Latimer Proposes to Rename County Trailway in Honor of O’Rourke

As Westchester County executive in the 1980s and ‘90s, Andrew P. O’Rourke had several major accomplishments.

Now the county plans to honor its second-longest tenured executive next year if the Board of Legislators approves the proposal for one of his most significant achievements.

Last week it was announced that the North and South County Trailway will become the Andrew P. O’Rourke Westchester County Trailway. O’Rourke led Westchester from 1983 through 1997, and his administration played an instrumental role in acquiring the land that resulted in the development of the 36-mile path between the Bronx and the Putnam County line.

Current County Executive George Latimer, accompanied by O’Rourke’s son, daughter and grandson along with a group of current and former county officials, made the announcement that he will submit legislation to the Board of Legislators with the proposal.

“In naming this trailway after County Executive Andrew O’Rourke, we’re recognizing one of the singular accomplishments of his administration, and the people who ride on this roadway, which we were able to repair this part a couple of years ago to bring it up to proper speed, may not know how it came to pass,” Latimer said while gathered at where the North and South trailway meet in Mount Pleasant.

“All they know is that now this is a great asset to this Westchester County government, and we hope this will be an asset in perpetuity.”

For O’Rourke’s family, piecing together the thousands of parcels to make the trailway a reality and then signing the contract with the old Conrail exemplified O’Rourke’s ability to collaborate and work in a bipartisan manner. The Roosevelt Democrat who would become a Republican by the time he entered politics in Yonkers, painstakingly did the work.

“I think this trailway is just a wonderful example” of that, said his daughter Alice O’Rourke. “It really took many generations of people, reaching across the aisle to acquire the property, put the pieces together, and then hopefully one day really soon to get it named after him.”

His son, Andrew P. O’Rourke II, said when he asked his father why the trailway was an important project, he recalled hearing his dad respond that there are people in Westchester who did not have a car to get to and from work. That was at a time when the bus system was nowhere near as robust as it is today.

“People could ride (a bicycle) to work or they could walk to work,” his son said. “I thought that was a really incredible thought at the time.”

O’Rourke was born in in Plainfield, N.J. in 1933 and grew up in Hell’s Kitchen in Manhattan.

Early in his political career, O’Rourke, an attorney, would soon become Yonkers Republican chair, and would serve as a city councilman from 1966 to 1973. He then went on to become a county legislator, including serving the Board of Legislators as its chair.

He would be appointed county executive in 1983, after his predecessor, Alfred DelBello, became lieutenant governor under Mario Cuomo. O’Rourke would win three full terms to the county executive’s office on his own. Other major accomplishments were the modernization of the County Center and construction of the current terminal at Westchester County Airport.

Following his 15 years as county executive, he would be appointed Court of Claims judge by former governor George Pataki, and then as a state Supreme Court judge.

His grandson, Andrew P. O’Rourke III, who works for the county in the DPW and transportation department, said it is appropriate that the trailway will be named after his grandfather since he often said life is about the journey.

“Whenever you find yourself not knowing where you’ll end up, please remember my grandfather’s words: it’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon,” he said.

Parks Commissioner Kathy O’Connor, who started her career with the county during O’Rourke’s time as executive, said once the Board of Legislators approves the renaming, the county can make signs with the trailway’s new name and post at multiple locations.

It is expected that the signs will be ready by sometime next spring if legislators approve the proposal.