For voters’ choices, the Common Council Election this November offers three incumbents, two challengers and two one open-seat contests.
All five Common Council district seats are up for election. The incumbents are Democrats Pat Hogan of District 2, who is unopposed; Nader Maroun of District 5, who has a non-campaigning opponent; and Republican incumbent Matt Rayo. Rayo’s opponent is Democratic challenger Jake Barrett, a political newcomer. In District 5, the ballot has Republican challenger Bruce McDaniels against Maroun, but McDaniels has told Democracywise that he is not campaigning.
One open-seat contest is in District 4, where incumbent Tom Seals, a Democrat, can’t seek re-election because of term limits. Instead, the Democratic candidate, Khalid Bey, faces perennial candidate Howie Hawkins of the Green Party. And the other is in District 3, where incumbent Republican McMahon is leaving the Common Council to run for the County Legislature seat for District 15. His departure opened the race to two first-time candidates: Democrat Bob Dougherty and Republican Jim Stelter.
City-wide, Democrats have a strong advantage in voter enrollment. They outnumber Republicans more than three times with 41,276 registered Democrats and 12,803 registered Republicans.
The Common Council is the top law-making and policy body for the city.
“The common council is the legislative body for the city of Syracuse. If you’re living in the city, then this is the group that is going to be passing legislation and making policies which will govern and effect certain aspects of your life,” said Grant Reeher, a Syracuse University political scientist.
District Common Councilors serve two-year terms. They are limited to four consecutive terms. The job pays $21,224 a year.
Here’s a look at the candidates:
District 1 (North-central Syracuse)
Republican Matt Rayo, 25, is the incumbent and is running for a second term as Common Councilor for District 1. He is also on the Conservative and Independence parties’ ballot lines. Rayo serves as a member of the Joint Schools Construction Board, the SUNY-ESF Alumni Association Board of Directors, and is a trustee at the Onondaga County Public Library. In the 2009 Common Council race, Rayo beat out incumbent Michael Heagerty, the Working Families Party candidate.
One of the issues important to District 1 is curbing crime, Rayo said. “Since elected to this position, I have made it a priority to work with Neighborhood Watch groups and members of the Syracuse Police Department in dealing with crime. There are dozens of Neighborhood Watch groups that meet monthly in the 1st Council District that I am able to attend regularly, which gives me a deep understanding of the unique difficulties each particular neighborhood is experiencing,” said Rayo in an e-mail interview.
Challenger Jake Barrett, 60, is running on the Democratic and Working Families ballot lines. He is the asset manager at Catholic Charities of Onondaga County, a non-profit organization. He is chairman of the Board at Onondaga County Resource Recovery Agency, an organization that promotes education about waste reduction, recycling, and composting. He is also a participant of the Computer Mentoring Program for Urban Youth and an associate member of the United Steel Workers.
District 2 (Northwestern Syracuse)
Incumbent Pat Hogan, 59, a Democrat, is unopposed for his third term on the Common Council. He is a teaching assistant for the Syracuse City School District and a School Based Intervention Team member for the school district. He was formerly deputy commissioner for the Syracuse Parks and Recreations Department. His main concerns, Hogan said, are creating jobs and protecting small businesses from zoning regulations.
Hogan describes the councilor’s job this way: “As a district councilor, we deal with people on a neighborhood level. Residents care about elemental things like neighborhood parks. It’s really true that a district councilor will have more to do with your life than the president of the United States,” said Hogan.
District 3 (Southern Syracuse)
Democrat Bob Dougherty, 59, is also running on the Working Families ticket. This is his first run for public office. He was a member of and became a facilitator for the Valley Tomorrow’s Neighborhoods Today, a group that helps neighborhood residents, businesses, and organizations in development for their neighborhoods.
During his time there, he said, some of the group’s major accomplishments included bringing an artificial turf stadium to Clary School and a new playground to Meachem Field. He has also volunteered in youth athletics for over 20 years, serving as a coach, referee and an administrator. He retired in 2010 after 30 years with Onondaga County working as an administrator and probation officer.
The most important issue facing the residents, he said, is keeping the city as a viable place for people to raise a family. “We need to keep young families in the city and attract those from outside the area. Clearly one of the main elements of this effort is to improve the city schools. I plan to support the school district, but with a critical eye on spending and the implementation of policy,” said Dougherty in an interview.
Republican and first-time candidate James Stelter, a retired county Department of Transportation civil engineer is also running on the Independence Party ticket.
He has lived in District 3 his entire life, Stelter said in an interview . He cites improving public education without raising taxes as the most important issue for District 3. If elected, Stelter said, during his first term he would like to try to develop plans on how to improve the quality of life for constituents in District 3. That would include ideas on how to improve upon the public education system, neighborhood preservation, home ownership, rental properties, park preservation and youth violence, he said.
District 4 (Central Syracuse)
Democrat Khalid Bey, 40, is also running on the Working Families tickets. He is a former regional coordinator for the New York State Senate. He is running to succeed Democrat Tom Seals, who can’t seek reelection because of term limits. In 2005, Bey unsuccessfully ran against Seals for the District 4 seat.
He stresses his roots as a native of the district. “I know first hand what the issues are, not only because I am native, but because I’ve been actively involved from a socio-political perspective for over 15 years,” said Bey in an e-mail interview.
He is a board member of Faith and Hope Community Center and of Home HeadQuarters, a non-profit organization that creates housing and other related opportunities for people in central New York. Bey is also former president of the Syracuse Inner City Rotary Club and Southside Community Coalition.
If elected, he said, his goals include supporting development in downtown Syracuse and in the South Salina Street corridor and creating skills training and work opportunities for his constituents.
Green Party candidate, Howie Hawkins, has run 18 times for eight offices at federal, state, and local levels. Most recently, he lost to Andrew Cuomo for New York State Governor. He is a co-founder of the National Green Party and currently serves on the Green National Committee.
Hawkins also works as a UPS truck loader at night. He has served as board member for both South Side Community Coalition and South Side Cooperative Grocery Store Project, a community food operative that operates a grocery store in Syracuse’s South Side. He is also the co-founder of the Solidarity Committee of Central New York, a group advocating for worker’s rights and against cuts in public services from budget cuts.
In his District 4 campaign, Hawkins calls for overhauling the city’s taxes and raising taxes on the wealthy. “My first priority will be progressive tax reforms to increase city revenues and avoid default and a financial control board of bankers appointed by the governor. With adequate revenues, services from pre-school to senior centers can be fully funded,” said Hawkins in an e-mail interview.
District 5 (Eastern Syracuse)
Democrat Nader Maroun is the incumbent and is also running on the Working Families ticket. He is seeking his second term for the District 5 seat. This is his second stint on the Common Council. He also served on the Common Council from 1987 to 1989.
He says that District 5 voters are mostly concerned with quality of life issues. He is chairperson of the council’s committee on education and describes as one of his goals “to significantly improve the quality of education offered at our schools and for those interested adults,” said Maroun.
If re-elected, Maroun says he also wants to promote economic development in the neighborhoods and city.
Bruce McDaniels is the Republican candidate. On Aug. 29, 2011, McDaniels told Democracywise he is no longer campaigning, although his name remains on the ballot.
(Kit Rodophele is senior majoring in broadcast journalism.)
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