(Brian Amaral)
Friends of Otis Jennings call him “The Big O.”
It’s a nickname that describes his size — he stands about 6-foot-3 — and his outgoing personality. In the Syracuse mayoral election, Jennings says that the “O” could just as easily stand for Optimist.
Said Jennings, a part-time motivational speaker: “I’m gonna say yes until I’m proven wrong.”
In the Nov. 3 election, Jennings is the Conservative Party candidate for mayor. He had been endorsed by the Republican Party. But on Sept. 15, he lost the party’s primary. Steve Kimatian, a TV executive and political novice, is the Republican candidate and Stephanie Miner, a Common Councilor for the past eight years, is the Democratic candidate.
If Jennings wins, he would be the first African American elected as mayor of Syracuse, and the first to win on only a third-party ticket since Louis Will won as the Progressive Party candidate. That was in 1913.
The political math in the city shows Jennings at a sharp disadvantage. Of the city’s voters, 38,863 are registered Democrats and 12,980 are registered Republicans. Only 653 are registered Conservatives.
Jennings is a youth educator, a father of two adopted children from Colombia, a construction-company owner, a sought-after motivational speaker, and a well-known figure in the local Christian community. Five years ago, Jennings and his wife, Debbie, found out they were unable to have children, Jennings said. They adopted Sergianni, now 5, and two years later adopted Rafael, 3, from Colombia.
In hopes of pulling off an upset win, Jennings is building his mayoral campaign around his personal experience with youth programming and construction, his upbringing by parents who were entrepreneurs and his career as longtime city parks and recreation commissioner.
“In all of my experience with him, he loves people, is passionate about their best and he is passionate for this community as a whole,” said Dan Studt, pastor of the Northside Baptist Church, where Jennings has been a member for two years.
Jennings was raised in a family of 11 children—some cousins, some adopted—in the South Bronx projects. His dad was a dental technician and his mom worked in schools helping teachers until his family opened up a food business in Harlem, he recalls.
He originally intended to play college football and his size got him attention from top programs like Syracuse University and Boston College, he said. But a bad back derailed his prospects for athletic scholarships. He joined a police athletic league and a college-track program for inner-city students in the Bronx. That helped him stay focused, he recalled.
Some around him turned to drugs, got pregnant and dropped out of high school, Jennings said. “I was never high, never drunk, never had sex,” he said. He added, “I’m just glad I had the grades to still get into college.”
Because of his experience with athletics and the college-track program, he decided to pursue work as an educator, Jennings said. He graduated with a degree in education from the State University of New York at Cortland and came to Syracuse in 1980 to work for the Onondaga County health board as a health educator. He has been in local government for much of his career since then.
In 1994, Jennings got his first taste of politics. Newly-elected Syracuse mayor Roy Bernardi, a Republican, appointed him the commissioner of the parks and recreation department. In what he considers a symbol of his commitment to young people’s needs, Jennings recalls persuading Bernardi to change the department from the Department of Parks and Recreation to the Department of Parks, Recreation and Youth Programs. Jennings headed the department from 1994 to 2002.
Among his accomplishments, he said, is a program called Kids at Caz, a partnership with Cazenovia College started in 1996. The program offered $100,000 scholarships to attend the college to local kids who graduated high school with a B average or better and did community service work. Six students went through the program, Jennings said.
At local schools, Jennings remains a familiar figure. At Cazenovia College and Manlius Pebble Hill School, he’s a part-time adjunct instructor. From 2002 to 2004, he worked with troubled students who were truants and drop-outs for the Syracuse City School District. He estimates he’s spoken at over 200 local schools.
In the 2009 mayoral election, Jennings is building much of his platform from his experience with youth programs. He focuses, for example, on after-school programming and vocational training.
“We only have a 50 percent graduation rate,” Jennings said. “That says it all right there.”
Jennings criticized the proposal from Republican candidate Kimatian for a late-night curfew for teenagers. That, said Jennings, would be ineffective. Instead, he argues for expanding after-school programs to keep youngsters out of trouble. “A curfew panders to fears,” he said, “After-school programs work.”
On vocational training, Jennings proposes expanding the city’s vocational and technical education. “Not everybody wants to go to college,” Jennings said.
In 2007, Jennings started his own construction company, Jennings Construction Services. “It’s why I’m hot on vocational training,” Jennings said.
Jennings is a member of Associated Builders and Contractors, an organization for non-union construction businesses. One of Jennings’ closest advisers, Stanley Dean, is the political action committee manager for the regional chapter. The organization and its PAC have donated $3,500 to his campaign.
Jennings’ experience as a business owner is a reason he is supporting Jennings instead of Republican nominee Steve Kimatian, Dean said. Kimatian has been a executive with WSYR-TV, Channel 9, in Syracuse. “Otis is a business owner. Steve Kimatian is an employee. There’s a big difference,” said Dean.
For his part, Jennings touts his experience in construction as a help with stalled city projects such as the Blodgett School renovation. “We have been negligent in taking care of the construction projects that we need to take care of,” Jennings said.
In the local religious community, Jennings is regarded by many as a reliable, committed churchgoer with strong family values and a willingness to help those in need. Jennings, for example, helped the Central Baptist Church launch a fundraiser that brought in $150,000 for a construction project, recalled Milton Kornegay, the pastor at the church.
“He is dependable and my experience with him, if he tells you he’s going to do something he did it,” Kornegay said.
Jennings’ connections in the religious community have also encouraged contributions to his mayoral campaign. For example, more than $12,000 in donations have come from Stephen Skinner, the owner of a local bookstore called Sacred Melody Parable, and Skinner’s family and their companies.
Stephen Skinner first met Jennings 15 years ago when both were members of Central Baptist Church. “Our family has always had a deep respect for him,” Skinner said. “As far as the church community, he’s saying where can God use him and his time and his energy?”
Jennings’ emphasis on conservative family values drew the Conservative Party to him, said Austin Olmsted, the chairman of the party in Onondaga County. “I know his positions on family values is real tight,” Olmsted said.
Jennings’ insider status in local politics had also made him an attractive candidate to the Republican Party. In 2005, he had run unsuccessfully under the Republican Party banner for Common Council president and he had served as the party chair of the 17th Ward.
In spring 2009, Jennings won the endorsement of Republican Party committee by a 5-to-1 margin, according to Kristen Rounds, the current city party chair who had worked on Jennings’ mayoral campaign. But with a challenge from Kimatian, Jennings lost the nomination the Sept. 15 primary by a vote of 1,652 to 1,272.
As he campaigns for mayor, Jennings stresses that he isn’t giving up hope. Said Jennings: “I’m going to give myself the chance and the opportunity to win.”
(Brian Amaral is a senior majoring in newspaper journalism.)
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