Wanted: Mayor With A
Metropolitan Vision
Mayoral Election 2009
June 15, 2009
Wanted: Mayor with a Metropolitan Vision
2009 Mayoral Campaign
Background:
During the 2009 campaign for Mayor, SYRACUSE 20/20 will engage the candidates in a
discussion of their vision for the City of Syracuse and Central New York that will elevate the
discourse and require the candidates to articulate with greater specificity what they intend to do
as Mayor. Beyond presenting the public with a vision for Syracuse, we want the candidates to
present the community with specific action steps that will be taken to move the City and region
forward.
SYRACUSE 20/20 Inc. is a non-partisan, not-for-profit coalition of Central New York business
and community leaders. The organization was formed ten years ago by leaders in the community
who felt strongly that we all must play a role in developing a common agenda for Syracuse that
will improve the quality of life and government in our community.
SYRACUSE 20/20 engages in nonpartisan analysis of the issues and promotes innovative,
community-based solutions to the community’s opportunities and challenges primarily in the
areas of creating a quality community, improving the education system, and modernization our
local government structures.
SYRACUSE 20/20 Task Force Mission
Statements
Quality Community Task Force: To
advocate for policies and programs that protect
and develop valuable City and City-based
regional assets
Government Modernization Task Force:
To ensure that our government(s) work to make
SYRACUSE 20/20’s overarching goal is to
advance the long-term competitiveness of
the City of Syracuse and thereby the entire
region. We feel strongly that the success of
our region depends upon the success of our
City and vice versa. Furthermore, we
believe all levels of government have a role
to play in ensuring the success of the Central
New York region.
As an organization we have grown to realize
that the Mayor cannot advance the City of
Syracuse without recognizing its
Education Task Force: To advocate for
interconnectedness with other levels of
policies and programs that provide all City
school children the opportunity to receive a
government. The Mayor is only one official
quality education
in what is really a much bigger arena and
there are many factors outside of the control
of a Mayor that are impacting residents, businesses and employees living and working in and
around the City of Syracuse. Therefore, the next Mayor must embrace this idea of working
the City and region competitive
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collaboratively on behalf of the City with other levels of government, including county, towns
and villages, state and federal officials. We believe the candidates for Mayor must be able to
articulate a new vision for what it means to be Mayor of a City in a metropolitan region.
The Challenge:
We begin the document in Part I, Navigating the Fiscal Crisis, by providing context to the
financial challenges confronting the next Mayor. The overarching issue is how the next Mayor
plans to navigate the fiscal crisis. All the candidates must consider a Mayoral agenda in the
context of a City that is confronting a structural deficit at the same time there are growing
demands for limited resources. We want to know the next Mayor’s plan to build a sustainable
financial situation that will enable the City to invest in and preserve its critical assets. In Part II,
Strategic Issue Summary we provide background on the three policy issues that are of
importance to SYRACUSE 20/20:
 creating and sustaining a Quality Community,
 modernizing local government, and
 supporting education in the Syracuse City School District.
Finally, in Part III, Questions for the Candidates, we challenge the each candidate to respond
to our questions and share with us ways you will advance policies that best position our
community to attract business investment and retain a talented workforce. We ask questions
related to the fiscal crisis, 20/20’s strategic issues as well as a question on leadership. In the
open ended questions we encourage you to respond with great detail about what you intend to do
as Mayor. We encourage you to express innovative solutions and detailed plans. In addition, in
each area we will have specific questions for you to respond to in short-answer format to provide
additional information on your position to the residents.
Our intention is to share your responses with the larger public in a variety of formats.
SYRACUSE 20/20’s website (www.syracuse2020.org) will have a section available for the
general public to read this report, assess the responses provided by the candidates and offer their
own comments and recommendations on these important community issues.
Advancing beyond hope, however, requires a vision of the possible, and
the will to achieve it.
