Editor’s note: After Central Current in May hosted a Democratic mayoral forum, it collected audience questions and edited the questions for length and clarity before sending the questions to the candidates. Deputy Mayor Sharon Owens was the only candidate to respond. Jordan Lally, campaign manager for candidate Pat Hogan, on Friday promised to return answers for Hogan by Sunday, but she never did. Blake Carter, campaign manager for Chol Majok, initially said Majok declined to return answers to Central Current’s questions. The campaigns were given more than 10 days to return their answers.
Deputy Mayor Sharon Owens is running to succeed Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh, whose second and final term will end this year.
If victorious, Owens would become the first Black woman to serve as mayor in the city’s history.
Owens has called Syracuse home since graduating from Syracuse University in 1985. She also serves as the president of the board of directors for Blueprint 15, the local non-profit tasked with performing community outreach for the $1 billion East Adams Redevelopment project.
The primary election will take place on June 24, and early voting for that race has started.
Questions in this article were largely submitted or inspired by readers. You can read Owens’ answers below.
Central Current: What are your primary goals for your mayoral tenure and what about them differs from your fellow candidates?
Sharon Owens: My primary goal is to ensure we maximize this generational moment for all Syracuse residents. That means avoiding the mistakes of the past which robbed a generation of their potential. We will achieve this goal by building on the models of success across housing, public safety and workforce development from the last seven years of learning what works and what doesn’t.
We will create new opportunities by listening to and working with the region’s innovation ecosystem of businesses, schools and community partners. Where I differ from my opponents is that I’ve actually built things in the community. While counselors Hogan and Majok have ideas and opinions on what they might do – my record shows that I’ve:
- Built Syracuse build pathways to apprenticeship to ensure local hiring on the I-81 project;
- Created the Mayor’s Office to Reduce Gun Violence;
- Orchestrated the City’s Police reform initiative;
- Prioritized federal covid relief funds for housing; and
- Facilitated a process that resulted in record breaking development in 2024.
Syracuse has fallen behind on its pedestrian and bike infrastructure, but more residents than ever are walking, biking, or e-scootering around the city. How would you jumpstart the city’s lagging implementation of infrastructure for alternative transit?
SO: I-81’s teardown presents a great opportunity to answer the question: how should we keep Syracuse moving? I want to hear from the community. We know that roughly 20% of residents don’t have access to a car – but we need to conduct a full-fledged community survey to understand what people want and need.
That said, we know the basics of what we need to achieve over the next few years to meet the baseline of a rapidly growing city: fully functional bus rapid transit, expanding the amount of protected bike lanes in the City, and creating more options for micro mobility.
We have to balance our investments that keep us moving in the short term while traffic is disrupted, without declaring a war on cars – as there will be plenty of headache for our residents who choose to use a car.
I would prioritize updating the city’s Complete Streets policy, securing state and federal transportation grants, and installing more protected bike lanes and crosswalks. Our infrastructure should serve everyone, not just drivers.
We can’t keep planning for 20th-century transit in a 21st-century city.
What is your current assessment of the city’s pedestrian and bike infrastructure, and how would that change under your leadership as mayor?
SO: Right now, our infrastructure for non-car transit is patchy, disconnected, and in some places unsafe. Under my leadership, we will create a unified plan to make every neighborhood accessible by foot, bike, or scooter. That means investing in sidewalks, traffic-calming measures, better signage, and a real network of bike-friendly streets. It’s about mobility and safety.
We’ve seen some recent local businesses announce that they are leaving Syracuse and relocating to other states, resulting in job loss for hundreds of city residents. How do you plan to create stable jobs in the city, and how do you plan to keep those jobs here?
SO: Let’s be clear, the decision by Ebay to abandon the workers of the CWA Local 1123 was a cowardly, anti-labor move after fighting like hell for two years to erase their tremendous work to unionize – the first union in Ebay’s multi-billion dollar organization. I was the only candidate that stood in solidarity with them.
The City can support our local entrepreneurs and businesses by improving our City services that help businesses get their doors open responsibly and efficiently. I believe that expanding the Syracuse Build program will be one component ensuring we have stable jobs here in Syracuse, and that’s part of a broader set of support I will provide for organized labor across the spectrum because I know the impact a union job can have.
I will also support workers by creating an online platform that connects all the available workforce development and job opportunities across the region in one place – leveraging the relationships with executives and leaders across the State to organize these opportunities into a one stop shop for people across Syracuse.
We must, at the same time, also work to facilitate a strong ecosystem of support that businesses need to grow and thrive here, by listening to business and entrepreneurs to understand their needs and rally available resources when available. Syracuse will not necessarily be the place for every business, as Ebay has made clear. But we must strive to be the best partner we can be with a high level of customer service for the businesses that wish to join us growing into the future.
