Shawn Fiato, a lifelong Syracuse resident and a community leader in the Park Avenue neighborhood, was appointed as the Onondaga County legislator in District 8.
County Executive Ryan McMahon announced Fiato’s appointment to the Legislature on Thursday, filling a vacancy left behind by now-State Senator Chris Ryan, a Democrat.
The move gives Republicans another seat in the Legislature, expanding their majority to 12. Ryan served as the minority leader in the county’s governing body.
The 8th District encompasses the Tipperary Hill and Park Avenue neighborhoods, as well as sections of the Strathmore neighborhood, downtown, the Near West Side, and part of the Town of Geddes.
Fiato will serve in the legislature until the end of the year but will seek a full term during what will be a contested election in November, she told Central Current on Thursday. County Democrats have said in previous interviews they plan on contesting the seat and that they feel confident they can regain it. Two Democrats have so far announced their intentions to run for the seat in November, which could lead to a summer primary.
“Shawn is the quintessential example of a tenacious, selfless and passionate advocate for her community. She cares deeply about this community and has a proven track record of working with any and everyone in order to get the job done.” McMahon said in a press release. “I am thrilled that Shawn has agreed to serve on the county legislature and I have no doubt she will be a powerful and effective advocate for the residents of the 8th district.”
In an interview with Central Current, Fiato said she is excited to serve in the legislature and that she hopes to uplift neighborhoods across the city and county in the same way she has helped turn around Park Avenue over the past couple of decades. Fiato moved to the downtown-adjacent neighborhood in 1987 and created the Park Avenue Neighborhood Association shortly thereafter. As the association’s president Fiato oversaw the inflow of millions in federal grant money and private investment to beautify Park Avenue.
“We just were full force into wanting to make things more desirable for our neighborhood,” she said. “This was a neighborhood that was on the ‘ifs’, and we wanted to just bring it up. We worked very hard to do it and to get the community all involved in everything that we did.”
Fiato said she has worked with both Democrats and Republicans to help her neighborhood and that she hopes to bring that approach to her time in the legislature.
“I really, truly want to work with everybody and just really make things happen,” she noted.
Although she is waiting to learn about her committee assignments, Fiato said she wants to focus on neighborhood stabilization and beautification. She added that she would like to see improvements to neighborhoods in a way that resembles the goals of the city’s Housing Strategy plan. The plan stipulates that, in phases, the Syracuse Housing Strategies Corporation will award low-interest loans and grants for beautification projects in certain city neighborhoods.
Above all, Fiato said, she wants to be a problem solver for her constituents.
“Whatever I can do for them, I just need to listen and hear what they need,” she said. “I’m going to try to make it happen for them.”
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