Source: Cities Must Lead the Way Back To Prosperity, Bruce Katz, Brookings Institution, June
2007
SYRACUSE 20/20
120 Madison Street, 15th Floor
Syracuse, NY 13202
(v) 315.423.7832 (f) 315.476.1681
e-mail: syracuse2020@yahoo.com
Website: www.syracuse2020.org
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Part I-Navigating the Fiscal Crisis
Even before the current national and global fiscal crisis the City of Syracuse, by its own
admission, recognized threats to its fiscal stability. For the last three years in a row, and even
before the current fiscal crisis, in its Basic Financial Statements the following comments have
been listed in Managements Discussion and Analysis:
“The City of Syracuse has several economic factors that affect the ability of the City to address
local fiscal growth or stability. These factors include:
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Reliance on state aid for the City and the City School District
A dependent school district resulting in high mandated costs and aging buildings
A stagnant property tax base
Modestly growing local revenues
A declining population
Significant percentage increases in employee health care
High retirement system costs:”
And in the same section, we find in the financial highlights that there is a negative trend for the
past three years regarding net assets of government activities and the business type activities of
the City. In general net assets or net worth is assets minus liabilities, the value of everything
owned after accounting for all things owed.
Net Assets City of Syracuse
City of Syracuse - Net Assets - 2005-2008
300.0
262.2
250.0
Millions
200.0
237.6
248.3
171.2
150.0
100.0
50.0
2005
2006
2007
2008
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Population
Population in the City of Syracuse 2000-2008
150,000
148,000
Census Population
146,000
144,000
142,000
140,000
138,000
136,000
134,000
132,000
130,000
2000
2006
2008
2010
There are some notable bright spots in the financial trends but systematic analysis would show
negative trends particularly when weighed against the decline in population. Continued stress
placed on the factors listed above are of particular concern given the fiscal climate. The ability of
the City in the short and long term to provide services at historic levels will be challenged. When
weighed against the decline in population increasing costs are spread against fewer people. There
are enormous regional and community assets in the city and the ability to protect education, good
governance, and quality community is of particular concern to us.
However, the overarching threat now is what is occurring to our economy, when economic
drivers such as the automobile industry, the financial services industry, and the housing
construction industry are devastating local economies and causing unprecedented responses on
the part of local governments. We should not think we are immune to these pressures and
changes when we closely look at how interconnected we are fiscally because of our dependence
on sales and property tax, the borrowing needs of the city particularly regarding capital projects,
the reliance on the stock market to fund pensions, and the unknown impact of the loss of some
export industries in our region. While stimulus money of the federal government has taken some
pressure off, we depend on a healthy New York State for substantial portions of our general
government support and more so our city school system. We should see bond rating agencies
give this more attention as we burn off the stimulus money in the next two years.
Much has been made of the fact that in both our private sector and public sector the short term
has been valued and the long term ignored. To some extent, the concern for the long term,
especially post employment benefits, accounts for the negative change in the net assets
mentioned above. However, one central question and theme that we hope the next mayor
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explores thoroughly is just what will the City of Syracuse look like in the year 2020 given the
fiscal threats? What is the next Mayor’s proposed strategy for minimizing the fiscal crisis and
placing the City on a sound course for fiscal stability? The Mayoral agenda presented by each
candidate must be considered within the context of a City that is confronting serious financial
strain and limited resources.
We certainly encourage candidates to read the white paper prepared for the International
City/County Management Association by the Alliance for Innovation, “Navigating the Fiscal
Crisis: Tested Strategies for Local Leaders”. The paper may be found at:
http://www.transformgov.org/files/whitepaper/navigating_the_fiscal_crisis.pdf.
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Part II – Strategic Issue Summary
Below you will find a brief summary of SYRACUSE 20/20’s three policy priorities. Following
the summary is a listing of questions for you to respond to on each issue area. The questions
include at least one open-ended question for each topic for you to respond to in long-answer
format with specifics of how you intend to address this issue as Mayor. In addition, in each
section there are several specific questions that require a short answer response. For purposes of
sharing your responses with the public we will make a chart to show how each candidate for
Mayor responds to the questions.
