Dirt Bikes and Traffic Violence - City Hall’s “crackdown” on dirt bikes and ATVs demonstrates how an overreliance on policing can crowd out more effective methods of achieving public safety. The crackdown—an annual Spring event—includes more officers patrolling city neighborhoods trying to ticket or tow dirt bikes and ATVs. Why this specific class of vehicles? As Mayor Walsh put it, “The … Continue reading Dirt Bikes and Traffic Violence →
A police contract from the past - Mayor Walsh’s deal with the PBA pretends that 2020 never happened. It pretends that the City’s situation right now is that same as it was in 2019. It pretends that nobody marched for reform or said anything worth hearing about policing last year. Headed into arbitration over the police contract, City Hall just wants to … Continue reading A police contract from the past →
Corporate Governance - When OCIDA gave Amazon $71 million in tax breaks, a lot of us were left wondering what Jeff Bezos—the wealthiest man on the planet—could possibly need all that money for. Now we have 2.5% of the answer. He’s going to give $1.75 million of that money back to the public as a donation to the … Continue reading Corporate Governance →
The mechanics of exclusion - Syracuse’s zoning ordinance makes most buildings illegal. Before anyone can build almost any new building or put an old one to almost any new use, they have to get a special exemption from the zoning code in the form of a variance or permit. This seemingly bureaucratic process is actually intensely political—the zoning appeals board … Continue reading The mechanics of exclusion →
Congressman Katko, impeach this president - John Katko must uphold his oath of office by voting to impeach Donald Trump this week. The president lost his bid for reelection, badly, and is scrambling for alternative means of remaining in office. Simple fraud has not been working, so on Wednesday he incited an armed mob to commit an act of domestic terrorism … Continue reading Congressman Katko, impeach this president →
It’s time for an Independent Republican Conference - The New York State Senate will look a little different next year. Democrats will keep the majority, but Upstate will play a bigger role in that conference after key wins in Buffalo, Rochester, and another potential pickup in Syracuse. That’s got people asking whether there’s a way for Upstate to advocate for itself more effectively … Continue reading It’s time for an Independent Republican Conference →
National Elections are Local Too - The City of Syracuse is governed by City Hall, Onondaga County, New York State, and the Federal Government. Each level of government has jurisdiction here, and each one owes a responsibility to this community that goes beyond their duty to its residents as individual voters. National elections are local elections too. Syracuse’s population loss is such … Continue reading National Elections are Local Too →
There’s more than one kind of police misconduct - The Syracuse Police Department’s misconduct takes many forms. This week we learned that the SPD wasted a bunch of public money by mismanaging staff scheduling early in the coronavirus pandemic, and we learned that the DA’s office finally dropped charges against the innocent man that SPD had coerced into confessing to a crime that he … Continue reading There’s more than one kind of police misconduct →
Sidewalks: Necessity or Amenity? - How can City Hall say that it’s preserving municipal services that “impact public health and safety” at the same time that it’s cutting the sidewalk plowing program? On the face of it, this makes absolutely no sense. Leaving snow on the sidewalks pushes pedestrians into the way of oversized vehicles that predictably kill and maim … Continue reading Sidewalks: Necessity or Amenity? →
What the State can do to reform policing in Syracuse - Despite all of the pressure that protesters have put on City Hall, it’s the New York State Legislature that’s really been pushing police reform in Syracuse. They acted fast to repeal 50-a and to actually ban chokeholds just days after mass protests demanded those actions in cities across the state. Now, State Senator Rachel May … Continue reading What the State can do to reform policing in Syracuse →
A $45 Million Jobs Program for City Residents - Jobs are the number one issue in Syracuse. Good jobs, ones that pay well, ones that don’t require unnecessary credentials, jobs that people can get to whether or not they own a car. In a real way, the best thing that City Hall could do for the City of Syracuse would be to run a … Continue reading A $45 Million Jobs Program for City Residents →
Pools, Police, and Priorities - It is such good news that the pools will open up, that children and families will be able to cool down during this historically hot summer, that kids are getting at least one thing that they’re asking for. But it is ridiculous that it took a GoFundMe to make it happen. After City Hall announced … Continue reading Pools, Police, and Priorities →
Abolish the Sales Tax - Sales taxes are no way to fund a government. They create all kinds of weird incentives that make City Hall do all kinds of weird things, and—as the current crisis shows—they leave local government helpless just when we need it the most. Local governments like sales taxes because they’re easy to charge on non-voters. That … Continue reading Abolish the Sales Tax →
Judging the Mayor’s Next Two Years - Ben Walsh just announced that he’s going to run for reelection in 2021. That gives the Mayor two years to convince you to vote for him. Here are four things to watch over that time to help inform your decision. Sidewalks It wasn’t a big deal when Ben-Walsh-the-candidate said he’d do something about Syracuse’s snow-covered … Continue reading Judging the Mayor’s Next Two Years →
Congressman Katko’s Letters - When the Trump administration tries to harm Upstate New York, John Katko writes a letter about it. That’s what he did last week after Sonny Perdue announced a plan to take away people’s food stamps. The Congressman wrote a letter to the Secretary of Agriculture asking that “we don’t make people food insecure as a … Continue reading Congressman Katko’s Letters →
Affordable Housing and the City Line - Matthew Paulus, one of several developers with plans to build new housing at the eastern edge of Downtown, is trying to get goodwill and tax breaks by putting ‘affordable’ apartments in his newest project, but the rents don’t match the rhetoric—tenants will pay $1,050 a month, not including utilities. This is clearly not a good … Continue reading Affordable Housing and the City Line →
Transit is not a Tool of Social Control - At its best, public transportation expands access to opportunity, but recent local examples show how it can also be used to do the exact opposite. Instead of creating a transit system that gives its riders more choices, options, and freedom, people with power have tried to use transit as a tool of social control. Take … Continue reading Transit is not a Tool of Social Control →
Working with Students for a Better City - University students and people living in Syracuse long-term face a lot of the same problems and should be natural political allies, but some structural barriers keep them from working together to make the City a better place to live. Take this garbage pickup proposal. City Hall collects trash from small residential properties but not from … Continue reading Working with Students for a Better City →
Tourism’s Trap - The Reimagine the Canals Initiative—a statewide brainstorming session that asks ‘how can we make more money off the Erie Canal?’—threatens to reduce one of Upstate’s most valuable pieces of infrastructure into a tourist attraction. The initiative follows last year’s Reimagine the Canals Competition. The judges of that competition thought that the Canal was most useful … Continue reading Tourism’s Trap →
An Ugly Idea - Ever since NYSDOT came out in favor of the Grid, Town of Clay Supervisor Damian Ulatowski has been spreading a real ugly idea around Onondaga County. He’s been telling anyone who will listen that the suburbs’ “voices are not being heard.” When Ulatowski says that, he doesn’t mean that all the communities along I81 should … Continue reading An Ugly Idea →