Syracuse mayoral candidates debate policing, affordable housing
Jordan Greene | Staff Writer
Ben Walsh, Khalid Bey and Janet Burman attended the three-hour debate held by Syracuse University. The three fielded questions relating to policing, New York State's upcoming gubernatorial election and affordable housing.
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Incumbent Mayor Ben Walsh took the stage with Democratic candidate Khalid Bey and Republican candidate Janet Burman Wednesday night for a mayoral debate.
Throughout the hour-long event hosted by Syracuse University, the candidates discussed a range of issues from policing to affordable housing.
In her opening statement, Burman discussed her experience in government, industry and charitable organizations and touched upon how her family moved to Syracuse after her husband became dean of the Martin J. Whitman School of Management 31 years ago.
Burman spent the first part of her career as an economist working in information technology. After coming to Syracuse, she worked as district administrator of the New York State Workers’ Compensation Board.
“The reason I’m running for mayor is because I believe I have the experience and know-how to effectively lead our city as we face some of the most challenges that it has ever faced,” she said.
Bey is a Syracuse local raised in public housing and a single-parent household. In 2011, he was elected to the Syracuse Common Council.
In this role, Bey said, he’s worked on legislation for employment opportunities, public safety and warrants for inspection to hold absentee landlords accountable for poor living spaces.
“What’s interesting is that for all of those pieces of legislation I’ve mentioned, they are the prime issues we’re talking about here today right now,” he said. “I think it demonstrates my understanding of what our needs are.”
Walsh discussed the promise he made four years ago to set aside partisanship and divisiveness. He expressed his plan to continue helping the city grow if reelected.
In response to a report from syracuse.com that showed two Syracuse police investigators lied during an interrogation to get a false confession out of a drunk man, both Walsh and Bey agreed that the police need to be held to the same standard as the rest of the community.
Walsh said that people often talk about either doing police reform or focusing on public safety, but he believes the city must do both.
“As elected officials, I always say that if we breathe wrong there may be a headline in the newspaper,” Bey said. “If we can’t breathe wrong, nobody can breathe wrong. We’re all held accountable for the same rules and the same penalties.”
Burman said she hasn’t ever been comfortable with police lying, but she said she recognizes that there are times when those tactics are necessary. She said she wouldn’t discipline the officer as they were working to fight crimes.
The candidates then discussed a recent policing profile report that showed that the Syracuse Police Department stopped Black people approximately seven times more than white people but were more likely to pull over someone if they were white.
Bey believes the current policy isn’t working. He said that there needs to be more accountability and training so that innocent people stop getting put in bad positions.
Burman agreed the city needs to adopt new policies for police. She added that patrol officers need to be assigned on a consistent basis in specific neighborhoods.
“We need to change the culture so that people feel comfortable providing tips and leads, and we can rely less on these stops,” Burman said.
MORE COVERAGE:
- Khalid Bey wins Democratic mayoral primary, will face Walsh and Burman
- Mayor Ben Walsh announces reelection campaign
- What Syracuse mayoral candidates think about public safety, police reform
- Meet the candidates running for Syracuse mayor
Walsh said ending police profiling starts with being transparent and sharing information. He also believes that having residency in the police contract is important, while Burman disagreed.
All three candidates have said that public safety would be a top concern in their administration. But during the debate, each candidate included one other issue the next mayor needs to do to help people feel safer in Syracuse.
Walsh wants to work with the county to address mental health conditions that are often underlying criminal cases, but Bey said reconfiguring resources for the police department and putting more officers in the field is the solution.
In reference to a question about SPD’s budget, Walsh said Syracuse needs to pay officers a competitive wage. In addition to negotiating police salary, the city is negotiating police residency requirements, incentives for speaking multiple languages and educational opportunities.
While Walsh and Bey said they would support Gov. Kathy Hochul in the governor’s election next year, Burman said she would support Rep. Lee Zeldin, a Republican who is currently representing New York’s 1st congressional district.
The candidates talked about doing a city-run realignment of properties to create more affordable housing, but Walsh said that’s not the most effective strategy. Bey said understanding the consequences that may end up putting people in tighter financial situations is most important. Burman said that the realignment would be expensive and quickly be out of date.
All three candidates said they believe that improving affordable housing comes from improving current housing.
Bey said that neighborhood revitalization — including improving walkability in the city — is the key. He said many people from Syracuse’s Southside neighborhood often choose to drive to run errands when local options are available within walking distance.
“I agree with Councilor Bey’s point that if we were doing our job with neighborhood development that there would be a lot more opportunity for employment, as well as day-to-day activities such as shopping,” Burman said. “But we also have to look at new ways of transportation.”
Walsh said that a quarter of the Syracuse population doesn’t have access to a private vehicle, and he wants to continue pushing Centro to establish a bus-rapid transportation system, which would make public transportation more efficient.
Burman said the city needs to provide alternative housing for people that might be affected by Interstate 81 construction. Walsh said he wants to make sure local people are working on this project through the Syracuse Build Initiative, which is helping marginalized local residents to go into trades of their choice.
“We don’t know what the disturbance will be like,” Bey said. “And I think communicating that with the people what that could look like when that viaduct starts to come down — what that disturbance may be — is very key so they can at least get acclimated.”
Published on October 21, 2021 at 1:15 am