Creating and Sustaining a Quality Community:
During the 2005 Mayoral race, SYRACUSE 20/20 highlighted the Brookings Institution’s
Center on Urban and Metropolitan Policy’s Competitive City Agenda. “This agenda builds on
the strong and innovative and entrepreneurial spirit that permeates local governance and problem
solving in the country. It revolves around those strategies and actions that can have a systemic
impact on the economic vitality, fiscal health, and social wellbeing of a community.” The
following five essential elements make up the Brookings Institution’s competitive cities agenda:
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Fix the Basics, raising education attainment and achievement levels for all ages in
addition to providing safe streets, competitive taxes and efficient services.
Build on Assets, leveraging competitive advantages to strengthen economic vitality and
creating a “package of amenities” including a vibrant
downtown, recreation opportunities, arts and cultural
life.
Create Quality Neighborhoods, as the fundamental
building block of community.
Invest in Working Families, with the goal of raising
all families above the poverty line.
Balance Metropolitan Growth to ensure that the
region maintains its distinctive quality of life.
Much of what the Brookings Institution recommended in its competitive cities agenda remains
necessary in Syracuse today. While we may have made progress in some areas, in other areas
we continue to struggle to make an impact. Regardless, the process has felt uncoordinated and
adrift of a strategic plan for bringing about a quality community. We lack a unifying vision for
how to unite our key assets throughout our entire region. The next Mayor must be able to
articulate a vision for leveraging the community’s assets.
Local government plays a central role in the effort to create a quality community. For
SYRACUSE 20/20, certain principles are important towards creating and sustaining a quality
community, such as:
 investing in a center city filled with historic architecture and cultural facilities;
 creating and preserving attractive neighborhoods;
 investing in our historic villages;
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The Brookings Institution’s Competitive Cities Agenda
The Brookings Institution’s Center on Urban and Metropolitan Policy has concluded that a new “competitive
cities” agenda is emerging in the United States. This agenda builds on the strong and innovative and
entrepreneurial spirit that permeates local governance and problem solving in the country. It revolves around
those strategies and actions that can have a systemic impact on the economic vitality, fiscal health, and social
wellbeing of a community. The following five essential elements make up the Brookings Institution’s
competitive cities agenda:
Fix the Basics: Cities need to recognize, first and foremost that the fundamentals drive business decisions on
where to locate and families’ choices of where to live. What are the fundamentals? They are: good
schools…safe streets…competitive taxes…efficient services…qualified workers…attractive and available real
estate. The market rewards cities that provide the basics and punishes cities that do not.
Every city must focus on fixing the basics and creating an attractive climate for business and
residential investment.
Build on Assets: Most cities possess enormous assets that are particularly relevant as the nation shifts to a
knowledge-based economy. Cities are home to most of the nation’s major universities and medical centers,
making them prime locations for new technology firms. Cities have the kind of urban cultural amenities expected
among well-educated and highly productive workers. Cities are magnets for immigration and hotbeds of
entrepreneurial activity.
Every city must identify its core assets and develop strategies that leverage and strengthen them.
Create Quality Neighborhoods: Quality neighborhoods are a precondition for city competitiveness. These
communities of quality must include: neighborhoods with vital residential areas and commercial markets…places
that gather families with a mix of incomes…places with amenities such as parks, libraries and community centers.
Competitive cities build neighborhoods that are livable and distinctive and offer residents a range of housing,
transportation, and recreational choices.
Every city must build and nurture healthy attractive neighborhoods, throughout their boundaries,
from the urban core to the new subdivision.
Invest in Working Families: Strong families are also a precondition for competitive cities. And in fact, the
overwhelming preponderance of city residents already work. Yet, for many families, the income from work is not
sufficient to cover the costs of housing, health care, child care, transportation and retirement. They need a boost.
Every city must have a strategy for helping families work, save, and build wealth.
