Gregg Eriksen is running to represent District 6 in the Onondaga County Legislature. He is currently a freshman legislator, having flipped his seat in 2025, and is the chair of the Environmental Protection Committee. His opponent, Chad Clark, is currently the mayor of Marcellus. Eriksen is running on the Democrat and Working Families Party line. 

Central Current sent Eriksen 11 questions about housing, immigration, data centers, agriculture, and more. Here are his responses. 

Central Current: With Micron moving in, politicians from every part of the political spectrum have emphasized the importance of building more housing. What is your vision for increasing housing in Onondaga County, and what role (if any) should the county play in doing so?

Gregg Eriksen: The housing shortage is a multi-pronged problem, and it requires a multi-pronged solution.  It starts with having leadership that understands we need housing that working class residents can actually afford, not just projects for well-connected developers to make money from.  Housing for working class people requires help at each step through the building process.  The legislature, working with the County Exec, have made real bipartisan progress in this area.  I’m very happy about the creation of the $25 million housing fund, that is aimed to spur more building.  I am also glad that our housing and transportation advisory board recommended that the County provide tools for municipalities to update their zoning codes to better provide for townhouses and starter homes.  During my time as a Village Trustee, I worked closely with our zoning and planning boards, and I understand how much a well-placed zoning amendment can streamline growth.  As a new majority, we’re taking the right steps on housing.

CC: Transparency has been a major talking point in the legislature this year – from donor transparency around the aquarium to concerns that each caucus brings things to the floor without giving the other advance notice. Where would you like to see more transparency in county government, and what can the legislature do to enforce it? 

GE: I’m glad we brought transparency to aquarium funding this year. The legislature has also had productive on-the-record conversations about the County’s sludge drying facility that experienced so many problems last year.  Next, I’d like to see inquiry into the processes and procedures of the Onondaga County Water Resources Commission (OCWRC), which is the entity overseeing most of the industrial side of the Oak Orchard wastewater treatment plant.  Micron is essentially a multi-billion dollar bet on our ability to deliver wastewater and sewer services.  We need to make sure that information about these facilities is available for public discussion.

CC: As thousands of Onondaga County refugees and residents lose their access to SNAP benefits, what should the county’s role be in ensuring access to food? 

GE: SNAP benefits are federally-funded and mostly administered at the State level, so there is a limit to what the County can do here. We can, however, ensure that we have enough employees working in the Department of Social Services to effectively help SNAP applicants navigate the red tape of this program.  We can also support the regional market and local farmers’ markets as places that supply our residents with fresh local produce. Finally, I would like to see the county take a more active role in incentivizing grocery stores and markets to set up shop in food deserts.  

CC: Roughly one-third of Onondaga County’s land is used for agriculture. What, if anything, can the county do to support farmers, farmworkers, and other people involved in agriculture in the county? 

GE: I’ll reiterate the importance of supporting and promoting the regional market and our many farmers markets as places where our farmers can readily sell their goods. This year’s budget included an amendment, passed unanimously, providing financial support for farm and food security that invests in the relationship between our farms and our food banks and local vendors. Anytime the legislature can achieve bipartisan cooperation for our farms is a big win.  In addition, this year, the legislature passed a resolution calling on the State to institute more ‘buy-local’ incentives specifically aimed at New York Agriculture, and we should continue to advocate for our farms at the State level.  

CC: As Micron prepares to move into Onondaga County, some county residents have raised concerns about PFAS and other emissions. How do you plan to mitigate the environmental concerns of county residents? 

GE: It is critical that Micron, regulators, and the County Executive’s office speak publicly and on the record about how, specifically, the Micron facility and the County’s Industrial Wastewater Treatment Plant will prevent PFAS emissions.  The only way to alleviate concerns is an open and honest public discussion.  I’ve pressed for this as Chair of the Environmental Protection Committee and will continue to press for this discussion so that we can have a shared understanding of how PFAS will be mitigated, and so that the design of these facilities can be improved, if needed. 

CC: Could the county be doing anything more to mitigate and combat its lead problem? If so, what? 

