When freshly elected Mayor Stephanie Miner wanted to change the split of city and county taxes, representatives of anti-urban coalitions told her she wouldn’t get her way.
But the opposition was no match for her, said Thomas Buckel, a former Democratic county legislator and longtime Miner friend who sat in on a meeting between Miner and the coalitions.
“Without raising her voice, Miner dominated,” recalled Buckel. “Not only did they say fine, but they adopted her plan.”
It was a classic example of Miner’s style and successes, say Buckel and others who know her well.
For the Nov. 5 election, Miner is seeking her second term as mayor. She faces Green Party candidate Kevin Bott, who runs a political theater group called D.R.E.A.M. Freedom Revival; and Ian Hunter, a Republican businessman running on the Conservative Party line.
Miner has many advantages: She has high name recognition as the incumbent. Voter enrollment heavily favors her. Of the city’s 70, 696 voters, 696 registered voters – or 54 percent – are Democrats. Sixteen percent, or 11, 362 voters, are Republicans; and 22 percent, or 15, 924, are unaffiliated with a political party.
And she has a reputation as a formidable fighter for her goals. She has built coalitions across party lines and challenged her own party’s leaders. For example, she’s developed a close relationship with County Executive Joanie Mahoney, a Republican. But she regularly clashes with other Democrats on the Common Council. Earlier this year, she publicly criticized her party’s statewide leader, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, for what she called too little help from the state to struggling cities and towns.
Miner was unavailable for interviews for this story, said her campaign manager, Kyle Madden. Madden characterizes her as tough and effective. “She’s a fighter for the city. She asks the tough questions dealing with the problems Syracuse faces,” he said. “The voters recognize that. She’s looking forward to another four years and to making the tough decisions.”
The city’s challenges are daunting: It faces a declining or stagnant population growth, poor economy and pension and debt concerns. In 2012, the city’s unemployment rate was at 14 percent and more than a third of the city lived in poverty, according to the Census Bureau.
In her first term, Miner gained praise for promoting Say Yes to Education, a non-profit organization that provides free college tuition to any Syracuse School District graduate at the state’s participating schools. In August, the program won praise by President Barack Obama, who called Say Yes a national model.
As she seeks reelection, Miner calls for expanding Say Yes further and bringing more universities into the program. Her other goals, according to her campaign website, include: the renovation of city schools; the revitalization of downtown neighborhoods such as along the Syracuse Inner Harbor; and adding more surveillance cameras to combat crime in the city.
Miner started her political career in high school. One of Miner’s first offices was that of class president at Homer High School. She graduated from Syracuse University with degrees in newspaper journalism and political science. In 1994, she earned her law degree from the University of Buffalo and in the early 1990s began working for then-Gov. Mario Cuomo. In 1999, she joined labor law firm Blitman and King. Miner is married to John Mannion, 80, a heavy-hitter in Democratic politics who formerly ran United Mutual Life Insurance Co.
In 2002, Miner kicked off her city political career by winning a tight race for Common Councilor At-Large against Republican Jeff DeFrancisco, son of state Sen. John DeFrancisco, R-Syracuse. In 2005, she retained her spot.
On the Common Council, she first began to show her pugnacious, maverick spirit. She sometimes clashed with her fellow Democrats on the council and still does as mayor. One of the most recent flash-points was in September, when she backed Common Councilors-at-Large challengers Pamela Hunter and Jeff Wright over the incumbents, Lance Denno and Jean Kessner.
It’s what Syracuse University political scientist Kristi Andersen calls Miner’s main weakness. “She just doesn’t get along with the Common Council,” she said. “It’s unfortunate she and they haven’t been able to work together more efficiently.”
Several in those high-profile clashes, including Common Councilor at-Large Lance Denno, would not comment for this story. Common Councilor Pat Hogan, a fellow Democrat who challenged Miner for the party’s mayoral nomination in September, could not be reached for this story.
Into her mayorship, Miner continued to play hardball when she started to clash with the state’s governors. Two months into her first term, she challenged then-Gov. David Paterson after an old brick brewery on the North Side of Syracuse toppled, leading authorities to shut down a stretch of Interstate 81. Miner insisted the state pay for the mess, because the state owned the highway. Paterson eventually gave in and paid $833,000 – about 85 percent of the demolition cost.