The recent departures of businesses are concerning, and they reflect a broader global challenge. As mayor, I’ll double down on supporting local entrepreneurs and high-growth sectors like tech, construction, clean energy, and healthcare. That includes strengthening workforce pipelines, cutting red tape, and making sure Syracuse is a place where businesses can grow—not just launch.
Syracuse is increasingly recognized as a safe and welcoming community for LGBTQ people. How would you attract LGBTQ individuals to live, work, and start businesses here, and what will you do to ensure that this community remains not just safe, but actively supported and integrated in city planning and development?
SO: I’m proud of Syracuse’s growing reputation as a welcoming city for LGBTQ+ residents. As mayor, I’ll work with the LGBTQ+ community to ensure they have a seat at every planning table – and continue the City’s public support of our LGBTQ+ community.
That includes prioritizing LGBTQ+-owned businesses in city purchasing, supporting inclusive housing policies, and expanding services that address mental health and safety for LGBTQ+ youth and adults – especially when the national landscape has turned so negatively against people.
I’m going to continue the LGBTQ+ Advisory Board as it provides clear insight into the areas of focus needed for this community in our City. I recognize that various demographics have needs, as I have with BIPOC communities, I will encourage and host forums and spaces for input from LGBTQ+ businesses to encourage their growth in the City.
What does your campaign fund donor base say about you and your priorities as a potential mayor?
SO: Our donations come from working-class people, grassroots supporters, neighbors, organized labor and businesses I’ve built relationships with over my 40 year career in service to this City or just met recently.
These donors reflect my values of an equitable economy, and safe affordable housing for all.
The Council recently voted to reduce the City budget and consequently some city services. As healthcare and pension costs continue to rise, do you foresee City Council continuing these cuts? If so, how will you, as Mayor, build on growth opportunities with reduced funding and services?
SO: We will have to be more strategic and innovative with the resources we have available. Doing more with less will be difficult, and presents an opportunity for us to reevaluate what our most important programs and services are to the community.
We have to think about what’s sustainable and what’s not – increasing our revenues where possible and tightly controlling our expenses. I opposed the recent budget cuts and fought to preserve key services. That said, a budget process between a Mayor and a Council must be open and transparent to ensure that budget related decisions reflect the global impact of cuts to services.
Rising healthcare and pension costs are real, but cuts cannot be our only solution. As mayor, I’ll pursue new sources of revenue, push for state and federal funding, and grow our tax base through smart development—not austerity.
What would you do in your term as mayor to reduce child poverty?
SO: As I’ve stated, poverty is a financial definition. To address poverty we must increase household incomes. Childhood poverty is generational poverty. A child that’s poor has poor parents.
As mayor I will continue the work I’ve done preparing people for the jobs on the horizon. Syracuse Build, Micron, attracting more businesses to our community. I will prepare our people with the skills needed for the jobs on the horizon to seize these opportunities.
In 2011, Onondaga County pledged to give the Onondaga Nation its first foothold on Onondaga Lake in nearly 200 years. The county and the Nation in 2022 reached an impasse in negotiations for the land. Do you support the Nation reclaiming a plot of land along the Lake? Would you support them in their negotiations with the county?
SO: This is a sensitive subject. I do support the Onondaga Nation reclaiming land on Onondaga Lake, yet it would be important for me to understand what the blockers are from the County side – and it’s important for me to have a strong working relationship with both parties.
I would welcome the opportunity to bring all parties back and discuss how we can move forward and if the City might serve as a facilitator for the conversations. This is a matter of justice and history – which is why I’m the only candidate that’s committed to bringing the Columbus Statue down off the heads of indigenous people and finding a better way to recognize the contributions of our great Italian American community.
I would work to bring all parties back to the table and ensure the city is a partner in reconciliation and in honoring our shared commitments to environmental and cultural restoration as well.
Do you believe in the viability of the public developer model pitched by the city and the Land Bank? Why or why not?
SO: We recognize the moment we’re in and the need for housing growth, and must consider all options. I believe the public developer model, when done transparently and with community oversight, can work. It’s a critical component to effectively executing our housing strategy –- something both of my primary opponents agree is the right approach.
The reason is because of what our specific set of challenges are, as detailed in the Syracuse Housing Study and Strategy: a simultaneous market gap and an affordability gap. For the most part, the city’s housing market is too weak and property values are too low to prompt people to invest in building new homes or restoring older ones; while at the same time housing costs are too high for many of the city’s families, who have to pay 50 percent or more of their income for what is often unsafe, unhealthy or inadequate housing.
While we have some developers who work in good faith, looking at the long term prospects of investing and growing with our community – there are not enough of them to get to where we need to be for addressing our housing crisis. That’s why the public developer model, in our specific case, makes sense to pursue as an innovative approach – it’s been successful in other municipalities across the country.
The Land Bank has been critical in stabilizing blighted properties, but we need to do more. A public developer gives us the chance to build truly affordable housing and community-serving infrastructure with public interest—not profit—as the priority.
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