Influence Metropolitan Growth: The dominant growth pattern in the United States remains the
decentralization of residential and economic life. These growth patterns are fiscally, environmentally, and
socially damaging—for cities, suburbs, and metropolitan areas and their competitiveness. Cities can influence
metropolitan growth by becoming communities of choice for business and families. Cities can also influence
metropolitan growth by participating in broad political coalitions that change the major federal and state policies
that currently facilitate sprawl, undermine existing communities, and concentrate poverty.
Every city must help the metropolis grow in quality ways, through local reforms that make the
city more attractive as well as through coalition building that promotes smarter regional and
state policies.
Source: Beyond Merger: A Competitive Vision for the Regional City of Louisville, The Brookings Institution
Center on Urban and Metropolitan Policy, July 2002.
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conserving a beautiful natural environment;
protecting our farm land;
maximizing the investment of existing infrastructure; and
promoting the wise investment in new facilities.
All of these activities are part and parcel to achieving a quality community, and note that they do
not simply focus on our center City. Central New York is a metropolitan area that rises and falls
together. The City of Syracuse, our county, our towns and villages are all part of a whole that
makes up our community. As an organization, we have come to evolve with this
understanding. Our primary focus remains the City of Syracuse, but in strengthening the City we
recognize the interwoven destiny of City and suburbs. We also recognize the importance of
enlisting the City’s allies and strengthening our collective regional assets to build an overall
stronger and higher quality community.
To that end, SYRACUSE 20/20, in consultation with a number of community organizations,
believes that Onondaga County should have a Quality Community Investment Trust Fund –
Onvest. Onvest would provide a discretionary public funding stream for:
 protecting, enhancing and creating community assets;
 replacing shrinking traditional funding sources; and
 establishing a local funding source to match incentives of other governments, not
for profit foundations, and private investments
Onvest is modeled to some extent on the successful Syracuse Neighborhood Initiative; however,
it would be applied to the county as a whole. We know that in addition to our City, many of our
aging towns and villages have infrastructure and investment needs that would benefit from a
flexible source of public funding. Onvest would provide Onondaga County the flexibility to
address specialized regional concerns through a dedicated source of local funding.
The potential for public investments, combined with private and not-for-profit sector ingenuity,
in the community are numerous. We can see what is possible when we look at the projects in
Armory Square, Franklin Square, Onondaga Lake Trail, areas of Baldwinsville, improvements in
the village of Camillus. All of these projects have used federal, state and/or local funds and
incentives. Sustaining these efforts and implementing a comprehensive vision for further growth
will require more local effort in the years ahead.
Onvest would be used by the county to incentivize the type of growth and investment prioritized
by the revised 2010 Development Guide and that reflect a partnership between the public, private
and/or not-for-profit sectors. Onvest would certainly be central to the effort of county
government to demonstrate how to creatively invest in the key components of a quality
community.
While the Mayor of Syracuse would not have direct control of the Onvest Fund, Onvest would
be used to leverage the resources necessary to advance revitalization of key assets in the City of
Syracuse and the region. Onvest would require the Mayor to work collaboratively with others to
advance the needs of the City.
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While cities are vital entities in and of themselves, markets don’t adhere to the arbitrary
boundaries that separate them from their surrounding jurisdictions.
Source: Brookings Institution’s: Restoring Prosperity, 2000
Local Government Restructuring/Modernization:
SYRACUSE 20/20’s approach to government modernization is focused on two key strategies:
supporting efforts at service consolidation as well as encouraging the discussion about larger
structural reforms that impact the community’s competitiveness. First, SYRACUSE 20/20
supports the growing interest among local governments to pursue shared services and/or
consolidation of local services. We believe that consolidations that can achieve efficiencies and
maintain the value of the service (measured by quality, quantity, timeliness of service and cost)
should and must be pursued by local governments, including the City.
