Democrat Donna Moore is running to represent the Syracuse Common Council’s 2nd District, which encompasses parts of the city’s West Side and downtown.
Moore, who will appear on the ballot under the Democratic party line, has a clear pathway to the seat with no Republican challenger. The seat will be vacated by veteran councilor and current Council President Pro Tempore Pat Hogan at the end of the year.
Moore has been in Syracuse for 40 years and is the director of workforce development at the Syracuse Northeast Community Center.
She told Central Current she decided to run because she feels invested in what happens with city residents. Moore said she wants to act as an open line of communication between her constituents and city government.
“I want to be sure that people’s voices are being represented on the council and will make sure people know what is going on and what is before the council for votes and ask for their input before casting my vote,” Moore said. “I love our community. I see the positive and the challenges we face and want to be part of the solutions to make our community stronger and representative of all.
Central Current asked Moore five questions about the issues facing the district and the city as a whole. Below are her responses:
Central Current: How would you vote on good cause eviction legislation if brought to the council for a vote tomorrow?
Donna Moore: No. I’m not against it, let me just say that part, but I do want more information. I want to know how it’s going to affect investors coming in here. We have a problem with our housing stock, and we need people to be investing to build that back up.
And I don’t know if it’s going to scare investors away, but considering 60% of our community right now are renters, I think we have to figure out what we’re going to do right now.
CC: How will you find millions in revenue to address the potential multi-million dollar fiscal cliff the city could be facing this next budgetary cycle?
Moore: Well, I think the cameras right now by the school zones are going to help, with 60,000 people breaking the law.
We need to have some more thoughtful discussion with city employees and city leadership to find out where we can cut back on the budget. I do think there are ways we can be more streamlined. I do think that the current [payroll modernization] situation was a big fumble with the current administration, and we can’t afford things like that to happen. We can’t afford $10 million mistakes in our city.
Some more frankness and openness needs to come and be flowing from the administration down. I don’t think we’ve seen that for the last eight years.
CC: The city has a backlog of properties in the foreclosure process that could help the Greater Syracuse Land Bank and other housing partners rehabilitate and build new housing. How will you help speed this up?
Moore: There are probably a lot of things I don’t know, but I’m not sure that the Land Bank is being super effective at the moment. I think that the cost of taking a house down is prohibitive and how much it costs us to take a house down. So that’s prohibiting a lot of those houses from being demolished and taken down.
I think some of the parameters set by the Land Bank probably need to be looked at. But that’s not really controlled by the city. I think we need to look at some of those to figure out, how do we streamline that process? And, you know, I think, honestly, the biggest thing is, how do we get more people in home ownership roles, rather than renting roles.
CC: Mayor Ben Walsh established protections and policies aimed at safeguarding Syracuse residents from over-encroaching surveillance technology in his 2020 Surveillance Technology Executive Order.
The protections, though, are not codified into city law, meaning that a future mayor could strip the safeguards and set the stage for unrestricted and potentially intrusive and dangerous use of these technologies. Will you codify the protections and policies established in Walsh’s Surveillance Technology Executive Order?
Moore: 100%. I’m not a big fan of the drones being used for all of that stuff. I think of my own daughter, who is 26. I wouldn’t want her in the backyard, you know, sunbathing and have them come by with a drone. That is a simple thing, but I have real issues with that. I have real issues that this could target mostly the people of color in our city.
CC: Now that the dust has settled, how would you evaluate the Council’s decisions during this year’s budget battle with the City of Syracuse? Do you stand by the cuts the Council made?
Moore: I stand by their decision to do the audit. I have worked with budgets in the past. I probably would not have done across the board budget cuts. I would have looked at each department separately and made a decision based on, you know, what those departments need and don’t need.
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