Phil DePaolo may or may not be the mayor of Williamsburg, but he has certainly been a fixture on the neighborhood activism scene. And now he’s leaving town – moving to the suburbs for better schools.

I worked with Phil on any number of issues in the neighborhood, didn’t always agree with him 100%, but was always happy to have him on my side (or to be on his side as the case may be).

I am reminded of my own parent’s experience – we moved to the suburbs in the late 60s, and within a couple of years, my parents were organizing to improve the local schools. The tag line on all the buttons was “You probably left a better school in NYC than you came to here”.

Good luck, Phil.