Second, SYRACUSE 20/20 believes there is a need to consider the possibilities for substantial
structural reforms to our government structures. SYRACUSE 20/20 and our community partners
are currently in the process of holding community conversations throughout the county to gauge
the public’s interest in reforming government structures. It is our intent to mobilize public
opinion with regard to the need for structural changes and work in a collaborative way to
advance a proposal for modernizing our local government structures to best position ourselves
for the future.
Through the Community Conversation process, SYRACUSE 20/20 has become convinced that
the public is supportive of modernizing government and that the time is right to explore the
possibilities for developing a new model for government that will help us to use tax dollars
wisely and yet make critically important investments that our community needs. The specifics of
what government modernization would look like locally are still being explored. Economic
realities and environmental concerns make this more than timely. To that end, SYRACUSE
20/20 is working with our State delegation to discuss the possibilities of creating a Citizens
Commission on Modernizing Local Governance in Onondaga County. The Commission will be
charged with examining the highly complex issues associated with making changes to
government structures. A Citizens Commission will put in place a formal process for public
engagement on the issue and allow for the development of a comprehensive plan for moving
forward with a modernized government structure. The Commission will study the central issues
related to bringing about change, including:
 What are the advantages and disadvantages of various modernizing proposals?
 What impact would changes have on value of services, includes looking at quality,
quantity, timeliness and costs?
 What happens to revenue streams (state and federal) if you merge the City and the
County?
 How are public employees impacted by proposed changes?
 How do you ensure adequate minority representation in a modernized government?
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In the end, the Commission would make recommendations that would be put to the public in the
form of a referendum.
One possible recommendation that could come from the Commission would be the idea of
developing at-large legislators in the County Legislature. The current Legislature is all districtoriented members with the majority beholden to the suburbs. It can at times lead to an "us vs.
them" mentality between the City and the Suburbs. At-large legislators would be responsible for
representing the whole county. In our presentations, we often point out that our fragmented
government structure, coupled with the fact that only the County Executive looks out for the
whole, prevents us from being able to shape how we grow. We believe that at-large legislators
could help to promote regional thinking and will continue to discuss ways that type of
recommendation could be incorporated into the government modernization community
conversation.
“The multitude of local governments in Onondaga County results in fragmented, piecemeal,
parochial, and incomplete decision making on matters that impact the entire County. The current
structure of government is an impediment to the economic development of the region and needs to
change.”
Source: Onondaga Citizens League, Strategic Government Consolidation, 2005
Education Reform:
With respect to education, SYRACUSE 20/20 has as its mission to provide advocacy and
support for the Syracuse City School District and advance the performance of all city school
children. SYRACUSE 20/20 feels strongly that schools need to play a central role in
neighborhood and community reinvestment strategies. If our city and region are to be strong, we
must have schools that are high performing. If we are going to be a competitive community, we
must strategically redeploy our resources to more effectively partner with schools in order to
achieve better outcomes for all students.
SYRACUSE 20/20 has been actively engaged with the following education issues:
 Adequate funding for the Syracuse City School District from State and local sources
 Increased accountability for education related outcomes
 Advocacy at federal, state and local levels on education policy issues
A community cannot be successful if approximately 50% of its youth are not graduating from
high school with the ability to find employment or pursue higher education. Therefore,
SYRACUSE 20/20 has felt strongly about the need to focus our energy on helping to developing
innovative initiatives to support the schools.
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Finances
We recognize that the financially strapped City taxpayers will not be able to provide large
amounts of new funding to ensure that the District is fully funded and that there is a
responsibility for the State to make up the difference. However, there also needs to be an annual
commitment made by local taxpayers. Suburban districts throughout the County annually
approve budgets that increase their property tax commitment to their local schools. The City has
also been criticized for not having made adequate annual local effort to the District as State aid
to the District had recorded record increases. In addition, as the District’s overall budget
continues to be increased, adequate accountability measures must be in place to ensure that the
funding is spent appropriately. The Mayor must clearly articulate the long-term financial vision
for providing adequate local support to the City schools.
