in April, 2002, but Mayor Ken Bialo appointed him to fill the Trustee seat Bialo vacated when he became mayor. In the 2003 election, Wiener ran again, and won. "It felt good to win the seat outright," he said.

As Trustee, Wiener is proud of his work during the Village Hall renovation project. "There were all kinds of water problems in the basement, and I worked with John O'Malley and Chris Verni to write the specs for the repairs to the boiler and the floor," he said.

Water problems seem to be a leit-motif running through Wiener's life as a Village official. He lives in the Pinebrook neighborhood, and his neighbors' continuing travails with flooding keep him concerned and motivated to find solutions. "We're in a 50-year flood plain," he said, "And I can't promise anybody we can stop Mother Nature. But we can fix the problems Man has created." Working with LISWIC (Long Island Sound Watershed Inter-Municipal Commission), he favors the formation of a storm water utility district to raise money to improve storm water control.

According to Wiener, Pinebrook Creek drains five square miles of land between Larchmont and New Rochelle, passing through a tunnel. When that tunnel is overwhelmed, the water overflows into the Pinbebrook neighborhood. He is working now with the City of New Rochelle to get overflow valves installed near Beechmont Lake in an attempt to prevent flooding downstream in Larchmont.

In his remaining time in office, Wiener wants to continue improving the Village's emergency preparedness, drawing on his long experience as a firefighter and his understanding of the infrastructure and equipment needs of both the Police and Fire Departments. "Post-September 11, we need to make sure we're doing all we can to keep pace with the increased threats. Our training has been good, but we have to make sure we don't get complacent," he said.

Another goal is to work with the budget committee to create forward-looking financials. "And we have to keep our infrastructure and equipment up to date," Wiener said. "We need a better set of criteria for when to replace things like dump trucks, fire engines and other capital equipment."

As Trustee liaison to the Ad-hoc Telecommunications and Technology Committee, Wiener is concerned about the state of the Village's official website. He hopes the site will be updated and in good working order by the end of this fall.

No rest for the weary, as Wiener said good-bye to the Gazette and headed off to satisfy a request from one of his favorite constituents, his three-year-old daughter: time for a ride on the Flying Horses Carousel in Oak Bluffs.

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