Voters in Syracuse’s 1st District have a clean slate in this fall’s election for Syracuse Common Council.
In late spring, two candidates are seeking the 1st District Common Council seat in Syracuse. They are Democrat Michael Heagerty and Conservative Kurt Schmeling. Republican Jeff DeFrancisco is not seeking re-election. DeFrancisco’s decision has left the Republicans with trouble finding a candidate to run. The election is Nov. 6.
The next Common Council will face issues like school funding, downtown development and city-university relations. The city faces a perennially tight budget and a shrinking tax base.
Candidates should know the district, said DeFrancisco in an interview. The most important thing is to be available to the voters, he said.
“I’m proud of my constituent service,” said DeFrancisco. “You always want to be responsive and help as many people as you can.”
DeFrancisco worked on amendments to a nuisance ordinance, cracked down on copper pipe theft from construction sites, put more police on walking beats and was able to get the old Crest building at the corner of Butternut and Park Streets condemned. The Crest building is at the western edge of the 1st District.
The 1st District covers Syracuse’s north side, between I-690 and North Syracuse. It is the most affluent and also the most Republican-leaning area of Syracuse.
Here’s a look at the 1st District race as of late April:
Rough start for Republicans
The 1st District became open when Jeff DeFrancisco, the son of State Senator John DeFrancisco, decided not to run for a third term in 2007. His decision was based on obligations to his law practice and to spend time with his family, he said at a press conference on March 7. DeFrancisco was first elected to the office in 2003.
“Technically it’s a part-time job, but in my opinion it’s a full-time job,” he said to News 10 Now on March 7. DeFrancisco and minority leader Ryan McMahon are the only Republicans on the council.
At least four people were associated with the Republican designation through the spring. But as of May 1, the Republicans had no candidate.
Lucy Paris, the wife of state Supreme Court Justice Anthony Paris was interested, according to The Post-Standard, but decided not to run.
Bill Harper and Kurt Schmeling set out after DeFrancisco’s announcement to win the Republican designation for this fall’s 1st District race. In 2003, Schmeling ran on the Conservative line for an at-large seat, but lost to Democrats Bill Ryan and Ruth Brownson. In 2005, Schmeling and Harper both had Republican designations for at-large seats but lost to Democrats Van Robinson and Stephanie Miner.
On April 19, the Syracuse Republican Committee gave Harper the nod to run again as an at-large and did not designate Schmeling for any offices. Schmeling is still seeking the Independence and Conservative Parties’ designations for the 1st District seat. He could not be reached for comment.
Of Schmeling’s interest, at-large GOP candidate Harper said, “It’s a funny situation. Kurt wanted the seat, but the committee gave it to someone else.”
The Republican Committee designated chef and restaurant owner John Julian to run for the 1st District seat. On April 28, The Post-Standard reported Julian declined the designation, saying he was too busy with work to give the race the attention it would need. Further complicating his one-week campaign, Julian does not live in the 1st District. City law requires district councilors to live in the district they represent. His home at 324 Norwood is in the Fifth District. Julian could not be reached for comment.
The Syracuse Republican Committee also has not been able to reach Julian since last week, said Kris Rounds, the first vice-chairperson of the committee. The committee can’t designate another candidate until it receives a letter of resignation from Julian, she said. It has at least one candidate interested in the spot, and maybe two. But Rounds declined to name anyone before the decision was official.
“It’s sort of like all the balls are in the air, and we don’t know which ones will come down,” she said.
The most important part of a councilor’s job is helping constituents get access to the city government, said Rounds. Any Republican candidate would have to be available to residents with problems.
“I’m sure they get calls at all times of the day,” she said.
New face for Democrats
The Onondaga Democratic Committee will designate a candidate for the 1st District at its convention on May 24. As of April 30, only Michael Heagerty had notified the committee he’d like to run on the Democratic ticket, said Fern Whyland, the executive director of the Onondaga County Democratic Committee.
Heagerty is the owner of the Palace Theater on James Street. He began his political career as a member of the 17th Ward’s Democratic Committee. Six years ago, Mayor Matt Driscoll appointed him to the city planning board. The planning board is in charge of evaluating the effect of buildings, construction and signage on traffic and on the city itself. The board deals mostly with variances to zoning laws that businesses and property owners want, said Heagerty.
The planning commission has taught him zoning laws in great detail, Heagerty said. His time on the planning board has made him familiar with much of the work of the Common Council, which has to approve all of the planning board’s decisions.
Heagerty admitted he is still educating himself on issues like city budget deficits and school funding. But he feels strongly about making teacher pay in the city school district more competitive, he said.
“We have too many people living in the city and sending their kids to private schools. But they do that for a reason,” he said. “A lot of the teachers are dedicated and hard-working, really giving their heart soul. However, when you can get a job teaching in Fayetteville-Manlius for $10,000 a year more or $5,000 more or whatever, you know our schools are tough.”
Small-business development is a critical issue for Heagerty. More than 50 percent of the workforce is employed by businesses with fewer than 80 or 90 employees, said Heagerty.
“I think that they’re the heartbeat of our city, the mom-and-pop businesses. Businesses that employ five, six, seven people,” said Heagerty.
The neighborhood around Syracuse University has dealt with a degree of student-permanent resident discord over the last few months. The Common Council recently declined to take any action on a petition from some residents to limit the number unrelated persons living in single house to three. Heagerty agreed with the council. The three-person limit went too far, he said.
“I feel as though, if you’re not a student, and you want to live in and around a student area, you have to be prepared to deal with a certain amount of inconvenience,” he said. “It’s louder and noisier.” Student renters do have some obligation to keep their yards free of litter and pay attention to parking issues, Heagerty said.
Heagerty graduated from Fayetteville-Manlius High School and then got a degree in restaurant management. He came to Syracuse to take over his family’s businesses, including the Palace Theater. In the early 80s, he moved his family’s restaurant in Hanover Square to the then-new Armory Square development. He’s watched Armory Square grow over the last 20 years.
Enthusiasm for his hometown and an affinity for politics led Heagerty to seek public office, he said.
“I decided back in the eighties that I wanted to stay,” said Heagerty, “and if I’m going to I’m going to make it a better place.”
(Bob Ward is an ’07 graduate student in the Goldring Arts Journalism Program.)
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