On her clash with Gov. Andrew Cuomo in 2013, Miner stirred up controversy when she criticized him for what she considered his insufficient help with the poor financial condition of Syracuse, as well as other cities. Cuomo proposed the cities reduce their pension payments and make up the difference later on. Miner called his suggestion an “accounting gimmick.”
“The specter of financial collapse looms over New York State’s cities,” she wrote in a New York Times Op-Ed piece. “Instead of confronting these realities, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s proposed state budget avoids them.”
Her advocacy for the city’s issues and aggressive efforts to hold the state accountable have in some people’s minds made Miner a hometown hero.
“She fights for the city,” said Richard Ravitch, a former lieutenant governor and mentor of Miner. “She expressed her unhappiness for the governor not sitting down. She was looking for a dialogue.”
Outside of being mayor, he’s an avid bicycle rider, said Madden, her campaign manager. Her passion for biking has fueled her advocacy for increasing the bike lanes in Syracuse and renovating Onondaga Creekwalk and its bike trail. Miner also enjoys going out to the theater with her husband, Jack Mannion, and her sister, Mary, Madden said.
Miner’s also a voracious reader and is constantly trying to educate herself, said Bill Ryan, former Councilor-at-Large and leader of the Syracuse Industrial Development Agency, which works to give developers tax breaks. Ryan left his job of more than 30 years at the Syracuse Fire Department to join Miner’s administration.
The mayor’s job leaves little time for other interests, said Ryan. “When you work 12 or 13 hours a day – weekends too – there’s not a great deal outside your job that you can do,” Ryan said.
In her re-election bid, Miner highlights these issues:
Education:
Miner hopes to expand Say Yes to Education, which just received a $4.5 million state grant for its Buffalo branch. She wants to ensure free tuition and to increase the services available to students, such as counseling and tutoring, Madden said.
Miner also wants to begin the second phase of the Joint Schools Construction Board project to renovate the city’s schools. During Miner’s first term, the project renovated four schools: George W. Fowler High School, the Institute of Technology at Syracuse Central, Dr. Weeks Elementary and H.W. Smith K-8. The project’s second phase, which awaits the governor’s signature, would renovate several additional schools.
The improvements should help boost the city’s low graduation rates, said campaign manager Madden. The graduation rate for the class of 2012 was 48 percent for the Syracuse School District as a whole, according to the state department of education.
“Obviously our graduation rates are low,” Madden said. “The mayor’s number one goal is to make more students realize the possibility of college. Good projects like these will help propel them to realize their dreams.”
Economic development:
During her first term, Miner streamlined the business development process at City Hall, Madden said. Previously, new businesses had to jump from one office or department to another and too many eventually become bogged down by the complicated process, he said “It’s probably the reason some business opted not to participate in Syracuse’s economy,” said Madden.
Miner also targets redevelopment of downtown neighborhoods such as the Inner Harbor, Madden said. Another goal is the refurbishing of The Hotel Syracuse into a usable property. The hotel had previously been closed for nearly a decade and saw stalled progress from out-of-county developers. Miner is now looking for a developer who can give the hotel a modern twist, he said.
Crime and violence:
Miner supported the installation of crime cameras in some city neighborhoods. Those have helped reduce crime by 25 percent, including the number of gun shots fired and homicides, Madden said.
In late September, she worked with Assemblyman William Magnarelli, D-Syracuse, to secure $100,000 from the state to install seven more cameras in the Butternut Street corridor. The cameras were criticized as intrusive at first, said Madden. But their success as deterrents has inspired Miner to continue expanding the surveillance cameras, he said.
Miner also wants to improve relations between the police department and the public. She persuaded the police, for example, to create a Facebook page and Twitter account for the department to promote stronger, more frequent dialogue on the concerns people care about.
“It’s all about trust between the police department and the public,” Madden said. “Having an open dialogue does that.”
(Marwa Eltagouri is a senior with dual majors in political science and magazine journalism.)
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