Schenectady council reaches agreement to pay tribute to restaurant owners

October 20, 2024

Updated: October 20, 2024

SCHENECTADY — In ‍a heartwarming tribute to two iconic Italian restaurateurs, the city of ⁤Schenectady’s Little Italy neighborhood will soon ‌see two ⁤streets named after Luigi‍ Battaglioli and Marlene‍ Hill. This decision comes as a result of a City Council ⁤compromise, ensuring both late restaurant owners ⁢are separately honored with their own street signs.

After a‌ three-month-long campaign led by Hill’s ‌family,‌ the ⁤council unanimously agreed ‍on ‍Tuesday night to ceremonially ‍name a section of Barrett Street between‍ South Avenue and Union Street as Marlene Hill Way.

“We’re over the moon,” expressed‌ Hill’s granddaughter Brigid Waddell after the vote. “It’s funny because the restaurant was always ⁤closed on⁤ Tuesdays, which⁣ was [Hill’s] ‌ day to do anything. So, the fact⁢ that the approval came on a Tuesday, we believe she’s looking down and smiling.”

This summer, Battaglioli’s⁢ family initiated a campaign to have a street sign named⁤ after Battaglioli at the former Barrett Street‌ location of the renowned Luigi’s Restaurant. Battaglioli, a World⁣ War II veteran, owned the restaurant‍ from 1950 until his retirement ⁢in 1981.

Hill’s ‌family approached the council with a‌ similar⁢ request, as Hill bought Luigi’s Restaurant ‍from Battaglioli in‌ 1981 and managed the establishment until her untimely death in 2006.

The‌ council considered honoring Hill with a plaque near the restaurant’s original location, which is⁤ now the site of the Live-In Schenectady development project.

In August, the City ⁢Council unanimously approved the renaming of Barrett Village Lane to Luigi Lane, with the intention to separately honor Hill.

Hill’s family gathered over ‍500 ‍signatures for a proposal to ceremonially ‌rename⁣ Barrett Street from South Ave to ⁢Huron Street after the late restaurant owner.

The proposal‌ faced some public resistance, with⁢ Councilwoman ⁣Doreen Ditoro noting during ⁤an Oct. 7 council meeting‌ that⁣ residents expressed concerns about ‍Hill’s honor overshadowing Battaglioli’s.

“Everyone acknowledges‌ Marlene Hill‍ and her greatness in Schenectady, ‌but I’m just ⁢not comfortable at this point with some of the letters that we’ve been getting to⁣ move this forward,” Ditoro said during the meeting.

City ⁢Council President Marion Porterfield suggested a compromise to ceremonially name‌ a portion of⁣ Barrett Street between South Avenue and Union⁢ Street after Hill, instead of the original⁤ plan to name the ⁣portion ⁣of Barrett Street between ‍South Avenue and Huron Street after the restaurateur.

As per the compromise, the signs honoring Hill and Battaglioli‍ will be placed on separate signposts, giving each honoree ‌their own commemorative ‍milestone.

The council‍ moved forward with the compromise, ‍with Hill’s family agreeable to the change.

“Everybody‌ loves their family and feels ⁣their family is⁣ worth it,” Porterfield said ‌on⁤ Tuesday. “I wanted to do something, and the council‌ certainly agreed with it, that we want to respect ‍that.‌ So ⁢we wanted to do it in a way where there was as little controversy as possible. It got a little controversial, but I believe we came up with a solution that everybody was in agreement with and ⁣I haven’t heard otherwise. I’m glad that we can move ⁣forward with that.”

Battaglioli’s grandson Michael Tearno, who spearheaded the effort to‍ have Barrett Village Lane named after his grandfather, said⁤ that⁤ he agreed‍ with the final compromise ⁢put forth by the council.

“My family is ‍satisfied with the compromise ‌presented by the City Council,” Tearno⁤ wrote in an email.

Barrett ⁣Village Lane will be officially ⁢renamed after Battaglioli, while a ceremonial sign for Marlene Hill Way will ‌be ‍placed under ⁢the Barrett Street sign.

Shane Waddell said that Hill’s family ⁣was⁤ happy to see Hill honored on her own terms, with the direction of the ‍street ⁤sign a matter of semantics.

Both signs are expected to be put in place in the coming weeks.

“We had no interest⁢ in clashing with the other ‍family, we ‌just wanted to‌ see her honored in her own right,” Shane Waddell said. “That’s what was‌ important. ‌So the compromise was what it needed ⁣to be, ⁤then we were fine with it. We had no⁣ issue with the other family. They ⁣seemed⁣ to go to bat‌ against us, but we don’t have a personal issue with them.”

Hill was known as a pillar of the local community for decades, sponsoring local golf and tennis tournaments and feeding the Union College hockey team with Luigi’s Italian⁤ fare.

“Once you met her, you would never forget her, that’s just how iconic she was,” Brigid Waddell said.

Emily Stanton

Emily Stanton, a skillful journalist previously based in Boston, is adept at covering a diverse array of stories. Her thorough and engaging reporting style, honed with a Master's in Journalism from Boston University, focuses on community-relevant stories.