Governance and Management
While the Mayor serves as the fiscal agent responsible for funding the schools, the Mayor has
traditionally played a limited role in setting the educational priorities for the District.
Traditionally, the Superintendent and the School Board have been responsible for the governance
and management of the schools. Unfortunately, under the current system, the Mayor can claim
that the Mayor is not directly responsible for the educational outcomes of the District. However,
we believe the Mayor must ultimately be held responsible for the performance of the District.
So much of our City’s success depends upon the success of the schools. Therefore, SYRACUSE
20/20 recommends that the candidates advance a plan to substantively reform the role of the
Mayor with respect to the governance and management of the City schools. We believe that the
Mayor should have an active role in the oversight of this critical community asset. The next
Mayor should present the community with a vision for what that enhanced role will be with the
schools.
Community Schools and Say Yes to Education
SYRACUSE 20/20 has been a leading advocate for the community school model in Syracuse as
a means to improving academic performance in the schools. We have promoted a holistic
approach to engage schools, the public sector, not-for-profits and families to develop new
solutions to the challenges confronting the schools. We believe that Syracuse’s Westside
Community School Strategy is a model for full community mobilization toward school and
neighborhood revitalization.
The goal of the Westside Community School Strategy is to improve academic performance of
students and schools on the City’s west side by addressing academic and non-academic barriers
to learning. Through the Westside Strategy, all key community stakeholders are at the table
working together, including the city, county, community-based organizations, social service
providers, local foundations, the United Way, universities, colleges, and businesses.
We are also strong supporters of the Say Yes to Education program. Not only is Say Yes an
effective educational reform tool it has the potential to be one of the most significant community
revitalization tools piloted as a model for the entire country. We believe that Say Yes and the
Westside Strategy are complementary and an effort is underway to integrate the two programs.
Together, these programs have the potential to be transformative within the Syracuse City School
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District and the City and to serve as models for other urban school districts throughout the
country.
There appears to be momentum building throughout the country for the importance of a
comprehensive approach to improving academic performance. We believe the Mayor plays an
important role in promoting and advancing Say Yes to Education and the Westside Community
School Strategy.
“Community schools lead to improved student learning, stronger families and healthier
communities. By sharing expertise and resources, schools and communities act in concert
to educate children; schools are not left to work alone.”
Source: Coalition for Community Schools
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Part II - Questions for the Candidates
Navigating the Fiscal Crisis 1:
Open-Ended Questions –Please address each of the questions listed below in your response
(limit to 4 pages for each question):
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Question: Short-term Structural Changes to City Finances: What is your short-term
plan to bring the City of Syracuse’s budget into structural balance? On the revenue side,
how will you attract new revenues into the City budget? Will you increase taxes? What
role will stimulus funds play in assisting you in balancing the budget? On the
expenditure side, do you support cutting costs of City operations? How will you address
the anticipated growths in pension and health care costs that will continue to place
significant strains on the finances of the City? What services do you believe are core to
City operations? What services, if any, would you consider reducing? What projects
would you defer? How will you consider the value of a service before deciding to cut it?
To right size the size of City government, would you consider the following: move
eliminated staff members to vacant positions, freeze hiring, or target staff elimination
based on value of the service, reduce work hours and/or contract out for services.
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Question: Long-Term Visioning For Financial Sustainability - To deal with the long
term financial challenges confronting the City, as Mayor would you authorize a detailed
study of the fiscal impact the city faces and link this directly to the impact it would have
on the provisions of services in the city? The study would make future projections on
revenue and expenditure estimates take into account future population shifts, fiscal
implication of those shifts, long-term debt obligations, pension obligations etc. The study
would make demographic projections and consider the impact of “baby boomer”
retirements. Looking at those projections, the study would make recommendations for
how to secure the long-term financial stability of the City, offering a Vision of Syracuse
in 2020. How would you work with staff members, educate the public, solicit their input,
and engage the community in problem solving? What specific process would you
recommend?
