Douglas Reicher was appointed to the SHA by Mayor Sharon Owens. Credit: Mike Greenlar | Central Current

Editor’s Note: Stephanie Pasquale, one of the board appointees, is a member of the Central Current board. Central Current’s editorial operations are independent of the board.

During Central Current’s October mayoral race forum, Deputy Mayor Sharon Owens said if she could appoint anyone to the Syracuse Housing Authority board, she would appoint Rickey Brown. 

Two days after Owens’ historic landslide victory, outgoing Mayor Ben Walsh named two new commissioners to the SHA board, including Brown, the city officials have confirmed. Walsh has also appointed Stephanie Pasquale, who previously worked as the interim CEO of Blueprint 15 and the director of Neighborhood and Business Development at the city. 

Pasquale currently works as the director of neighborhood advancement at the Allyn Family Foundation. 

Brown and Pasquale were avid supporters of Owens’ campaign. 

Walsh had already extended the opportunity to Brown before Tuesday’s election, Brown confirmed to Central Current on Wednesday. Brown will be sworn in on Monday while Pasquale was sworn in on Wednesday, city officials said. Pasquale declined to comment until her first board meeting, which will take place Nov. 20.

“Rickey and Stephanie care deeply about Syracuse and the East Adams Neighborhood. They bring excellent qualifications to the SHA Board. I am grateful for their service,” Walsh said in a statement to Central Current. 

Rickey Brown was appointed to the Syracuse Housing Authority board by Mayor Ben Walsh. Brown has been an ally of mayor-elect Sharon Owens. Credit: Courtesy of Rickey Brown

The housing authority’s redevelopment of public housing on the Southside has been embroiled in controversy in the past. This year, the turmoil around the project came to a head. Outgoing Mayor Ben Walsh expressed concern about SHA Executive Director William Simmons’ leadership earlier this year, though he stopped short of calling for Simmons’ ousting.

Owens and Allyn Family Foundation Executive Director Meg O’Connell have said Simmons should be removed from his role.

As she spoke to a gaggle of reporters as mayor-elect, Central Current asked Owens if there would be a change in leadership at the housing authority and whether she remained steadfast on her position on Simmons. 

While she said that Simmons has given his all to the agency for over three decades, Owens reiterated that change in leadership is imperative.  

“I feel that there is a need for a shift now as we move forward. So we’re going to be placing board members, I’m going to be placing board members that really align with the vision of moving it forward,” Owens said. “It is a massive project that we have to get more vision, more expertise in here to get it done. It’s taken way too long. It’s time to move and put the foot on the accelerator.”

Mayor Ben Walsh’s new appointments come after former SHA board chair Calvin Corriders Sr. announced that he was stepping down in October. Corriders was on the board for about four years and served as board chair for about two years. 

Corriders said he resigned because he has personal and community obligations to tend to that had been consumed by his role with the housing authority. His term was set to expire in October 2026. 

“I’ve been fully vested in this,” Corriders said, “but it’s time for me to step down and dedicate my energy to those other things that I’ve let fall by the wayside.”

Commissioner Walter Dixie’s term expired last month. 

Deputy Executive Director Jalyn Clifford told Central Current that Simmons and SHA are looking forward to collaborating with the new commissioners.

SHA Board Vice Chair Christopher Montgomery, too, confirmed the new appointments.

The board has not picked a chair yet. The next monthly meeting is scheduled for Nov. 20, which will be the final SHA board meeting for the year. Commissioners will decide on the chair and vice chair of the SHA board for 2026 during that meeting, Montgomery told Central Current.

The first phase of the East Adams housing project  closed on Oct. 30. Demolition has begun at Chavez Terrace. The second phase is on track to closing at the end of the year, commissioners said at the board’s October meeting. 

Brown is the founder and principal consultant of Diversify-NY, LLC. For the last ten years, Brown has helped create and promote opportunities for minority- and women-owned businesses and provide business and professional development training to such enterprises. 

He also served as the first executive director of Upstate Minority Economic Alliance and was the former director of the first-time homebuyer program at Home Headquarters.

Brown has served on several boards, including Home HeadQuarters, Onondaga Community College and The Syracuse City School District Eduation Foundation. He currently serves as a board member on the Syracuse Industrial Development Agency, Christopher Community, Vera House, and Housing Visions. 

The prospect of working with Pasquale and board commissioner Ryan Benz played a major role in Brown accepting the opportunity to serve on the SHA board, he said. 

“I’m very excited to take on a new challenge where I know that the housing authority has faced some scrutiny, if you will, over the previous year or so,” Brown told Central Current. “Hopefully, I can contribute in terms of a solution to move that project in a direction where the community benefits from that service. I think it’s critically important in terms of the generational impact that this development can have on the community, that it simply is not allowed to fail.”

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Debadrita Sur is a multimedia journalist and Report for America corps member who reports on the I-81 project and public housing for Central Current. In 2023, Sur graduated with a master’s degree in journalism...