Voters so far have only once choice for Common Councilor in District 5: incumbent Nader Maroun, D-Syracuse.
And as he seeks his second term, Maroun is promising to focus on the economy and education. “Challenges we face as elected officials in this current economic environment,” he said in an email interview, “is to provide the most services possible on limited operating funds.”
Common Council District 5 includes the eastern part of the city, extending to the Eastwood, Meadowbrook, Westcott, Near Eastside and Salt Springs neighborhoods all the way to the DeWitt border and includes LeMoyne College. It is predominantly Democratic, with 8,941 voters registered as Democrats. The Republican Party has 2,896 registered voters and 3,821 voters are not affiliated with any party. The Common Councilor is a part-time legislative job that pays $21,224 salary, according to the Syracuse annual budget. Common councilors’ terms are for two years. This year’s election is on Nov. 8.
For District 5, as of March 26, no other candidate had publicly declared an interest in challenging Maroun. The Democratic Party officially designates its candidates for the 2011 election on May 15 at the county committee meeting.
In 2009, Maroun ran as both a Democrat and as the Working Families party’s candidate. He handily beat Tristan Daedalus, then a University of Buffalo student, on a vote of 3,262 to 1,165 for the District 5 seat.
Maroun, 62, is the regional director for Bart-Rich Enterprises, a Burger King franchisee, and lives in the Euclid neighborhood. He received his bachelor’s degree from the State University of New York-Oswego and his master’s degree from the Rochester Institute of Technology. From 1987 — 1989 he served on the Common Council in the District 1 seat.
On the Common Council now, Maroun is chair of the Committee on Education and Human Development. Maroun was a chief advocate for the passage of largest lease in Syracuse city history, renting some 21 buildings for $28 million for temporary classrooms for students displaced by a citywide school renovation program, according to The Post-Standard in an August, 2010, story. He also collaborated extensively with the city school district in its Say Yes to Education program, a national nonprofit foundation that seeks to ensure that all city students graduate from college.
(Luis Rendon is a graduate student in magazine, newspaper and online journalism.)
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