Short Answer Questions-50 words or less:
 Will you pledge not to raise taxes in your first year in office? If no, why not?
 What programs and services will you consider reducing City funding support for?
 What programs and services will you not consider reducing City funding support for?
 What services and programs would you consider consolidating internally and/or with
external governments as a means to cost savings?
 What level of funding do you recommend the City should have in a reserve fund?
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Many of these questions are posed in the white paper prepared for the International City/County Management
Association by the Alliance for Innovation, “Navigating the Fiscal Crisis: Tested Strategies for Local Leaders”. The
paper may be found at http://www.transformgov.org/files/whitepaper/navigating_the_fiscal_crisis.pdf
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What are your priorities with regard to capital investment?
How will you prioritize City projects for consideration for stimulus funding?
In 2010, the County will adopt a new Sales Tax distribution. What is your position with
regard to the City’s fair allocation of County sales taxes?
Do you support a property tax cap in New York State?
Creating and Sustaining a Quality Community:
Open-Ended Question – Please address the questions listed below in your response (limit to
4 pages):

Question: Creating and Sustaining A Quality Community - As Mayor, what is your
vision for Syracuse being a quality community? What role do you see the Mayor and the
City having in ensuring a Quality Community for the entire region to enjoy? What are
the specific steps you will take as Mayor to improve the quality of life in the City of
Syracuse and how do you see that impacting the region? Recognizing that a strong City
helps the region, what can you do to attract and retain jobs in the City? What can you do
to promote living in the City of Syracuse? As Mayor, how would you build the coalitions
necessary to advance the needs of the City in the context of the region? What role do you
envision playing with the County Executive to advance the City in the context of the
larger discussions taking place in the County? What measures should we as a community
use to assess your ability to improve the quality of life in the City?
Short-Answer Questions (limit to 50 word responses):
 Would you be supportive of creating a local investment fund in the County that would
invest in critical infrastructure and assets in the City and the surrounding suburbs?
o If yes, would you pledge to help pursue opportunities to leverage local funding
with additional flexible federal, private and/or not-for-profit funding as
opportunities arise?
 Who are some of the natural allies of the City (i.e. older suburbs, Mayors of villages etc)
and how will you partner with these entities?
 What is your position with regard to renovations to Interstate 81?
 Do you support adding at-large County legislators to the County Legislature? If yes,
what do you see as the advantages to the City of having at-large legislators?
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Local Government Restructuring/Modernization:
Open Ended Question: Please address the questions listed below in your response (limit to
4 pages)
 Question: Government Modernization- What is your position on government
modernization, both in terms of functional consolidations and significant government
structural reform? What are some of the government functions you would consider
consolidating? How would you go about advancing a plan for consolidating or sharing
local government services? What would be the advantages and/or disadvantages to the
City of a new government structure such as a merged city-county? What conditions
would need to be in place to support city-county consolidation? What measures can we
use to assess your success in advancing a modernized local government?
Specific Question (limit to 50 word responses):
 Do you currently support city-county consolidation? If no, under what conditions would
you find consolidation of city-county acceptable?
 What do you see as some of the past successes of consolidation and/or shared service
efforts for the City (list services)?
 What have been some failures of consolidation and/or shared services efforts for the City
(list services)?
 What are the lessons learned from successes and failures?
 Would you consider merging the County and City Economic Development departments?
Please explain.
 Give some examples of some City inter-departmental collaboration that could take place
under your administration.
 Do you support SYRACUSE 20/20’s effort to create a local Commission that would
study possible structural changes and make recommendations for structural changes for
Onondaga County that would go before the public in a referendum?
 Do you support Syrastat? If yes, will you continue to use Syrastat and what changes
would you recommend making to the Syrastat system?
 Water is a key asset in the community. Do you believe the current governance structures
are adequate to the task of protecting and marketing this valuable commodity?
 Do you agree that an airport authority is the proper governance structure for Hancock
International Airport?
