Carrie Ingersoll-Wood, running on the Democratic and Working Families Party lines, is challenging Republican Mark Olson for his 10th district seat on the Onondaga County Legislature.
Ingersoll-Wood is PhD candidate, the director of Syracuse University’s Disability Cultural Center and a former teacher.
Do you think Deputy Rosello acted properly by shooting and killing two teens, why/why not?
I am very interested in the Attorney General’s report on the Sheriff’s investigation into the tragic shooting deaths of Lueth Mo and Dhal Apet. I am devastated for their families, as are we all. I am interested in public safety which is focused on fostering strong relationships with residents. I don’t believe that police officers can overcome all public safety obstacles alone – building trust between law enforcement and the community they protect requires support and buy-in from everyone. I would like to explore grant funding to that end. Also, I feel that I am not qualified to formally state whether Deputy Rosello acted “properly” because I am not involved in the investigation. Furthermore, I have never stood in the shoes of an officer, I wasn’t there that day, so this is a difficult question to answer.
Does the sheriff’s office have enough accountability mechanisms in place?
The Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office is accredited both nationally and by the State of New York with policy standards, so, yes, they have accountability mechanisms in place. On June 27 The Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA) stated that the Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office is in compliance with CALEA standards.
What would you change in this regard?
I believe that completing the installation of the new camera systems will be a beneficial accountability mechanism for the Sheriff’s office. I know that the sheriff’s office is in the process of deploying new camera systems to all officers, and from what I understand, once all camera systems are completely installed, the cameras will be triggered whenever an officer draws their taser. I understand, too, that the Sheriff’s Office has requested the cameras, which have a 35-foot radius, to trigger whenever an officer draws their gun. As soon as all of the cameras are installed, there will be a need for policy to be implemented. There cannot be any new policy until all cameras have been installed and everyone has been trained accordingly.
Should Jamesville be closed, what changes should be made at the downtown jail?
One takeaway from my time touring both the downtown and Jamesville facilities is that the closing of Jamesville would create more problems than it would address. Without Jamesville, the County does not have the capacity for the total population, which it is required to have at all times. What do I mean? Let’s do some math. Let’s say that today there are 110 individuals in Jamesville, 450 individuals in Syracuse, and 80 individuals boarded out to other facilities (in other locations or another facility). Altogether, that is 640 people who could be in our county jails tomorrow. Without Jamesville, we do not have enough capacity, and that is before any discussion on classification–mixing minimum and maximum security levels. As I said, I walked both facilities over the summer because I wanted to get my arms around the reason why the legislature was voting to close Jamesville. I think the suggestion to expand the downtown jail is perplexing when the alternative solution is staring us all right in the face. We need to examine expanding Jamesville, not mothballing it. Jamesville is a 166-acre campus, which is a lot of space that could be used for expansion, and in the long run, we could close the downtown jail which is the more problematic structure. By expanding Jamesville we could also build an onsite courtroom thereby bringing the judge to the location and saving the additional cost of transportation.
Does Onondaga County have enough housing?
First, let’s talk about District 10; District 10 is short of affordable housing for individuals who work in and contribute to the quality of our day-to-day lives; specifically, individuals who work in our retail stores, restaurants, public schools, and all the marvelous small businesses that are the backbone of our community. The affordable housing shortage also impacts the disabled and elderly. At the county level, family homelessness is skyrocketing compounding the issue is the countywide housing shortage. So many buildings in the city are lead-contaminated – 95% of those homes were built before lead paint was prohibited. We must invest in public/private partnerships with landlords to replace windows and doors so rental properties can be mitigated and rented to families with young children.
How will you propose to build more?
I think that the Town of Manlius’s Comprehensive Plan and the section on housing and neighborhoods in Plan Onondaga have some great ideas, like establishing minimum percentage requirements for affordable units in new construction and allowing for a wider variety of housing types in local zoning districts that include single, two-family, townhomes, and multi-family options. I think that we could also take stock of the real estate the city already has and get creative with how we can use that square footage to benefit as many people as possible. For example, the city has many abandoned factories that could be renovated into high-density housing, which counters blight and restores the city as the center.
