The State of Syracuse (Pt 4)

This is the last in my series on Mayor Stephanie Miner's State of the City (SOTC) address. I've based the series on some questions I had posed to the three mayoral candidates on this blog last September, thinking that if these issues were important to me then, they'd be important to me now. And they are.

In the first post, I addressed expanding downtown outside of Armory Square; in the second, I talked about our neighborhoods and crime, and in part three, I struggled with the issue of education.  Today, I'll look at my  last two questions: collaboration and 'the one thing' that a leader bring to the table.

On collaboration, I asked what the priorities were, and what action we could expect to see on them.  That question, in part, was answered in the mayor's comments on downtown expansion, including the partnership on the latest plans for the Hotel Syracuse, and again in the discussion on education, where she referenced the services offered to city families through the efforts of the city, county, and school district.   And then there's that stadium idea.

Yeah, about that stadium.  Collaboration is the key to any project of that size and scope, and the fact that the players decided to collaborate without the mayor is mind-boggling to me, particularly given the history of collaboration between Stephanie Miner and Joanie Mahoney.  I also appreciate and support Miner's comments last week in the SOTC:

The old-school mentality of chasing smokestacks and massive projects billed as the silver bullet saviors of the city is a failed ideology. True community revitalization comes from organic, diverse, authentic and sustainable development projects. 

Authenticity should be the watchword of how we seek to build up our city....While I am neither for or against  a stadium project necessarily, I believe that outstanding questions should be answered, and that we should be as thoughtful as possible about what could be a once-in-a-generation decision. To quote American inventory and engineer Charles Kettering, "A problem well-stated is a problem half-solved."

It's not too late to forge a strong partnership between the mayor, county executive, SU, the County Legislature, the Common Council, SUNY Upstate, and our state officials, including our mixed-message Sonofa Governor, who touted the Miner/Mahoney collaboration in his State of the State address, then did an end-around Miner on this project. An announcement on a task force is expected in the near future.

Other areas of collaboration?  Critically, the Route-81 project, which (until the stadium idea say the light of day) was to be our 'generational' development effort.  Miner is calling for additional cooperation from the NYS Department of Transportation.

The last year has seen robust community discussion, with the NYS DOT beginning the environmental study process for the project.  While many opinions have been put forth already, the amount and detail of information provided to the community by the State DOT thus far has been underwhelming. 

We need to be just plain old whelmed, not over whelmed or underwhelmed - with information, communication, participation, and all the rest of the 'tions' on Route 81's future.  The mayor should expect to be called upon to use all of her persuasive powers to ensure we have the information needed to help guide a decision, and once the decision is made, to ensure that we come out OK on the other side, regardless of whether that's up in the air, below ground, or barely scratching the surface.

And, we need continued efforts to get service agreements out of owners of our many tax-exempt properties -- some 50% of city properties.  It's not sustainable to expect the people of Syracuse to provide the money for all of the services given to those exempt property owners (primarily educational and religious organizations). And we're not talking inconsequential services here. The Mayor's done a good job and I would love to see more of the same going forward.

Finally, in closing her speech, I think she answered the last of my questions:  What's the one quality you possess that makes you the best candidate to lead Syracuse for the next four years?  Here's what she said, first referencing the Route 81 project, but about public service in general:

Let's make this decision a shining example of our creativity, our progressivism, and the richness of our city. 

Indeed, all that we do in public service today - all that we do as a community - should aspire to that ideal. I, for one, subscribe to the belief that what we do should be exceptional, should be of service to our entire community, and should rise to the creative spirit of the people who live here. 

Not that all of our decisions will get splashy headlines or garner national accolades.  Not that the work of government will always be particularly thrilling or dignified. But responsible leadership, the will to continue challenging the status quo, and the promise to make smart and tough choices, will point us to that brighter future.

You can credit the speechwriter if you want, but I think that's a pretty fair assessment of what we want our public servants to do for us.  

Are you in?