GE: We can start with fiscal sanity.  Some of that $100 million that the County Executive wasted on an aquarium no one asked for would have gone a long way toward removing a lot of lead from homes in the county. Going forward, the County must help more contractors become certified for lead removal, and work with municipalities to identify where lead exists. Beyond that, it’s a matter of committing real dollars to combatting this problem and not wasting money on vanity projects like the aquarium. 

CC: Over the last two years, USCIS has rolled back protected status for many groups of immigrants and has begun to target people for detainment who might not have been targeted in the past (i.e.: asylum seekers). Do you believe the county needs to do anything more to protect its large immigrant and refugee populations? If so, what? 

GE: While this issue primarily involves federal immigration policy, the County can play a role.

First, after the horrors we have seen from Minneapolis to Maine, we should continue to support local law enforcement agencies that do not cooperate with ICE. Next, we should make sure we are supporting our New American and immigrant populations by connecting them to the tools they need for a stable and productive life in Onondaga County.  To that end, I am happy that the legislature unanimously voted to establish the New American Affairs Council, and we should continue to support that work.

CC: What – if any – role should AI have in county operations? Should the county develop rules and policies to regulate its use? 

GE: AI is a useful tool across many industries, and government is no exception.  My primary concern for the use of AI in the context of government is confidentiality.  The County handles substantial amounts of sensitive information and information that implicates privacy concerns, like the addresses of County residents.  We should make sure that any AI tools we use contain safeguards to prevent the dissemination of any sensitive information.  In addition, despite recent improvements, AI can sometimes be flat wrong.  We should also ensure that any County work that uses AI is reviewed and verified by human personnel.

CC: County Executive Ryan McMahon has announced a plan to study the feasibility and potential impacts of building a data center in Onondaga County. What would be the ideal outcome of that study? Depending on the outcome, how do you plan to respond? 

GE: Let me first say that I am against data centers in Onondaga County.  Given the amount of water that they use, and the amount of water that Micron will consume once it comes online, we cannot even think about data centers until we have a real understanding of how Micron will affect our water usage, and I don’t think we will have the water to spare.  Data centers create noise, waste water, and create very few jobs.  Ideally, the study will give municipalities the tools they need to resist data centers.  Notably, Bruce Blakeman might be the most pro-data center politician in New York State, so I believe that the Republican Party must have real public accountability on this issue.  

CC: Syracuse consistently has one of the highest rates of childhood poverty in the nation. Do you believe the county should be doing anything more than it is currently to address childhood poverty? If so, what?

GE: If we get government right, we can help address poverty.  Poverty is a multi-pronged problem that requires a multi-pronged solution from local, State, and Federal sources.  At the County level, we can always do more.  I would gravitate toward expanding some of our existing programs to serve more people, and many of my other answers would also address poverty.  For example, my response about SNAP and food access would apply here. A greater investment in helping people apply for SNAP and in markets where fresh local food is available would help.  A greater investment in lead removal would help reduce the number of kids who are forced to grow up around a substance that inhibits their development. A greater investment in housing will reduce housing insecurity and permit families the relief that stability can bring.

CC: What county issues and concerns have an outsize impact in your district specifically? How do you plan to address those concerns and bring them to the forefront of the legislative agenda? 

GE: My district has the distinction of containing two Finger Lakes, Skaneateles and Otisco, so water protection is always at the top of my list.  I was happy to help secure funding for lakewater monitoring on Otisco Lake this past year.  The data gathered should help Otisco Lake in future applications for grant money to address some of its ecological challenges, like its high phosphorus levels. I look forward to staying in close communication with the Otisco Lake Preservation Association and the Skaneateles Lake Association to support their work.  In addition, I’d like to take a closer look at the County’s septic replacement funding program to see if that can be made more accessible.  Leaky septic tanks can be a source of water contamination, and anything we can do to get more aggressive on that front will help protect our water sources.

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Laura Robertson is a staff reporter covering Onondaga County. Prior to joining Central Current, she lived on the edge of the Bering Strait in Nome, Alaska, where she worked as a reporter for a year. She...