What does smart development around Micron look like to you?
Micron has stated that its goal is to utilize 100% renewable energy. While this is an admirable goal it is shortsighted from the viewpoint of the electrical transmission system capacity. The physical size and construction of the transmission lines feeding the site in Clay cannot carry the projected site electrical demand load. Even before New York State and Onondaga County brought Micron to our community NYS was already facing a nearly 10% deficit in its energy supply by 2040. Yet, to date, there is no publicly available information on why on-site solar is not being installed on their FAB buildings and carport covers, as is currently being done in Singapore with a 2024 completion date. Design of the FAB roofing systems should have the mounts for rooftop solar included. Micron will have a natural gas service installed to serve the manufacturing process, and yet no public information is available on this facility utilizing Combined Heat Power (CHP) technology to use waste heat from their manufacturing process to generate electricity. The construction of this new facility, on a greenfield site, is ideal for installing ground source heating; installation prior to major construction will be key.
Utilizing onsite solar, CHP, and ground source energy production will increase the energy efficiency of their facility, help meet the requirements of the Green CHIPS Sustainability requirements, and help to address the capacity limitations of the transmission system that serves all of NYS. I made all these points to a Micron engineer on Wednesday, June 7 at the first Micron public hearing in Clay.
With all that being said, I welcome Micron to our community and want this company to participate in it. However, Micron has asked for nearly $300 million in local tax breaks. Our county should not help a company privatize its profits and socialize its losses. Their development will exacerbate the local housing crisis and daycare needs for everyone who already lives here–ask anyone with small children how hard it is to find daycare! Additionally, our infrastructure, such as roads, potable water, and wastewater systems will also be strained, which will require continued upgrades and maintenance. So far there is little publicly available information on these systems. Remember: Micron will still be profitable without tax breaks, the tax breaks will only increase their profits.
What solutions will you propose to fight sprawl?
To fight sprawl, I propose working closely with all the municipalities across the county to coordinate the visibility of existing resources (e.g. buildings, lots, homes, etc.) that over time can be renovated to bring essential services (e.g. stores, restaurants, misc services) into the neighborhood level–all of which must be supported by solid public transportation.
How can the county facilitate better public transportation inside/outside of the city?
In answering this question, I want to highlight Maurice Brown’s platform because we think similarly about the need for better public transportation and the desire for a more walkable and bike-able community, and Mo’s platform articulates these needs succinctly.
- 1. Syracuse needs Bus Rapid Transit. Also known as BRT, this new approach to public transit improves bus service by increasing its frequency, improving station stops, making the buses faster, and adding service on nights and weekends.
- 2. We must commit to a truly walkable, bike-able community. So many places where plenty of people walk lack sidewalks, crosswalks, and crossing signals. Walking is the most basic way people get around—everybody’s a pedestrian at some point—and every street, road, avenue, and boulevard in our County should be safe for people on foot.
People also need and want better bike routes. We should build on successes like the Creekwalk and Erie Canal Trail that connect communities and also provide opportunities for recreation, and we should also make streets safe for everybody who uses them.
What more can the county do to fight Syracuse’s lead crisis?
The county needs to immediately invest $12 million in the CNY Community Foundation’s LeadSafeCNY initiative to ensure this crisis is addressed with urgency, expertise, and the funding necessary to make a lasting difference. Remediating lead-contaminated homes is complicated by the fact that we have nowhere safe to shelter families while their homes are being remediated. The budget surplus is currently $60 million dollars over what is required. I will propose legislation to require that 20% of annual surplus funds over the required 15%, be invested in Lead Safe NY for 5 years. The GOP county executive and legislature continuously grow the surplus beyond required limits, and that is how we ended up with an $85 million dollar aquarium that does not address the needs of our people but satisfies the wants of their donors.
