Alfred J. "Al" Libous (September 24, 1928 – June 30, 2016) was an American politician who served as the

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

Binghamton, New York Binghamton () is a city in the U.S. state of New York, and serves as the county seat of Broome County. Surrounded by rolling hills, it lies in the state's Southern Tier region near the Pennsylvania border, in a bowl-shaped valley at the conflue ...

for three consecutive terms from 1969 until 1981.

Biography

Libous began his political as a Binghamton City Council, representing the city's North Side. He was first elected Mayor of Binghamton in November 1968. He ultimately served three consecutive, four-year terms as Mayor from 1969 until 1981. Libous greatest challenge as mayor was the decline of the both city's

downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...

business district A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the "city ...

, as well as the continued loss of population to the suburbs. In particular, the opening of the

Oakdale Mall Oakdale Commons (formerly Oakdale Mall) is an enclosed super-regional shopping mall in Johnson City, New York, United States, serving the Binghamton metropolitan area. The mall has a gross leasable area of . The mall opened in 1975, by the develo ...

in Johnson City lured retail stores and consumers away from

Downtown Binghamton Downtown Binghamton is a neighborhood in Binghamton, New York located on the north bank of the Susquehanna River, just east of its confluence with the Chenango River. It is the business and administrative center of the City of Binghamton, the Gre ...

during the 1970s and 1980s. In response, Libous tried to persuade a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

developer to construct downtown, but the deal fell through after negotiations and several false starts. The failure of the development led to a further decline of downtown businesses. (The present-day MetroCenter now stands on the same site as the proposed development). Mayor Libous and the city government were also unable to stop Binghamton's demographic decline during the 1970s and 1980s, despite their efforts to revitalize the downtown and lure new business developments. The population of Binghamton had already declined 20% from 81,000 in 1949 to 64,000 residents by the time Libous took office as mayor in 1969. The flight to the suburbs, such as Chenango and Vestal, continued throughout the 1970s, posing huge logistical challenges to the city and the Libous administration. Binghamton's population dropped to 56,000 by the time Libous left office in the early 1980s. Libous is believed to have been one of the first politicians from the

Southern Tier The Southern Tier is a geographic subregion of the broader Upstate New York region of New York State, consisting of counties west of the Catskill Mountains in Delaware County and geographically situated along or very near the northern border ...

to host his own

radio show A radio program, radio programme, or radio show is a segment of content intended for broadcast on radio. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series. A single program in a series is called an episode. Radio networ ...

. For years, he co-hosted a talk show with his friend and political rival, Walt Fedorich, a Democratic city councilman who represented Binghamton's First Ward. In 1974, Libous ran for the

U.S. House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

from

New York's 27th congressional district The 27th congressional district of New York was a congressional district for the United States House of Representatives in western New York. It included all of Orleans, Genesee, Wyoming, and Livingston counties and parts of Erie, Monroe, Ni ...

, which included Binghamton at the time. However, Libous was defeated in the

general election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

Matt McHugh Matthew O. McHugh (January 22, 1894 – February 22, 1971) was an American film actor who appeared in more than 200 films between 1931 and 1955, primarily in small cameo parts. Career McHugh came from a theatrical family. His parents ran a s ...

, a Democrat, in the 1974 general election McHugh placed first with 83,562 votes, defeating Libous, who garnered 68,273 votes. Libous also made an unsuccessful bid for

County Executive A county executive, county manager or county mayor is the head of the executive branch of government in a United States county. The executive may be an elected or an appointed position. When elected, the executive typically functions either as a ...

Broome County, New York Broome County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 United States census, the county had a population of 198,683. Its county seat is Binghamton. The county was named for John Broome, the state's lieutenant governor when Br ...

, but lost the Republican

primary election Primary elections, or direct primary are a voting process by which voters can indicate their preference for their party's candidate, or a candidate in general, in an upcoming general election, local election, or by-election. Depending on the ...

to Carl Young. Libous did not seek re-election in 1981 and retired as Mayor after three terms in office. He was succeeded by Democrat Juanita Crabb, who won the mayoral election on November 3, 1981, to become the city's first female mayor. Throughout the rest of his life, Libous was referred to as "Uncle Al" in local political circles, in reference to his nephew, State Sen. Thomas W. Libous, who represented the area in the

New York State Senate The New York State Senate is the upper house of the New York State Legislature; the New York State Assembly is its lower house. Its members are elected to two-year terms; there are no term limits. There are 63 seats in the Senate. Partisan com ...

from 1989 until 2015. Al Libous died on June 30, 2016, at the age of 88. His nephew, former state Senator Thomas W. Libous also died on May 3, 2016.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Libous, Al 1928 births 2016 deaths Mayors of Binghamton, New York New York (state) city council members New York (state) Republicans Place of birth missing