Alfonso Davis is running on an independent line to be Syracuse's next mayor. Credit: Courtesy of Alfonso Davis

Editor’s note: If you’d like to read our other Q&As with other mayoral candidates, click the following links: Tom Babilon, Sharon Owens, Tim Rudd.

Alfonso Davis, a longtime community activist and independent insurance services agent, is mounting an independent mayoral campaign to care for the concerns of Syracuse’s underrepresented residents.

Davis, who has previously ran for mayor and for a seat on the city’s Common Council, will appear on the ballot under the “Integrity Accountability Collaboration” ballot line. 

He faces Democrat and Deputy Mayor Sharon Owens, Republican Thomas Babilon, and independent candidate Tim Rudd. 

Owens overcame a contested Democratic primary election in June that featured Council President Pro Tempore Pat Hogan and Councilor Chol Majok. 

But for Davis, electing Owens would mean a continuation of Mayor Ben Walsh’s administration, which Davis says has been neglectful of the city’s residents. Walsh has served as the city’s mayor for the past seven years.

“The city needs a leader who is going to move this city forward in a way that is going to include everyone and exclude no one,” Davis said. “And I don’t think we’ve gotten that.”

Central Current asked mayoral candidates several questions about the issues facing the city. Here are Davis’ responses:

Editor’s Note: This interview was edited for length and clarity.

Central Current: If victorious, you will inherit an ever-expanding budget at a time when Syracuse needs significant investment and development. How do you plan to get the most out of the city’s dollars while maintaining affordability for constituents?

Alfonso Davis: First you have to cut back on the spending, being frugal on the spending. We also can’t be giving away $10 million dollars, because you just can’t give away taxpayer money and think that you’re going to continue to move the city forward. 

And then there’s several things that you can collaborate with the county in terms of duplication of services, collaborating and streamlining some services will also help in terms of expenditures.

CC: Mayor 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?

Davis: That was one of the good things that I liked about the Walsh administration, and there are not many but that’s one of them, because I do feel the privacy of the people of my city is important. 

And I don’t think people should have access to information like that just to surveil people. We’re not living in Russia or China, where you just control or know the ins and outs and the movements of people, so people’s privacy and the liberty of their privacy is extremely important to me. I would definitely maintain that trying to make it a law so that it is a lasting thing.

CC: Mayor Walsh has shied away from calling Syracuse a “Sanctuary City,” but that rhetoric hasn’t changed the federal government’s perception of our city. As federal agents and the U.S. Military flood major liberal cities, how will you prepare to protect Syracuse citizens from a potential federal occupation?

Davis: That’s extremely important to me, because this administration has a problem with melanated people. When I say melanated, I’m talking about anybody that has melanated pigmentation. For me, I don’t have an issue with the concept of a Sanctuary City. I will be supportive, strongly supportive of that. I will not allow my police department to assist any, any federal agents who attempt to come here just to harass people. The people and the city of Syracuse will absolutely not cooperate with them. And if I have the ability to create some things that will prohibit them from doing it, in terms of safe zones, I will mimic exactly what the mayor of Chicago has just done.

CC: The Columbus Statue, and the push for its removal, remain a sticking point among our community. Recently, County Executive Ryan McMahon inserted the statue into discussions with the Onondaga Nation regarding a potential land transfer that would return a parcel of land along Onondaga Lake back to the nation. As mayor of the city where the statue stands, you’ll have a unique position to work as an intermediary on this issue. How would you proceed with the Columbus Statue, and would you work to facilitate the stalling landback negotiations between the county and the nation?

Davis: So the first question in terms of the committee that this mayor put together to remove the Columbus statue, I think is a waste of energy and time. I’m not so much interested in removing that statute. One, where would you put it? Secondly, how much would it cost? It’s there. So that is not my priority, nor will it be my focus.

In terms of the land for the nation, I don’t see me doing anything that is going to restructure or change things in a way that is going to impact or affect the city in its entirety.

I don’t know because I haven’t looked at what they’re saying, but no, I’m not looking to do anything different in terms of creating more space for anyone, because.. melanated people have been here a long time, just as long as who many people call Indigenous or Native Americans. 

I haven’t sat down with the Native Americans to have this discussion to see what is their objective, or what is their agenda and what is their perspective.

CC: What is your plan to develop more affordable housing in the city?

Davis: Well, we cannot marginalize the people who are affected the most, and those are mostly melanated people in this city. We can’t take away public housing, as there’s many attempts to do. We have to focus on making sure that we can one maintain those.

I don’t really believe in the concept of mixed use, because that is used to marginalize and disenfranchise individuals in certain segments of the city. But a mayor has to have the ability to bring people to your city to want to develop and build, and so I would have a responsibility of finding individuals, and I there’s individuals here who are interested in doing things that will bring about more housing and more access to housing.

I just don’t feel that the current administration really cares about that process in terms of working with individuals who want to do things here, because they’re set in their ways of only dealing with a certain segment of people or a certain group of people.

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Eddie Velazquez is a Syracuse journalist covering economic justice in the region. He is focused on stories about organized labor, and New York's housing and childhood lead poisoning crises. You can follow...