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Education
Open Ended Questions: Please address the questions listed below in your response
 Question: Finances (limit to 3 pages) - What is your vision for providing adequate
funding to the schools and ensuring that the funding has strict accountability measures in
place? What measures can we use to assess your success in providing adequate funding
to the Syracuse City School District?

Questions: Governance Model (limit to 3 pages)– Provide us with a vision for how the
Mayor can play a more integrated role with the Superintendent and Board of Education
for the performance of the Syracuse City School District. How do you avoid the
contentious relationship that has often been present in the past as it relates to the funding
of the schools? What measures can we use to assess your success in advancing a new
governance model?

Question: Community Schools (limit to 3 pages)- Do you agree that community
schools are an important component of education reform? If yes, how will you work to
integrate Say Yes and the Westside Community School Strategy? What financial and
other resources will you “bring to the table” in partnership with the Syracuse City School
District and the County to advance the community school concept? How will you ensure
the effective integration of the Westside Community School Strategy and Say Yes to
Education? What measures can we use to assess your success in advancing community
schools?
Specific Questions (limit to 50 word responses):
 Do you support the expansion of charter schools in the City of Syracuse?
 Will you raise local taxes to support the Syracuse City School District?
 What is your position on the Joint School Construction Board’s renovation proposal?
 What is your position regarding the following topics
o Extended school years
o Extended school days
o After-school programming?
 What resources will you dedicate to supporting youth beyond the normal school day
(after-school, school breaks, and summer time)?
Bonus Question: Leadership
Open Ended Question (limit to 3 pages): While we believe that all the questions listed above
are important to the governance of the city, the more intangible question regarding leadership is
in many respects of paramount importance. What is your definition of leadership? What is your
general leadership philosophy? Name some specific steps that you would take to build the trust
necessary to govern Syracuse. List some focused efforts and projects that you would like to
complete within the first 180 days of your administration.
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SYRACUSE 20/20 BOARD MEMBERSHIP
Dr. Vince Cama
Co-Chairperson
KS&R
Kathy Murphy Pietrafesa
Co-Chairperson
Community Representative
Ron Berger
Terry Brown
James V. Breuer
Dr. Nancy Cantor
Rev. John Carter
Dr. Ruben P. Cowart, III
Susan Crossett
Nicholas Dereszynski
Robert Doucette
Neil Falcone
Lou Fournier
Edward S. Green
Charlotte Holstein
Sharon Jack-Williams
Darlene A. Kerr
Duane Kinnon
Dr. Paul Kronenberg
Patrick Mannion
Eric Mower
Dr. Judy Mower
Dr. Cornelius B. Murphy
Theodore M. Pasinski
David A.A. Ridings
Kathryn H. Ruscitto
Robert M. Sekowski
Dr. Kenneth A. Shaw
Rob Simpson
Dr. John Smarrelli, Jr.
Dr. David Smith
Dr. Debbie Sydow
Anne Marie Voutsinas
Bond Schoeneck & King
O’Brien & Gere
Hueber-Breuer, Inc.
Syracuse University
Abundant Life Christen Center
Syracuse Community Health Center
National Grid
Brown & Brown Empire State
Armory Development & Management, Inc.
Union Representative
Sutton Real Estate Company
Green & Seifter
FOCUS Greater Syracuse
Dunbar Center
Greater Syracuse Chamber of Commerce
Boys & Girls Clubs of Syracuse
Crouse Hospital
Unity Mutual Life
Eric Mower and Associates
Private Consultant
SUNY ESF
St. Joseph’s Hospital Health Center
Private Business Executive
St. Joseph’s Hospital Health Center
Empire Housing Development Corporation
Former Chancellor Syracuse University
Metropolitan Development Association
LeMoyne College
SUNY Upstate Medical University
Onondaga Community College
Syracuse Teachers Association
Vito Sciscioli
Laurie Black
Executive Director
Policy Assistant
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